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.

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.

What a splendid movie… After so many years such a drama full of all sort of emotions Anger, Fear, Joy, Jealousy, sorrow, grief, fear, hope, love, hate, cruelty, greed, frustration, disappointment, desire, curiosity, surprise, gratitude, sympathy what was not there…. Such a lovely drama opening all the threads of all possible worldly relations naively narrating in an eloquent manner. I don't know how many times in the middle of the movie i just wanted a pause to capture all of it into my soul. Every scene every dialogue was building it's own impact/impression or sense in the parallel world, even if u leave behind the whole story plot. Be it Karn and Krishna Sequence or the king lear one. Nana Patekar no words to his performance, you can clearly see how this great actor has worked throughout his life, It looks like he has lived his own life in this movie. Still now these words "To be or not to be" are resonating in my mind.

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.

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.