Mankawada: सैराट झालं जी.... ('Sairat'

A movie that makes you taste all ‘Nava-rasas’ of the literature!

Our Sanskrut literatures believe that, emotions generated from any piece of an art could be classified as per one or more of the (नवरस, Navras) 9 essences of emotions namely: (श्रुंगार, Shrungar) Love / Erotic, (हास्य, Hasya) Humorous, (करुणा, Karuna) Compassion / tragedy, (रौद्र, Roudra) Fury / Anger, (वीर, Veer) Heroic / Bravery, (भयानक, Bhayanak) Horror / Terror, (बिभत्स, Bibhatsa) Disgust, (अद्भूत, Adbhoot) Wondrous, (शांत, Shant) Peace / tranquillity.

But ‘Sairat’ (meaning स्वैर, licentious or self-willed) is one such movie that has optimum doses of all of the above Navrasas. Yes! All of them!

Sairat - in theaters near you!

Movie starts with a love story of college going teens, takes you along through their struggle till happy anti climax. But the climax is what that shatters you to the core. Though this climax is a take on one of the horrendous social issue of our time, it comes as a natural progression of the story. Marketing this movie on this social issue would have been a tempting strategy but makers like the movie are genuine to the core and thus have abstained from discussing it simply because this story isn’t for the issue; this issue is simply an outcome of the story. Till last 5 – 10 minutes no one can predict the end and thus even I won’t discuss the issue so as to keep your interest intact.

There is nothing new on story front but screen play & presentation is so strong that it keeps you involved with the protagonists. It never leaves any loose thread. Like protagonists, all the secondary characters also reach their natural end in the story. We know what happens to friends and parents of the protagonists after they run from the village. It always sticks to the logic so much so that we know how the protagonists manage their daily cores while living on the road. It is deeply rooted in realty. Villains and protagonists don't do anything unrealistic or larger than life. Goons of the villain don't roam the village roads with dozens of revolvers in their hand. Actully there is just one local made revolver and just one gun shot in the entire movie. It catches the raw feel of the village life without losing the touch with the multiplex crowd. Plus as I have already said, it has all, love, humour, fear, suspense, disgust etc etc

Sairat

Credit goes to the vision of actor, director, writer, producer, casting director of the movie Mr. Nagraj Popatrao Manjule (this is his 2^nd film, first being critically acclaimed ‘Fandry’). Credit goes to pool of talented actors like Rinku Rajguru (Aarchi – female lead), Akash Thosar (Parshya – male lead), Tanaji Galgude (Balya), Arbaj Shaikh (Salya), Dhananjay Nanavare (Mangya), Anuja Mulay (Ani). All of them have done such an incredible job that no one will believe that this is their first attempt of acting (not just in film but acting filed as such). All of them are ably supported by the known actors like Suresh Vishwakarma (Tatya) & Chhaya Kadam (Suman). Credit goes to the locations. Credit goes to cinematographer Sudhakar Reddy for making this film a visual treat. And finally, credit goes to producers Nitin Keni and Nikhil Sane too.

It is evident from - all shows running house full that, all of them have made a film that will appeal to classes & masses both .

Akash Thosar & Rinku Rajguru in Sairat

It is a full blown love story of Aarchi and Parshya and thus it won’t do justice to the efforts of Rinku and Akash if I casually mention their names along with other actors. In fact both of them are so effortless and natural that they will keep on reminding you some or the other underdog you might know or some friend or cousin of yours. Rinku got her share of appreciation with National Award (there seems to be some link between national awards and Nagaraj Manjule. 2 actors from his 1^st film bagged national awards while Rinku is the 3^rd one to bag it) but I felt Akash also deserved a National Award. I was pleasantly surprised to see his performance in a scene as an abusive partner. The violent streak of a generally shy Parshya is quite a shock to the audience. Both - shy smile and heart breaking tears of his will tell you his worth as an actor. If he learns pure Puneri Marathi, I bet, he can be the next Marathi super star.

Now on negative side, film is bit lengthy. It’s almost 3 hours long. Editor Kutub Inamdar should have reduced it by 20 – 25 minutes for making it evenly paced. Though Ajay Atul songs for the film are chart buster hits, I felt music is overpowering the lyrics. Suraj Pawar (Prince) should have done something more to bring out the villainous side of his character. All his scenes of hard hitting slaps are bang on.

These few points should be easily ignored in front of the high entertainment value of the film.

I have also read few reviews which say that this film though good, reminded them of some other movies like Ishqzade but I didn't find it similar to any other film. In fact it is different from other movies with similar plot.

Congratulations team Manjule!