Baapjanma
A Serious Story Of A Dying Father That Brings Smile On Face
Direction: Nipun Dharmadhikari
Story: Nipun Dharmadhikari
Star Cast: Sachin Khedekar as Bhaskar pandit, Pushkaraj Chirputkar as Mauli, Sharvari Lohokare as Veena, Satyajeet Patwardhan as Vikram, Akarsh Khurana as Ashok Khurana etc.
Producer: Sumatilal Shah and Sixteen By Sixty-four
Presented By: Sanjay Chhabria – Everest Entertainment
Studio: Sixteen by Sixty-Four Production, Everest Entertainment, Eros International
Music & Background Score: Gandhaar Sangoram
Lyrics: Kshitij Patwardhan
Sound Design: Akshay Vaidya
Official Trailer Video
Synopsis
This is my first movie review of a Marathi movie. But, when I watched it I couldn’t resist myself from writing this review. Usually, I watch trailer/teaser videos and then decide whether to watch the movie. Baapjanma’s teaser video was so compelling that, I decided to watch the movie.
Sachin Khedekar, one of best actors of Marathi movie industry has played the lead role of Bhaskar Pandit, father of two children Vikram and Veena. Sachin played the role of a father, who is disconnected from his family from the beginning. (I will urge readers to watch the movie to know why?) The circumstances made him a tough and almost emotionless man when it comes to his family especially his children. Because, of his behavior his children started drifting away from him emotionally. Eventually they started living away from their father. This left Bhaskar alone. Vikram went to London and Veena to other city (Bangaluru) to live with her husband.
But, his indifferent behavior was superficial. Unfortunately, Bhaskar was the only one to know this. He never got chance to express his true feelings to his children. He had troubled relationship with his wife, which was the only thread that connected children to the family. As children grew older, they parted away from Bhaskar physically and emotionally, never to converse again, till, old and lonely father found out that he was dying. With this baggage, the movie unveiled, how a father fulfills his last wish? I won’t disclose anything more than this!
Review
Sachin Khedekar was fabulous as usual in convincing and conveying his character. I loved the fact that, he successfully portrayed the funny side of a tough guy easily. In a way, I thought this role was written keeping Sachin Khedekar in mind. He looked composed and easy on screen. The hesitation in starting a conversation with his own children, the guilt, self respect, sympathy for others, you could see it all on his face at the same time. (One of the reasons why he is one of the best). Before going into the boring part called detailed review, let me make it clear “Baapjanma is a really a fantastic experience” I call it ‘A serious story of a dying father that brings smile on face!‘
Pushkaraj Chirputkar who played Mauli (Bhaskar’s servant) has made sure that the balance between seriousness and humor remained healthy. Some of the scenes were exceptionally humorous and timing was good especially, when Bhaskar died is ready for cremation (watch the movie for details). Pushkaraj’s typical accent added spice into the conversations. The onscreen chemistry between Pushkaraj and Sachin was essential otherwise it would have killed the movie. I have watched Pushkaraj in TV Series but, honestly I felt he was better in this movie. I just hope he doesn’t get typecast for these kind of roles in future.
Sharvari Lohokare who played Veena (daughter) and Satyajit Patwardhan, Production designer for Baapjanma, played Vikram (son) gave justice to their roles. I just thought Satyajit could have been more vocal in the movie looking at the circumstances. Just a small point but, the daughter of Vikram didn’t have British accent. Apart from main characters, other oldies in the neighborhood have minor roles to play except Apte (an Alzheimer’s patient). The suicide of Gupte (one of the oldies) was a good shocker that helps story to roll. Last but not least the Tiger! Bhaskar called it lodya (fatty) all the time. It’s an adorable dog.
No movie or play can succeed without a good script. As a writer, I know for a fact that a well written script makes job of director easier. Nipun has made Nipun’s job easier in Baapjanma’s case. The current days, when most of the movies have duration of around 90 mins, it was a pleasant surprise to see Baapjanma to spend whole 2 hrs. I personally liked it because, if a story takes 2 hrs to get across neatly, then so be it! Nipun has written a water tight story. It has a beginning, middle portion and an ending or climax. All the little gimmicks and references reminded me that, Nipun is a fellow theatre person. Baapjanma was successful in establishing the fact that, the mere thought of “Nobody cares even if you don’t exist” can be devastating and frustrating and Sachin has given full justice to it.
Baapjanma is a ‘fiction’ and like any other fiction it has element of fantasy and fantastic coincidences. I didn’t feel the coincidences were uncalled for or too much artificial except a couple involving Akarsh Khurana. Screenplay was slow at some points but it’s not a big concern. Knowing Nipun as a director it was no wonder for me that, the story doesn’t get too serious. I felt movie was a bit slow in the first half than the later one. I think it was good for establishing the characters, backgrounds and the story itself. Full marks for the scene where Bhaskar goes back page by page in his diary to find out the monotony in the life. (This is the scene which I will remember for many days to come).
Talking about the cinematography, as a critique I felt, there was not so much scope for trickery but, no glitches as far as I could see. I felt background music was nice and helped the mood building. The sounds were apt and contemporary. But, as far as songs were concerned although, the lyrics were meaningful, I thought they lacked catchy tunes. There were two songs in the movie but, honestly, I don’t recall them while writing this review. Another scene which could have been more emotional and would have added the value, was the scene where Bhaskar reveals his true identity to Vikram. The overall feel on the screen was colorful and easy on eyes.
The credit goes to the team of Baapjanma to make a light toned movie on a very serious topic. I felt this topic could have gone way more serious and dark. I was expecting loud dialogues and extreme emotions, when I went to watch the movie. To my surprise, Baapjanma has avoided all the dark alleys of emotions and presented a movie that brings smile on you face, even though viewers knew it is a serious and sad story of a dying father!
Ratings – 4/5
| Topic | Points (Out of 5) |
|---|---|
| Script | 4 |
| Direction | 5 |
| Acting | 5 |
| Cinematography | 3 |
| Music | 3 |
| Overall | 4 |
| Total | 4 |