Swargandharv Sudhir Phadke

I really enjoyed this nostalgic trip down the memory lane, especially the part that showcases the the partnership between the duo, Sudhir Phadke the great composer/singer and G. D. Madgulkar, the prolific lyricist.

The movie does great justice to the super melodious creations of this composer by including them in original with much improved sound. In the surround sound system of the movie theater, the songs alone are enough to make this show thoroughly enjoyable.

What I didn't like was the lengthy depiction of Babuji's initial struggle days, and the unnecessary inclusion of the part related his participation in some freedom fight. As a result, the movie became too long. After all, if the makers gave it a title of Swargandharv, they should have kept those things out of the movie.

Other than that, all the anecdotes related to G. D. Madgulkar and the early days of other famous singers and personalities were quite interesting. The performances by all the main characters were great and helped relive the nostalgia.

Another thing that I didn't like was the fact that the talents of his wife were underplayed even though she was also a non-trivial artist before marriage and sacrificed her fame for the family. On the same lines, although it was interesting to know that young Mohammed Rafi actually sang mangalashtak on their wedding, the script failed to mention or stress the fact that Rafi participated as a friend of the bride and not of Sudhir Phadke. I found this out later when I searched the web to verify the authenticity of this interesting anecdote of Rafi singing Mangalashtak.

All in all, I would like to watch the movie again some time and that really tells how much I liked it.