Makeup Marathi Movie Review: Strange in a Good Way!

• Movie : Makeup (2020) | मेकअप
• Producer : Deepak Mukut, B. Balaji Rao, Hiren Gada, Neeraj Kumar Burman, Amit Singh
• Director : Ganesh Pandit
• Star Cast : Rinku Rajguru, Chinmay Udgirkar, Prateeksha Lonkar, Rajan Tamhane
• Story, Screenplay and Dialogues : Sujoy Roy & Ganesh Pandit

Viewpoint: Rinku Rajguru’s third outing in Marathi cinema, ‘Makeup’ turns out be problematic in terms of her performance but overall the film succeeds because it defies stereotypes and avoids usual sentimental melodrama! The two halves of the film though distinctly different in terms of plot and tone, they compliment each other well and give us a strangely unique mainstream entertainer!

What Works? 

• Ganesh Pandit has been an established writer in Marathi cinema for around a decade now, this film is his directorial debut & the film reflects his unique sense of comedy in many ways. One of the most effective ways is the way in which he uses certain details in objects or props to extract humour. Throughout the first half which is primarily a comedy he uses certain objects, elements in almost every scene to convey few underlying themes of that particular scene or about the characters. Whether it’s a mobile phone, simple entrance doors, an audio device that constantly chants “Shree Swami Samarth”, or a sizzler dish ordered in a restaurant! Not many filmmakers in Marathi use such elements creatively.
• ‘Makeup’ succeeds in protecting the film by not revealing too much in the promos, trailers. Many films don’t understand the risk of giving away too much. Here because of the protection we are pleasantly surprised with the turns the plot takes.
• The film defies the norm that we need a conventional hero, conventional heroine coming together conventionally in a romantic dramedy! The two of the main characters are put through strange circumstances and are made to go through things we all face in our lives.
• The strangeness of the second half is such that many a times we as audiences are conflicted on whether to laugh or to feel bad! While this could be frustrating for some lot of the audiences to me it was exciting! Seldomly our films put us in such conflicted two minds, I enjoyed it!
• The film silently stands for all the right things related to feminism in today’s times. But more so it also looks at family in a new way, one that could be easily relatable to today’s youth.
• The music of the film is really good. Especially because these days it has become rare in Marathi cinema. Though there’s one song which is a remake of a popular Hindi song.
• Chinmay Udgirkar who’s in the male lead along with the rest of the supporting cast except Rinku have given consistent performances.

What Fails? 

• Rinku’s performance falters majorly in all the humorous moments designed around her character. However she is completely effective in other moments. This inconsistency could have been worked upon. It reinstates the fact that ‘comedy’ is the most difficult part of acting, and you can’t be good in it by default.
• The dialogues of the film (especially in the 1^st half) most of the times are too cheesy. It might be deliberately done but it isn’t effective enough.
• It’s clearly evident that the film is directed by a first time director. This film under a more finessed director could have been even more effective! But nevertheless we can expect Pandit’s next film to be better directed!

Final Verdict: ‘Makeup’ is a film about which we can’t really be general in terms of whether all kinds of audiences would be able to enjoy it or not. But certainly if an audience is open minded enough to consume content that defies their expectations and presents a confusing but lifelike tale of love, romance & relationships, ‘Makeup’ can work for them!

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