Mee Shivaji Raje Bhosle Boltoy – A Movie Review

Never before have I seen a Marathi movie as good as this. No, I generally do not watch Marathi movies, and the number of them focusing on the urban middle class audience is less. This was one is a gem of a movie I must say. It is released at a right time, as the media hype over the local politics was high some time back. Mahesh Manjrekar is excellent in all he does, be it writing, directing or acting. Some of the incidents in Shivaji’s life were very excellently correlated with scenes in the movie and the theme is about a common person voicing opinion in politics. The movie is somewhere similar to Nayak only that this one has a high focus on the Marathi cause and people. As a matter of fact and coincidence, the protagonist in the movie Nayak: The Real Hero was also Shivaji Rao (played by Anil Kapoor). Nevertheless, the presentation is awesome. Before the time comes that saying ‘I am proud of being Marathi’ means your affiliation with some right – wing political party, a movie that brings of sense of pride among the people was certainly the need of the hour.

A movie still from Mee Shivaji Raje Bhosle Boltoy

The protagonist (Sachin Khedekar) of the movie is a clerk in a bank in south Mumbai, from a typical middle class Marathi household with two kids. The son (Abhijit Kelkar) is a computer-engineering aspirant, and the daughter (Priya Bapat) is an aspiring actor. The protagonist is more like a loser living in the heartland of Mumbai, in a thwarting big old bungalow. The movie is all about his personal experiences of being discriminated as a Ghaati (a term used for lower middle class Maharashtrians), the loser feeling that he gets and the encounters with a builder (Vidyadhar Joshi) who wants to vacate his bungalow. The builder intends to build a multi – storey complex at the place of his bungalow, and send Mr. Bhonsle to Badlapur, a town in the outskirts of Mumbai along with the gift of a car. The drama is all about this fight. Typically, a middle class person would not go for any fight with a builder who already has contacts with goons and the government offices. Nevertheless, Mr. Bhonsle despite being the kind of a looser he is goes on to fight against the builder when Shivaji starts appearing to him the Lage Raho Munnabhai style. The fight is no that smooth, there are wonderful vicissitudes midway.

When his son is attacked, he refrains from the fight anymore as the matter has reached his home, but then followed by a powada, (a form of Marathi song) his imaginary Shivaji starts motivating him again. The fight between Shivaji and Afzal Khan is presented in between the powada very wonderfully. He rises up again, and then there is the episode when his whole family is kidnapped, and again the imaginary Shivaji comes up with another incidence.

The 10 – minute speech on politics is a good one. The important point that politics is dirty because we people are dirty is a notable one. After all, it is rule by the people. The discrimination faced in the first half, and answered in the second half is a must-watch. This movie will bring your pride of being a Marathi up, and on a very positive note. This movie does not look for bringing up a Marathi spirit by any common hatred (the way dictators look for doing), but by binding of some common goals. This film does not have any racial slurs, or anything against any community.

However, I do feel the case of the protagonist is somewhere exaggerated; it does not represent the common middle class Marathi man. The middle class Marathis too are having their own achievements and a decent education, openness to modernity and modesty. The average middle class Marathis are not that naïve as much as shown in the movie (my personal perception). We can say this one is for the naïve, who has not waked up for the caliber he has, and the opportunities in front of him in MH itself.

The dialogues are very exact, with those in the first half being a little on the losing side, whereas those in the second half were glorifying. A must watch for the Marathi pseudo – liberals and the extreme right – wingers (hoping both will have a shift in their opinion).

The best part of the movie was the presentation of the story. The way incidents of real life of Shivaji are connected with the story of the movie are something worth seeing. This one will not make you to give any jingoistic ‘jai Bhavani, jai Shivaji’ chant, but one filled with a meaning!

My rating: ****