Sunday, July 27, 2014

Movie Review: Lai Bhaari (Marathi)

When Chennai Express released, our challenge was to keep the buzz going in the second weekend, making sure CExp pulled in more crowds than Akshay's Once Upon a Time in Mumbai Dobaara. CExp succeeded, elbowing it out of many theatres, and pulling in more moolah than OUATIMD.

Interestingly, this weekend, Salman's much-awaited release Kick has had to fight hard for screens and
 audiences with another movie - and no, it does not have another Khan. It's Ritesh Deskmukh's Lai Bhaari, which is breaking pretty much all box office records for a Marathi movie.

Penned by Kick's director, Sajid Nadiadwaala, and featuring a cameo by none other than Sallu Bhai, Lai Bhaari is running to packed halls even a week after it's release.

Lai Bhaari has a predictable story, spiced with a couple of very sharp and interesting twists. A typical masala movie, including an 80s era Bollywood maa and some strong divine intervention (it's all about Lord Vitthal, remember!). However, for a Marathi movie, the treatment is pretty high standard - the camera work and cinematography, especially the coverage of the Wari yatra, is super. The songs are picturized well, with Ganesh Acharya bringing a distinct Bollywood flavor. A combination of Marathi, Hindi and English present an interesting bundle of croony numbers.

Ritesh is good - he looks good, dances smart, emotes well, and fights a sober version of Rohit Shetty's gravity defying action. The surprise packages are the two female characters - the pouty and hot Aditi Pohankar, and the very spunky Radhika Apte. And to add that little extra dash of spice, Genelia makes a tiny special appearance. Oh, did I mention a very cute 5 min cameo by Sallu Bhai?

Definitely an option this weekend!

ps: The English subtitles makes this movie very palatable, even if your knowledge of Marathi is like my Spanish!

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