The Phoenixial Flavor of Soil

(A Tribute to old days: We used to call it a ‘room theatre’ during our B-School days. We had two parallel beds with some space between them in a room. We used to put a laptop on the other bed and at around 11:00 PM, four of us used to start watching a movie. We loved it! I guess that was one of the fond memories of 4th sem I’ll keep for a long time with me.)


Yesterday, we had a ‘room-theatre’ session after almost a year. Quorum was reduced to two. But fun wasn’t. Not even a bit. And what a piece to watch-Natarang!

Natarang is a story of a person, Guna, who finds his true passion in life -'Tamasha', a folk dance type, not much respected during its peak years. Circumstances are tough, with Guna being the only earning (a real low wage) member of the family. But as with all passion-blinded people, Guna leaves the binding duties of ‘Sansar’ and starts his own theatre company in which he aspires to play a role of a King. And Guna is well suited for a King’s role, a masculine, hard built body with a royal face! However, situations become complex and he ends up being a ‘Nachya’, a man who perform a women’s role on stage. Add to Tamasha, Nachya is yet more disgusted and mocked character by society. Further, (though I am not very sure about this part in real history) Nachya is always looked upon as a sexual commodity by gay men. Thus, Guna, who started playing a Nachya only for the sake of his love towards theatrical art, is subjected to disturbing incidents and eventually, ends up as a human disgorged by the society. Yet, Guna keeps riding his passion and in the end is honoured as ‘Shahir’, a mastero of folk songs and art.


Well, I have no intention of passing on any judgemental comments on the movie. Even with its flaws or lose moments, movie is definitely worth watching. What I want to lead towards is the intent. The character of the piece.

Point is, in recent times, Marathi movie industry has come up in its own. Consistently, the industry is delivering movies that not only delights but provokes thinking in the audiences. May it be Dombivali Fast, Valu, Satchya Aat Gharat, Natrang or my awaited, Harishchandrachi Factory; Marathi movies are touching and presenting a good blend of art, issues and entertainment. Gone are the days when we used to think that a Marathi movie is the name of farcical activities performed by Laxmikant Berde and Ashok Saraf. (Not that we ever not enjoyed those two!). For sure, in past too, we had movies like Pinjara and Chaukat Raja but off late, they are much more mature given the long hibernation they had. Even this year’s National Awards were dominated by Jogwa, a yet more different class.

Personally, I was bored by bollywood movies in recent times. I was bored watching 40-year old doing repetitive roles. And I still am. People say Aamir tries something different, but for me, his last two movies have been a dustbin product (more for the fact of hype and aura being created around them and their creator, Mr. Aamir). The intelli-scenema, a category of bollywood movies, is surely good but is probably lacking the flavour of soil that is being provided by Marathi industry. Something like Lagaan is so hard to find these days in bollywood.

In last two years, rates of multiplexes have shot through roof. Roof? Probably they have started knocking on Indra’s door. I recently watched Avtar in 350 bucks. Still OK. Gave a little less for 3 Idiots and realised that real idiots were not on the screen but in front of the screen. With so much money at stake, I don’t trust these guys anymore. Well, my bets are now on Marathi movies and seems like I am gonna have a real value for money in near future.