Truckbhar Swapna review: Nightmare disguised as a dream

Despite its many problems and issues, Mumbai continues to attract scores of people from smaller towns. With all the traffic, pollution and chaos, the city has still managed to maintain its image of a destination that helps achieve ones dreams. First-time filmmaker Pramod Pawar’s Marathi movie Truckbhar Swapna is about one man and his dream.

Raja (Makarand Deshpande) migrates to the city with his wife Rani (Kranti Redkar) and two kids in order to rise up the social ladder. But he is forced to become a taxi driver and stay in a small house in the slum. Rani works as a maid for an actress. Her friend Jyoti (Smita Tambe) is her companion and solace.

Raja leads a satisfied life even with all the hardships until, one day, his elder brother insults him for living in a match-box-sized house. Thus, he sets on a mission to build a storey above his house just to give a fitting reply to the brother. However, ends up muddled in petty politics played by the evil contractor RK (Mukesh Rishi).  

There comes a moment in the film when Deshpande’s character is seen lying on a beach. His body is pushed to and fro by the sea waves. No, he is neither dead, nor unconscious. This scene sums up the ride Truckbhar Swapna takes you on.

The narrative through the film is consistent, but not in a good way. The film is riddled with a screenplay that is all over the place, peppered by dialogues that range from unintentionally hilarious to irritating. Further, the characters need a crash course on how to behave in different situations.

Truckbhar Swapna should have ideally been named Lust Stories 2 since it is lust that drives the story forward. RK, the contractor, is a lecherous man and has an eye on most women in the slum. He eyes Rani, too, but when she refuses to entertain him, he makes life hell for her and her family.

Also, Rani keeps getting advice from Jyoti on how to get her way with her empolyer by exposing her body. The husband (Manoj Joshi) of the actress Rani works for constantly eyes her since he is neither getting any love nor sex from his wife. He gifts Rani a CD player and hands over Rs50,000 and Rani is naïve enough not to realize his intentions.

Deshpande’s character is also shockingly innocent. He is easily in his late 40s but has no idea what dance bars are for! Also, his character seems to be someone who aged much too early but the aging seems to have stopped after a point. He looks almost the same at his wedding and in scenes that are supposed to happen 20 years later.

To top it up, Deshpande keeps switching between drama and melodrama. For example, he suddenly gets melodramatic when he is questioning God. Needless to say, you end up questioning his decision to do the film in the first place.

Kranti Redkar is a good actress and isn’t bad here either. The same goes for Smita Tambe. However, we do hope they get better scripts. Aditi Sudhir Pohankar, as one of the daughters, has some screen presence but struggles with her act.

Mukesh Rishi, in his first Marathi film, hams his way through and becomes unintentionally hilarious. He constantly reminds you of his character Bulla from Kanti Shah’s disastrous film Gunda (1998).

Veteran actor Suresh Bhagwat makes a comeback to films after 14 years. His was last seen in Abbas-Mustan’s Aitraaz (2004). While he shows some maturity in his act, you can’t help but wonder what made him choose Truckbhar Swapna as his comeback film.