Biitter--sweet slice-of-life tale
FILM: Chumbak
CAST: Swanand Kirkire, Vibhavari Deshpande, Sahil Jadhav, Sangram Desai
DIRECTOR: Sandeep Modi RATING:
Akshay Kumar presents his first ever Marathi film, Chumbak and it’s a winner all the way. The film is a delightful, bitter-sweet slice-of-life saga revolving around friendship and how it can influence the way one looks at life.
Baalu (Sahil) has a deepseated desire to follow in his father’s footsteps by setting up a sugar cane juice crushing machine in his home town where a mall is coming up. To that purpose he is working as a cleaner/waiter in an Udipi restaurant in Mumbai, hoarding the scraps of change that could buy him his dreams.
His one misguided attempt at doubling his income turns out to be a scam so his friend Disco (Sangram Desai) a Mobile technician, suggests he pay it forward by scamming others. Their first and only victim happens to be a tenacious mentally challenged adult in his mid-forties, Prasanna (Swanand Kirkire), who manages to bring both the young adults down to heel without consciously trying for that effect.
The film drives home the point that even if ambition and desire take over your life, one should never forget to be human. Neither Baalu, Disco nor Prasanna are rolling in the dough. Their life’s worth is as low as Rs. 20-30,000/- and even with such meagre purchase, they exhibit a humanity that is luminous.
Like the title alludes to, the pull here is from a deep-seated magnanimity that the three main characters exhibit. Disco never stops helping Baalu despite threatening otherwise and Baalu never loses his compassion for others despite being shortchanged at every point. Writer Saurabh Bhave brings out unique character traits while weaving in a simple dramatic and highly effective story. Rangarajan Ramabadran cinematography does well to shed light on the rigors of real life while Chandrashekhar Prajapati’s editing keeps the flow going without any hindrances. Sandeep Modi’s narrative highlighting interpersonal relationships, glides along smoothly, hypnotic in its affect, bulwarked by achingly real performances from Sahil and Sangram. Swanand Kirkire’s Prasanna takes the film to another level altogether – His is an awardworthy performance and must be rewarded with a full house at the very least!