Mrugtrushna - A Children's Film for Adults

Darshan is a friend and hence I can say confidently that what I saw in the movie was something unimaginable.

Story of four friends living besides a river. Their fantasy/dream is to cross the river and explore the land beyond. Each caught in their own web of life, end up pursuing the dream despite multiple obstacles and eventually, like they say in the reels section of Instagram - Wait for the End

The film is an eye opener, a lovely lesson on what it takes to dream and achieve. Written in a local adivasi dialect, the kids have done a great job at acting headlined by Arya Sagar and Nishma Soni. The innocence is extremely well captured. Brilliant act by Jayesh More, Ragi Jani, Happy Bhavsar.

Music is where this movie really stands out, especially the title track Nadi ni Pelle Paar Jau by Saurav Moni gives you a Bhupen Hazarika moment...adding to the rustic appeal. Nishith Mehta has done an excellent job here too.

Equally stunning are the visuals captured by Anil Chandel doing full justice to the locations. The story too is quite unique for our times. Lyrics too bring out the best of the narrative, Tushar Shukla is a veteran at that.

All in all, it is a nice movie which sets a good pace and leaves us with a lot of thought for the present and the future.

Rarely do Producers get accolades for backing such an experimental project, Mrinal Kapadia needs to be patted for such a good decision. 

Don't miss this award-winning presentation, Darshan Ashwin Trivedi, good start to a triology, you have set a benchmark that will be interesting to follow up.

Sonu Per Bharoso Karai

Sonu Tane Mara per Bharoso Nai Ke

A TV from Chor Bazaar can make you chaotically rich

Honestly, considering the name, I was confident that this would be one of those regular slapstick movies that come about. I have known the director Henil Gandhi to be good with stories, I have known Ragi Jani to be a fantastic actor, Off late Malhar's choices of films too have been pretty good, yet this movie. I was mentally prepared for one more disappointment.

But what I saw completely floored me. Of course, not before it had its disappointments.

The Story is straight simple situational. A middle class family lose their TV (in an unbelievable and painful fashion) and decide to go to Chor bazaar to buy a new one. What they discover in the TV is much more than just gold, but confusions, honesty, murders and much more chaos.  

Let us handle Disappointments first:

The first 25 mins need to be endured. It is something that shakes your faith.

Again the villain and the Hindi saga continue. Why do villains have to speak hindi? We are not South India! 

Some dialogues and narratives are more confusing than funny. 

The background music initially was just too loud, it only levelled out later...

There are some scenes which kill the entire flow and have no relation and could have been chopped especially the salon lady and the gangster meeting and seeking help (no this is not a spoiler). It is just there, doing nothing. Adding no value.

Now let us come to the Good things:

Dialogues: Punchy, funny and a lot of time PJs by Suraj Baraliya are rocking. They elevate the movie and take it from slapstick to outright funny in situations.

Ragi Jani: Take a bow. You just took the movie to great heights. There were shadows of Siddharthbhai, still the movie is all standing on Ragibhai and he carries it well. Actually very well. Always talented, he just proved himself all over again.

Malhar: He is himself and that matters. He does a good job at being goofy, funny and likeable. This is one good movie to headline.

Ditto Jayesh More: His chemistry with Ragi is just a treat to watch. Both veterans elevate the movie.

All other support characters fit in fine.

The title song, rocks. What a catchy song. Rahul Munjariya takes it a notch higher. Not to mention the Song in between, again very classy.

All in all, it is an enjoyable movie to take the family out to. Henil Gandhi, welcome to the Good Cinema club. You have actually found Gujarat it very own Priyadarshan. More power to you.

And yes, Malhar's head is more important than that of Nijal because he was wearing a helmet (honestly, a good start).