Chumbak

I got a chance to watch this film at MAMI 2017. The film starts off with an interesting premise of a small time waiter boy (Balu) trying to con a simpleton (Prasanna, played flawlessly by Swanand Kirkire) to make money for his dream of opening a juice shop. While Balu succeeds in his scam initially, his guilt takes over soon. He returns to Prasanna and their journey together forms the rest of the film.

I am not a regular viewer of Marathi movies but this simple film kept me thoroughly engaged thanks to the really well written characters and twists in the story. Nothing seems forced. The character journey of Balu forms the crux of the story and his ideological conflicts with Prasanna resonate the voices of so many ambitious individuals today.

The movie doesn't take the easy route of creating an external villain. The central conflict between survival and righteousness perfectly takes the story to it's superb finale. The best testament to it's supreme storytelling is that towards the climax, when the primary character faces a crossroad, there is no defined right or wrong. I would have been perfectly fine with Balu taking any of the two options. For a film to allow me to build such non-judgmental empathy towards a character was quite amazing!

Highly recommend the movie to everyone. A must watch.

I always knew Swanand Kirkire is a very good lyricist, also a good singer. But, I didn't know he's also such a brilliant actor. I've seen some of his acting previously, but didn't think that he can pull off such a character with perfection. No doubt why he won National Award for this.

Now, after a long time I watched such a lovely film. Story or the writing is the best thing of this film. Both the young actors (Sahil Jadhav & Sangram Desai) acted very well. This film also teaches many things of life. Lastly, it's a BEAUTIFUL EXPERIENCE, you'll love it.

Available on Sony LIV.

© MandalBros.

CHUMBAK REVIEW :

From the very first poster release there was a curiousity about this film among folks that will it manage to live upto those high expectations level or not? The Answer is, Chumbak Surpasses all the expectations and moreover gives something more than what one wanted as a Quality Cinema Lover.

Shot on real locations in Mumbai and some native parts of Maharashtra Chumbak is a Story of 3 Characters with different perspective, Balu (Sahil Jadhav), his friend Disco (Sangram Desai) and Prasanna Thombare played by Swanand Kirkire. There are plenty of instant situations in the screenplay which shouldn't be told here otherwise it will kill the Freshness of those scenes completely. Sahil Jadhav and Sangram looks natural in the film, they never try to over-act. On the other side Swanand Kirkire has nailed the Mentally challenged character from the first frame to the last one. If you are a Fan of Swanand the Writer then after watching his Portrayal of Prasanna you will surely become a Fan of Swanand an Actor. Film mainly revolves around these 3 characters so rest of the artist does not get enough space to leave an Impact yet they are Perfect in thier limited screenspace.

Chumbak is a Fine example of how could writing make a Film Winner with constantly instant spaces along with Enough Emotional Quotient toward the End hence ending the film on a High note. Pleasant to eyes frames shot by Director of photography Rangarajan Ramabadran makes viewing experience even better. Dialogues are Humourious, makes you laugh naturally on certain moments and some makes you senti as well. Sandip Modi is a name which is yet to get a fame, so now he will receive enough recognisation and possibly awards too for Directing this Heart-warming outing with his Brilliant vision.

As a Final Verdict, Chumbak works like Magnet and attracts a Desperate cinema viewer in you. This one is Certainly Competitive for The Best Film of The Year, and might even beat other High Class films came out this year. Chumbak deserved a Support from a Big name and I'm happy that Akshay Kumar chose a Right project for backing.

RATING- 8/10*

Story of hope and innocent going hand in hand facing the cruel world . A boy with the hope of making a name for himself and innocent man trying to prove to the world that he can take care of him and his family .

Movie unfolds a lot of emotions and captures them brilliantly .

The climax for me poses a very important question that does end really justify the means .

Juts one word masterpiece.

Movie will leave with you beautiful message and tears of satisfaction and joy.

Literally masterpiece. Marathi film industry is very underrated and they are keep making these type of underrated masterpiece movies.