Lai Bhari

Lai Bhari has probably been the most hyped Marathi movie in recent times and the expectation is probably what left me feeling a bit let down at the end of it all.  If I had taken my usual trip in the weekend of release, it would have helped up my rating a notch I guess.  So, in the spirit of a fair rating, I will still put this as a 6 on 10 – watchable for sure but not necessarily on the screen.

The first thing that kind of let me down was a long drawn start.  By the time our main hero Mauli (Riteish Deshmukh) makes an appearance it is half way down.  Was there a problem with the point of entry? No.  Was there a problem with the long drawn story building up to the entry? Nearly 1 hour and 15 minutes!!!! Whoa!!!! Surely Nishikant Kamat could have wrapped up the soppy start in less than 30 minutes.

Pratapsingh Nimbalkar (Uday Tikekar) and his wife Supriya (Tanvi Azmi) have been childless for 9 years of their marriage.  When the local pujari prevents Supriya from entering the temple citing infertility as a reason, she decides to take a long walk to Padharpur and ask the Lord Vitthal for help.  She promises to give up her first born to the temple – not the brightest of ideas.

However, with the first born coming in, the tough call of living up to the promise takes a back seat.  Over the years, the Nimbalkar business grows to epic proportions and with it, gets complicated because of Pratap’s brother and his son Sangram (Sharad Kelkar) who have their eyes clearly set on taking over power.  They also manage to do it with a little bit of help.  And that’s when our hero makes his entry.

Lai Bhari was quite good in many aspects.  The script was reasonably well written with a lot of attention to detail.  The cast was well picked up.  Sharad Kelkar as the sinister, heartless Sangram is very good.  Riteish Deshmukh’s experimentation with different roles is succeeding as of now.  I hope he gets better in the coming days.  Always thought that there was a lot of talent there.

On the flip side, Tanvi Azmi never seems to lose make up even when she is tied up to a huge rock towards the end.  Radhika Apte is restricted to a role that has half an item number as its high point.  That to me was the biggest travesty.  She was probably the most talented in the cast.  And if she was trying to do a Riteish (experimentation) then it didn’t quite work that well.

Lai Bhari is a pretty decent watch.  A cameo from Bhai in the 2^nd half gives you fans a tough choice to make.  Do we watch a not so great movie with Bhai in the lead or a decent movie where he makes less of a fool of himself.  I am sure you guys are intelligent enough to make the right choice.

Watch the trailer on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuYP1viwc3M