Savita Damodar Paranjpe (2018)
Directed by : Swapna Waghmare Joshi
Bollywood star John Abraham’s first production venture in Marathi language film is an adaptation of a popular 80’s play by the same title where late actor Reema Lagoo played the protagonist. It’s a rare phenomenon to witness a psychological thriller in Marathi cinema & this one is an exception.
The story revolves around an upper class elite couple The Abhyankars, Sharad (Subodh Bhave) a novelist/writer and his wife Kusum(Trupti Toradmal) an architect. Things start getting difficult when Kusum gets recurrent attacks of severe aches and start behaving abnormally, their family doctor confirms it’s a case of split personality needing psychological assistance whereas a distant relative turned palmist Ashok(Rakesh Bapat) suspects Kusum is possessed. In either case Kusum claims she is a certain “Savita Damodar Paranjpe” whenever experiencing the attack. The helpless husband tries to solve the mystery only to delve deep into a disturbing & shocking past.
Director Joshi has done a brilliant job of adapting the popular 80’s play and has also taken cinematic liberty of certain editing as well as infusing some novelty. Minute details are given preference in order to suit an 80’s atmosphere including tape recorders, radios, car models of that era & typical 80’s telephones. The music could have been better but doesn’t disappoint. Screenplay & dialogues are a major let down but the original story is intriguing & interesting. Considering the running time of just two hours the director specifically deals with Kusum’s psyche and the way her case is being medically as well as psychologically diagnosed and treated.
On the acting front it’s a Subodh Bhave show altogether. He’s fantastic and that would be an understatement. Displaying sorrow, helplessness, empathy, joy, lust, care just about everything with such perfection makes him the best thing about this movie. Comparatively Trupti Toradmal displays cold expression in an author backed role, she is unable to convey the battered emotions of Kusum & the voice whether dubbed or her own fails to match with her facial expressions.
Fair & not so lovely Rakesh Bapat is a total disaster as Ashok, yet another case of a good role being played indifferently in an amateur manner. Abhay Mhaskar as the family doctor is listless and Pallavi Patil playing Sharad’s sister looks charming & presentable but can’t emote convincingly. Hemangi Kavi in a cameo playing the titular role appears in the disturbing flashbacks but impresses with her bravura performance proving that length of the role is irrelevant.
Considering this subject was first presented on stage in the 80’s just goes to prove how bold & advanced Marathi stage was at that time as compared to the regressive family tv dramas being aired nowadays. The movie openly explores the psychological trauma faced by a woman who is battling two identities & the director does manage to succeed in conceptualising it to suit the big screen.
Overall a decent attempt to deal with a rarely explored psychological thriller genre in Marathi Cinema.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Comments
Post a Comment