Natsamrat

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.

I cant figure out any flaw with any part of this movie. This movie actually urged me to open an IMDb account and rate it as 10 stars as I really want the world to see what a masterpiece has been created by a small community of enthusiasts. Though the story has been adapted from an old Marathi play the movie does justice to every aspect of film making. The poems are mesmerizing. The acting is outstanding. The movie makes you question the harsh reality of relationships and standing up for what you believe in. A post retirement story of a down to earth actor parallels with the different acts he has played in his lifetime. Every aspect of human emotion including love, hate, betrayal, empathy, forgiveness, trust has been elegantly painted in the entire movie.

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 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.

Natsamrat (2016): Till now I haven't watched any Marathi film but I had heard lot of praise all the times for Nana Patekar and Mahesh Manjrekar.When I have heard about Natsamrat,I have decided that let this movie introduce me to Marthi cinema so I gave it a try..So how is Natsamrat??Did it gave me a good start??

Plot: The film is a tragedy about a veteran theater actor named Ganpat "Appa" Belwalkar (Nana Patekar) who has been the best of his lot during his heyday, garnering fame and fortune acting in plays based on various works, especially William Shakespeare's. It is a tragedy of a veteran actor who enjoyed a very vital importance in his life but who becomes the victim of old age alienation and estrangement. The film reveals an intensely tragic fate of an actor who becomes victim of fate and fortune in old age, which is similar to the fate of Lear. Natsamrat suffers the pangs of old age and dishonor inflicted on him by his own children. It is a tragedy of great humanist and actor who succumbs to the ill fate and destiny. In fact, Natsamrat is a story of Ganpatrao Belvalkar, who withstands great suffering after his retirement from stage acting.

Plus Points:

1)Performances: Nana Patekar is truly a Natsamrat.He deserves an award for sure for his mind blowing performance.Patekar, at 65 proves that great actors don't fade away. They simply burn brighter with the growing awareness of mortality. This performance of a man raging against human injustices and God's quirky decree will rank among the most towering performances of Indian cinema.Vikram Gokhale as Rambhau is equally compelling. The sequence on his deathbed when Gokhale recites lines from the Mahabharat makes our hairs stand on-end. This is an actor at the crest of his performing ability.Medha Manjrekar as Sarkaar is brilliant in her role.

2)Dialogues Screenplay and Direction: Natsamrat is a very old-fashioned melodramatic morality tale, and that's the highest compliment I can pay this extraordinarily rich emotional drama. One of the residual joys of watching this expansive tear-jerkier is its affectionate and enthusiastic evocation of theater greats from V V Shirwadkar to Shakespeare and, yes, even Tenesee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. The director, rather dexterously brings in the idea of 'Old Theatre' versus 'New Theatre', of changing mores in theater and life.Writers Kiran Yadnopavit, Abhijeet Deshpande for bringing alive a 45-year old play to remind us that great writing is ever renewable.Thank you, Mahesh Manjrekar, for restoring our faith in a cinema that speaks a straight emotional language and doesn't borrow its sensitivities from European cinema.

3)Music: Background score is brilliant and carries the feel of the movie perfectly.

So,Natsamrat is the best movie of the 2016 with award winning performance from Nana Patekar and brilliant taking of Mahesh Manjrekar.A Masterpiece work....Loved it...

My rating 10/10