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.

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.

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 :-)

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.