Mee ShivajiRaje Bhosle Boltoy

Saw a Marathi movie after a long time today. "Mee ShivakiRaje Bhosle Boltoy".

Rather expected storyline. A hen-pecked and insulted maharashtrian, well, a 'maharashtriy', as the movie prefers to call 'em, one day gets fed up of all the insults and being treated like a dog in his own backyard.

The insults are rather exaggerated, the acting slightly over-the-top and the plots rather idealistic. But, what the heck, anything is better than "Tasveer",  now isn't it!

The movie revolves around the protagonist D.M.Bhosle. The man is a middle class bank clerk who gets nagged (and often overly insulted) by just about everyone. He is the stereotypical 'asmita haravlela' (one who has lost his identity) marathi manoos. To add to the hassles of daily life, is an unscrupulous builder, and his (rather long) array of yes-men. Here, I felt the insults were too exaggerated. Nowhere does the fish seller insult a buyer aloud regularly. And neither does a movie director tun away a girl after selecting her for her merit, just because she is a 'bhosle', a marathi, who supposedly can't carry off western clothes and has a vernacular tinge to her English. Nevertheless, as expected, one day he just can't take it anymore. He loses it!

Enter Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj! Now this was a welcome change from the usual pathetic story lines dished out in marathi cinema. The Maharaj and his aide themselves appear in front of the protagonist Bhosle and guide him with the tonic of marathi 'bana'. Bhosle gathers his whiny act together, and decides to brave it out. Believe himself that he is part of the problem, and then try to fix it. Not just for himself and his family, but for the marathi manoos in general. To see how he does it, go watch the movie.

Some things here that really struck a cord, and some others that well, just fell flat.

Bhosle explains to the Maharaj that today's Mumbai is dominated by outsiders. The Sindhis andMarwaris control the business, the south indians control the food and restaurant businesses and the north indians have converted the civil services into their fiefdom due to rampant nepotism. The part where Shivaji explains to a distraught Bhosle, that the cause of this situation is the marathi manoos himself, really struck a cord. The crowd was literally 'pin-drop' silent. "Who stopped you from doing the same, Bhosle?" astutely questions the Maharaj off the protagonist. Who stopped you from doing business, from running hotels, and from entering the civil services. Not the sindhis and marwaris, not the udipis and not the bhaiyyas. Its our own inability, our own incompetance maybe, that has lead to this situation. "'Amchya shakha kuthe hi nahit' (we have no other branches) he mhanyat ucchata manoon kasa chalel?", he adds.

Though, I would accuse the movie of containing some stereotypes. The north indian taxi driver and the muslim tailor who are tenants in Bhosle's large bunglow. There is a part where Bhosle magnanimously makes sure that their interests are taken care of. He had explained how they too were as much 'maharashtiy' as him. Since they were born and brought up here, and their children study here in a vernacular medium school. Well, I just thought it was a ploy to distance the movie from the MNS's anti-bhaiyya taxi drivers plank. And, it worked too, to some extent. The typical 'Usman Parkar' bhai wasn't too convincing, at times even comical.

The movie also suffers from some over-zealous action stunts towards the end. That and the story in the latter part gave a feeling that the director just somehow lost his way, and wasn't sure what next to do.

Nevertheless, credit must be given for some excellent cinematography. My biggest complaint about recent marathi films has been the abysmal cinematography. The usual fare is too trashy to even merit a look, but even some great recent movies like 'Shwaas', have some very poor filming. See it and you can see the film quality change over scenes! But this one is a cut above them all in this respect. Excellent shots, a beautifully choreographed 'shahir' sequence, some crisp editing of Shivaji Maharaj's horse riding scenes that could so easily have overwhelmed the movie, and excellent film quality.

Personally, I thought the plot was.... ummm... well... can't really describe it. I'm sure though, that I wouldn't call it a good storyline. It definitely had a tinge of Munnabhai, but only up to the idea of a man visualising a famous historic personality. 

But there are some real lessons to be picked from the movie; at least worth the one watch.