Natsamrat

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.

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.

Natsamrat is a tribute to a bygone era of Marathi theater which was probably the last great art movement that shaped the texture of the society it inhabited and which it took inspiration from. Life has since moved on and theater has become relegated to the margins of society but a glimpse of what it was capable of has been presented in this great work of art which should become a classic in time.

It tells the story of a once - celebrated giant of the stage whose retirement from theater also starts the beginning of his fall from glory into a miserable state of existence, bought about by ungrateful children and a society that has retreated further into its hypocrisy and shallowness. It has no need of a larger than life actor who lives his life with much of the flair and celebration and truthfulness with which he decorated the roles of the great tragedians of the past. Impotent political correctness and circumspect sheepishness is now the order of the day where truth of any kind is banished and manipulative strategies are encouraged, indeed celebrated. Whereas this larger critique of society and a lone man's fight is nothing new to cinema or art, Natsamrat's unique claim to greatness comes from its brilliant synthesis of searching dialogues and superb acting. There are outstanding exchanges between Vikram Gokhale and Nana Patekar musing on the nature of life and its trials. For our generation raised on easy clichés of feel good relationships, these two actors show what the essence of a truly honorable friendship over years really is. The culmination of this brilliant friendship invokes the famous dialogue from the Mahabharata in which Karna questions Krishna on the unjust nature of Fate and Krishna begs forgiveness. A more memorable display of acting will be difficult to find.

Its a testament to the acting prowess of Nana Patekar that he is able to take on a role which has been considered a milestone in Marathi theater for decades now. The tragic story of an actor is shown through his identification and questioning of the great roles he has performed. He reminiscences of Lear whose folly and tragic pain mirrors his own. Theatre we are shown is not just a means of entertainment but a profound mirror in which we can seek answers to life's most difficult questions, including the greatest of them all: What's the purpose of life itself ? Its another question whether we have the desire to seek these answers. A society is defined by the questions it asks and not necessarily by the solutions it invents. Out great misfortune today is that we don't question the mysteries of existence anymore. The film deals with many more issues of life, death, suffering and the paradoxical depth and shallowness of the actor. Mention must be made of Medha Manjrekar who plays the dignified stoical wife whose self effacing dedication to her husband is only matched by her lifelong resolve to protect him. She keeps having high temperatures, perhaps because she always takes the storms on herself. A film that should be seen many many times.

I don't have good knowledge of Marathi language. But on a friends recommendation I have watched this movie. Believe me my first question to him "How many times you cried while watching this movie?". I could not control my emotions and cried like a child. Each and every characters have strong role to play. Each part of movie is not to be missed. This is masterpiece.Thanks to Mahesh Manjrekar, Nana Patekar and all cast to pour liveliness in character. I must have missed some core Marathi words to understand but acting says it all. Movie will not allow you to get disturbed while you watching it. I don't have words as I am still in influence of movie while writing this review. IMDb please don't force to write 10 lines :). Thanks. Must watch it.

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 :-)