Movie Review: Aevdhese Aabhaal (Marathi)

Bipin Nadkarni and Opticus picture company, brings another Marathi film, "Aevdhese Aahbhaal" (a little bit of sky) based on a novel, "Aapka Bunty" by Mannu Bhandari.

"Aevdhese Aahbhaal" is the story of an eleven year old boy Bunty, who lives with his mother Shakun. Shakun is separated from her husband Ajay and Bunty means the world to her. He meets his father occasionally and is content in this arrangement. Bunty, a sensitive child is fond of plants, painting and butterflies. His innocence and often naïve persona doesn't question the state of affairs between his parents. However, when their divorce comes through and each chooses to move on with their respective partners, Bunty's world is thrown up in turmoil. He cannot accept that either of his parents have someone else in their lives. While with his mother he pines for his father and once with his father he realizes how he misses his mother. With time and circumstances, he metamorphoses from a little caterpillar into a butterfly, who comes to terms with life; the sensitive little child is soon lost in a world of bigger things.

The story per se isn't new. Many films so far have looked at broken homes and children's predicament. Bipin's Bunty is as head strong and as unacccomodating as any child we've seen so far. However, he has his tender moments and his innocence reaches out to strike a chord. Without dwelling too much on the reason for the marital discord ( we see there is another woman, certainly), Bipin focuses more on the trauma of the child and the mother. Pratiksha Lonkar as Shakun is charming and portrays her helplessness and turmoil quite well. Ashok Shinde is perfect as the selfish estranged husband, Ajay.

Ritvik in the role of Bunty is quite good, although at times one wished he'd have been a bit more natural. The pace of the film tends to slacken intermittently and the first half doesn't quite create an impact. It's the second half that builds up the story; and yet when the film ended one was left expecting something more. Perhaps, as they say, art imitates life and there are no perfect answers!

Mahesh Limaye's camera captures moods and ambience perfectly and he has given Rajasthan's beauty a new meaning and captured Kolkata with its typical Bong flavor.

Bipin Nadkarni had earlier given us an award winning film "Uttarayan" based on Jayant Dalvi's play 'Durgi'; which is why one expected more from him in this too.

"Aevdhese Aahbhaal" is worth a watch once. The film opened at Prabhat, in Pune on 1st June 2007.

Rating: ***