Banner: Meena Shamim Films
Producer & Director: Munnawar Shamim Bhagat
Star Cast: Bhushan Pradhan, Sanskruti Balgude, Prajakta Dighe & Shekhar Phadke
Music: Rafique Shaikh
Debutant director Munnawar Shamim Bhagat, who has also produced Nivdung, has made an experimental albeit a topical film based on the farmer’s suicide.
Keshav (Bhushan Pradhan) is a struggling musician who fails to make any mark. So much so that even his live – in girl friend ditches & deserts him for another beau. Keshav now wanders aimlessly and even decides to commit suicide. He lands up in a village where he is given shelter by an old woman who lives with her young daughter (Sanskuti Balgude). They both fall in an unexplained bond of silent love. Pressurized by a the Village Money lender, the trio of them take to farming on a barren land. But still Keshav tries to commit suicide many times till a ray of hope arrives with a full on Monsoon.
Debutant director Munnawar Shamim Bhagat has made a sensitive film on the evergreen topic of farmers committing suicide in villages. His directorial treatment succeeds in driving home the right message. But still he could not resist the temptation of placing a lavni song in such an emotional narrative.
Performance wise both Bhushan Pradhan & Sanskruti Balgude steal the limelight with their restrained act. But they sometimes appear to be uncomrtable in certain scenes. Veteran actress Prajakta Dighe is good but Shekhar Phadke is a total misfit in the role of a villainous Money lender.
All said and done Nivdung is more of a single theatre film for the interiors than that of a Multiplex Cinema of metrpolitan cities. Moreover Nivdung may garner a lot of critical acclaim and awards galore in the Global Film Festival circuit.
