Harishchandrachi Factory was superb and prompted me to write a lengthy post on Marathi cinema that you can find here. Today, I watched Natrang — a Ravi Jadhav movie with Atul Kulkarni in the lead. I’ll be honest : I can’t say much about the movie, besides superlatives. I strongly recommend watching it (with subtitles, if necessary). Watching it in Marathi is a sure advantage because the dialogues are excellent and crisp. The movie was completely unlike what I expected. I went in expecting a plot rooted in theatre, then it seemed like a light-hearted movie, but the movie turned out to be a drama by the end. It almost seamlessly transitions between themes. Almost.

You must also watch Natrang to see some masterful acting by Atul Kulkarni. There are so many scenes that stayed with me after the movie. I did feel a couple of very minor issues with his acting (forced acting) but that could very well be because I was trying to be a critical viewer. The female lead (was it someone called Sonali ?) was — in my very humble opinion — the weakest link of the movie. Both dance and acting-wise. But these are trivial issues in an otherwise impactful drama.

This is another Marathi movie that you must-watch. I’m sorry if I am recommending too many Marathi movies to readers who don’t understand Marathi. But I’m really not sorry; the movies I recommended are that good. I’m delighted to see the bar stay high. I have 3-4 recent Marathi movies in the pipeline and from what I hear, they are equally good. I’ll keep you posted.

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