5 reviews
Balgandharva, the eminent towering singer from the bygone golden era of Marathi "sangeet natak" (musical dramas) definitely deserved some modern celluloid space. This film does well to document his life, the younger generation who is unaware of his charisma will get to know him.
The film chronicles his life , his acting career well. It gives a good overview of how the drama companies were run and how he influenced the running. His values and character stand out amidst all the tragedies in his life.
As a film, i found the production values to be pretty high and the makers have ensured that nowhere are the sets, costumes compromised upon. Where i found the film a bit lacking was in the editing part. Many times you loose context, for people who do not know the background of his life and times, some scenes may not provide the impact they require to. The editing could definitely have been better, it would have been a nicer film, if the flow seemed natural. Also ,though the drama part is well depicted, his singing seemed a bit ignored to me. The film has some excellently sung songs by Anand Bhate, Rahul Deshpande and co. But the reason why the people were taken over by him in that era was his singing, it was supposed to be divine. Some scenes, which could have shown his musical upbringing, his teachers (bakhale bua is there for a brief scene, but for the un-initiated he would be just another character and not the God-gifted singer, who honed balgandharvas' talent) and their contribution, brief elaboration on the technical aspects via scenes or dialogs on why Balgandharva's singing was like no other and generations of Marathi audiences revere him could have been made clearer.
Some of the characters in the film, which may be known to "Sangeet natak" fans or people from that age, i felt needed better introduction for the sake of the younger generation. I think the director has taken poetic license in many places in terms of depiction of these surrounding characters.
The best part was after the movie ends,along with the credits, rare photographs of "balgandharva" are shown , and I witnessed the audience which is normally eager to leave the hall after a movie, standing still in pin drop silence seeing those photographs. It still shows how special a place Balgandharva has in people's hearts.
They say Gandharva are "shaapit" (cursed) people, with great singing talent, the tragic life of this "shaapit" gandharva has been brought alive in this movie. 8/10 from me for this effort.
The film chronicles his life , his acting career well. It gives a good overview of how the drama companies were run and how he influenced the running. His values and character stand out amidst all the tragedies in his life.
As a film, i found the production values to be pretty high and the makers have ensured that nowhere are the sets, costumes compromised upon. Where i found the film a bit lacking was in the editing part. Many times you loose context, for people who do not know the background of his life and times, some scenes may not provide the impact they require to. The editing could definitely have been better, it would have been a nicer film, if the flow seemed natural. Also ,though the drama part is well depicted, his singing seemed a bit ignored to me. The film has some excellently sung songs by Anand Bhate, Rahul Deshpande and co. But the reason why the people were taken over by him in that era was his singing, it was supposed to be divine. Some scenes, which could have shown his musical upbringing, his teachers (bakhale bua is there for a brief scene, but for the un-initiated he would be just another character and not the God-gifted singer, who honed balgandharvas' talent) and their contribution, brief elaboration on the technical aspects via scenes or dialogs on why Balgandharva's singing was like no other and generations of Marathi audiences revere him could have been made clearer.
Some of the characters in the film, which may be known to "Sangeet natak" fans or people from that age, i felt needed better introduction for the sake of the younger generation. I think the director has taken poetic license in many places in terms of depiction of these surrounding characters.
The best part was after the movie ends,along with the credits, rare photographs of "balgandharva" are shown , and I witnessed the audience which is normally eager to leave the hall after a movie, standing still in pin drop silence seeing those photographs. It still shows how special a place Balgandharva has in people's hearts.
They say Gandharva are "shaapit" (cursed) people, with great singing talent, the tragic life of this "shaapit" gandharva has been brought alive in this movie. 8/10 from me for this effort.
What should a biopic have? Obviously it's a life story of the person but the audience is also looking for an insight into the personality. The audience wants to know what made that person great.
This film does not give us any insight into the personality of the person. We are seeing chronological events in the life of Bal Gandharva. The acting by Subodh Bhave is excellent and you can just enjoy the film for that. The songs are a primer for the non initiated. But without juicy titbits or an insight into the personality of Bal Gandharva, the film is a slog.
This film does not give us any insight into the personality of the person. We are seeing chronological events in the life of Bal Gandharva. The acting by Subodh Bhave is excellent and you can just enjoy the film for that. The songs are a primer for the non initiated. But without juicy titbits or an insight into the personality of Bal Gandharva, the film is a slog.
- gautam-moharil
- Dec 25, 2020
- Permalink
Balgandharva.... This movie is absolutely a fantastic movie the music, acting, casting everything on the top..
This movei have all that element... Which a biopic need..
You have to watch this move once... Trust me you end up with a grate Cinematic Experience..
- smokeyicon
- Mar 7, 2021
- Permalink
I was keen to watch this movie but was really disappointed by lack of any story line and development of characters. The movie could have been rather named as 'Tragedy of Balgandharva'.
The only scene which leaves impact is guest appearance of Rahul Deshpande and his song. Subodh Bhave's acting is quiet good but feels has unnecessary saitnt like appearence of old movies like Saint Tukaram.
His big stardom is never portrayed in the movie and his character is portrayed as a loser. He is always portrayed as a struggling artist, who is trying to make two ends meet.
The movie feels very superficial and has lot of factual errors. For example Maharaja Sayaji rao Gaikwad is shown giving him some money just before his death. Balgandharva died in 1967 where as Mh. Sayajirao had died long before in 1939. The poor story line the movie just drifts away without ever taking off. It gives a feel of car doing its whole journey on first gear and never picking up the speed.
His big stardom is never portrayed in the movie and his character is portrayed as a loser. He is always portrayed as a struggling artist, who is trying to make two ends meet.
The movie feels very superficial and has lot of factual errors. For example Maharaja Sayaji rao Gaikwad is shown giving him some money just before his death. Balgandharva died in 1967 where as Mh. Sayajirao had died long before in 1939. The poor story line the movie just drifts away without ever taking off. It gives a feel of car doing its whole journey on first gear and never picking up the speed.
- Production values are top notch. Everything is done well, the costumes and sets are superb.
- Bhave acts like his part was a Sant in an old B&W marathi movie (think Arun Govil in Ramayan for a later reference). Gives the movie an unnecessarily saintly and holier than thou touch.
- Direction is totally subpar. There is no narrative. People appear and are told to us as having done things and having meaning to the story, but they were never introduced. Who was it that left in a huff when Balgandharva decides to collaborate with Keshavrao? Multiple people die during the course of the movie, but the same scene plays out to establish all deaths (Bhave is doing natak practice, people's faces are shown fallen, Bhave says what happened, news of death is broken). I mean come on. The language is highfalutin. Who the hell says "Rasikaprekshanna" in conversation? The scenes of overspending and debt are repeated over and over again. The tone of the movie is "life of a saint" when it should have been "life of a *human* artiste" (indeed the story plays out as the latter, so the tone is just very odd).
- The worst thing is Balgandharva was above all a singer, and singing is given short shrift in the movie. Natyasangeet is an excellent art form, and I give kudos to the movie for making it popular again, but honestly, they have not done a good job of showing it. They have over-ornamented the orchestra, and undercut the sangeet itself. (Rahul Deshpande's Ravi mi, at only two and a half minutes, is the best song in the movie, and is not sung by "Balgandharva").
- Same thing about the sangeet nataks themselves. There is very little in terms of their story or impact (and no, showing people yelling at shopkeepers for not carrying the saree from the natak is not impact, it's gimmickry).
- Overall this is the kind of movie that wins national awards in India and tugs at people's heartstrings, and is made with good intentions, but as a disinterested viewer, the outcome falls quite short.