Review: Bhaai – Vyakti Ki Valli (Part 2)
Cast: Sagar Deshmukh, Irawati Harshe, Shubhangi Damle, Vijay Kenkre, Swanand Kirkire, Ajay Purkar, Padmanabh Bind, Veena Jamkar, Sarang Sathaye, Vikram Gaikwad, Girish Kulkarni, Sunil Barve, Neena Kulkarni, Deepti Lele & others.
Director: Mahesh Manjrekar
Screenplay: Ganesh Matkari
Dialogues: Ratnakar Matkari
Quick Viewpoint: Bhaai Part 2 maintains a similar tone to the first part & overall feels like a soothing emotionally subtle take on the journey of Maharashtra’s most loved writer & a great icon.
What Works?
- Just like in the first part Sagar Deshmukh & Irawati Harshe excel in their parts as Pu La & Sunita Bai respectively. But the standout performer of this film is Shubhangi Damle who plays the older version of Sunita Bai. She doesn’t simply look very similar to the real Sunita Bai but also creates a direct emotional connect through her subtle performance. Of course some credit in her performance also goes to Irawati Harshe as her voice has been used throughout for Sunita Bai’s character.
- The cameos are less here compared to the first part but they are even more long lasting in our mind. The most effective ones being of Neena Kulkarni as Vijaya Mehta & Vikram Gaikwad as Vijay Tendulkar. Vijay Tendulkar being an equally great writer, his sensibilities were completely opposite to that of Pu La’s & yet the film manages to understand & respect both the sides without making a competition out of it!
- Pu La’s equation with Baba Amte & his work tells us who Pu La really was as a human being. In one of the crucial moments of the film we see Sunita Bai arguing with Pu La on her decision of not having a child. The film uses the already established traits of Pu La’s character to join dots in this scene, to make us understand Pu La & Sunita Bai in an emotionally logical way!
- The musical ‘Maiphil’ that was the highlight of the first part also has a beautiful rendition in this part. Kumar Gandharva played by Swanand Kirkire is the main element in this ‘Maiphil’ & Swanand Kirkire manages to make us believe that Kumar Ji has become weaker in his old age & yet in spirit has the same passion for music & his friends.
- Balasaheb Thackeray’s ‘dictatorial’ persona has been carry forwarded from his biopic to this film! But the film knowingly presents Pu La’s side to the actual incident that happened between the two (when Pu La was awarded Maharashtra Bhushan). This & another incident with another politician visiting Pu La has been used effectively to show why Pu La was considered a socially aware writer who called a spade a spade!
- The flow of the film is again very smooth as the first part. The film shouldn’t be judged as a story oriented film because it’s more about the little moments that the film displays & while doing so it paints a very believable picture of Pu La Deshpande & the life he lived.
- Girish Kulkarni’s cameo as ‘Barkya’ a character similar to ‘Babdu’ from Pu La’s ‘Vyakti Ani Valli’ just doesn’t make the necessary emotional connect with a character that originally had a very powerful & disturbing impact. Girish Kulkarni usually a very brilliant actor, here seems to be caricaturing his own self seen in some of his recent roles in films like ‘Jaundya Na Balasaheb’, ‘Faster Fene’ or the cameo in ‘Boys 2’.
Rating: 4/5
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