Natsamrat

Some movies go beyond the visuals, the dialogues, the script & even the actors to make an ineffaceable mark on your memory lane. Natsamrat is one such astonishing piece of cinema!

A screen adaptation of Kusumagraj's iconic Marathi play "Natsamrat", this movie takes us through the life of a veteran theater actor named Ganpat "Appa" Belwalkar (Nana Patekar), the fame & stardom during his heydays & the tragic upturn of his life after his retirement. The agony of the lead character is heartbreaking and the story telling is path-breaking. This movie leaves you with moist eyes & a scratched soul.

Nana Patekar is outstanding as Ganpat Belwalkar. He owns this movie with unmatched conviction. "Natsamrat" in literal sense means the "The King of Actors" & this man makes you realize that he indeed is amongst the best in Indian cinema. You laugh when he cracks the jokes & you cry when he suffers. He has portrayed this character with such a proficiency that you leave the cinema hall with a reverence to the phenomenon called Nana Patekar!

As Amitabh Bachchan is the "Shenshah"& so is Shahrukh the "King Khan". Nana Patekar, should, with due authority, be rechristened as "Natasamrat Nana Patekar" after this performance.

Vikaram Gokhale as Rambhau is superlative. The veteran actor plays the role with such a conviction that in few scenes he given even Nana Patekar a run for his money. The sequence on his deathbed when Gokhale recites lines from the Mahabharat gave me goosebumps. This movie will be a milestone for this "Best Man in the Marathi theater". The scenes of Nana & Vikram Gokhale are the life of this movie. What a camaraderie! It's like watching Sachin & Ganguly bat together. Sheer brilliance!

Medha Manjrekar as Kaveri Ganpat Belwalkar is serene. The romance between Anna & Kaveri is ethereal. Mrunmayee Deshpande, Neha Pendse, Sunil Barve play their parts well.

The director, Mahesh Manjrekar needs a serious applause for steering the ship such beautifully. The film is an ode to the theater greats from V V Shirwadkar to Shakespeare. The story telling is refined, to-the-point & touches you to the core. Even though the plot is melodramatic & you would have seen similar plots of aging Parents suffering in the hands of their children in movies like Baghbaan, Avatar and many more, Mahesh Manjarekar's Natsamrat hits you the hardest. The director makes you feel the weight of Nana's pain & suffering.

Such a kind of cinema needs to be celebrated & it's high time that Marathi Cinema gets its due acclaim & admiration. This movie will make Bollywood realize what they have missed by not using an actor of Nana Patekar's class to his truest potential.

My take: A must watch! Go & experience the acting prowess of Nana Patekar.

This movie is a mixture of all emotions - love,sadness,anger,trust,surprise, etc. It perfectly balances and portrays the happy and sad moments in life alternately and surprises the audience all the times. Also, this movie is worth watching because first of all, it is the adaptation of one of the most famous Indian (Marathi) play - 'Natsamraat'; secondly,it has stellar and noteworthy performances from supreme actors like Nana Patekar, Vikram Gokhale, Medha Manjrekar and all other actors / actresses have also performed extremely well !! And last but not the least, since this is another screen adaptation of famous Marathi play (first was 'Katyar Kaljat Ghusali' based on the famous Marathi musical play), 'Natsamrat' movie is, no doubt, worth watching on the big screen !!! Go watch it now :-)

Natsamraat had a pretty good run in theatres, especially for a Marathi movie in Bollywood's heartland Mumbai! With every review being good, and of course with Nana Patekar, I too wanted to see this film and eventually I did last night on DVD.

This movie is brilliant and 10 is not high enough a rating.

Nana Patekar is at his very best. The story is riveting, so real and so poignant, a story of our times, unfolding through the powerful dialogues of a Natsamraat who certainly deserves the title.

This is so different from the stereotyped roles Nana Patekar plays in Bollywood films.

Natsamraat has English sub titles. My Marathi is of the spoken variety and I read the sub titles for some of the dialogues but as the movie progressed, they were not necessary because the manner in which Nana delivered his dialogues was sufficient to convey the meaning of every single word.

This film ought to have sub titles in all major regional languages for a wider audience, and it surely deserves the National Award.

Natsamrat is the answer to what Marathi cinema can do. Spell Magic. Nana Patekar delivers a stellar performance though falters in the parts he is gripped with alcohol. You have an answer there. Vikram Gokhale excels and takes over the baton with a dash of whiskey. Cheers!! I easily cry watching movies but something was amiss here that even emotional scenes to the hilt couldn't roll down a tear down my face. The direction is pretty good but somewhere the writing lacked depth that it couldn't move a weakling like me. All things said, I doubt an actor or a film can better this in Bollywood. Regional cinema in India is gold. Needs to be excavated more. Yes! Excavated!! I am a Keralite born and brought up in Pune and had to rely on subtitles owing to the tough Marathi used in the movie. Medha Manjrekar who played is better half is good and Mrinmayee Deshpande also delivers. Nana Patekar is supreme and he steals the show.

What a movie by Nana Patekar!! He is at his best. It feels like watching the sequel of the legendary movie Wajood. Love it!!