Muramba- Marathi Film Review

This is a film for the family-the major players are these four: boy, girl, and his parents.

The father is played by a well-known actor, while the boy and girl are relative newcomers. You may recognise the girl (Mithila Palkar) as the heroine of Karvaan, the Hindi film that released recently. Certainly worth a watch for its novel style of storytelling, though it has many "typical" scenes -this word is used a lot by the characters, poking fun at stereotypical filmy scenes for a given situation.

The girl and the boy are in a deep relationship that everyone assumes will lead to marriage, and they break up quite suddenly- or so it seems to the parents. How they delve into getting the girl's side of the story and try to get the romance back on track forms the story.

The elderly couple are of course, good actors with long experience, and the youngsters don't let you down. Refreshingly told, it stands up to its promise from the first scene till the end.

Kaccha Limbu- Marathi Film Review

This is a film (literally, it means an unripe lemon, a metaphor for an underdeveloped child) about the struggle that the parents of a special child go through. They put their dreams on hold, and deal with their everyday life to the best of their abilities. Helping them cope is a friend each-the mother's boss, and the father's colleague.

The story has dramatic twists with unexpected events, and I don't want to be a spoiler in case anybody wants to see it. See it you should, if your interest is serious films. It's subtitled, so you can understand it mostly without knowing Marathi. And at under two hours, just right, without added masala. It's also shot in grey tone, lending it a dramatic quality.

Sonali Kulkarni was for me a great find, and pours out her heart. Sachin Khedekar and the other two male actors (the husband and the special kid) also have played their parts very well. Anant Mahadevan is seen after a long time in a nice role too.

I am continuing to be impressed by the variety of subjects Marathi films have tackled well in the last few years. Regional cinema has an advantage that it is less expensive to make, and therefore can take chances, I guess.