Director – Ganesh Kadam
Cast – Dilip Prabhawalkar,
Ravindra Mankani, Ashok Samarth, Yatin Karyekar, Nishant Bhavsar, Mrunal Thakur
Imagine
you’re in a restaurant late at night. There’s only one dish on the menu. You’re
hungry and there’s no option. It looks tempting once served. You begin to eat, and
discover it lacks the necessary ingredients. You gulp it, hiding your
irritation. That’s precisely what
happened to me during the screening of Vitti Dandu. A promising start goes
haywire leading to the most unrealistic climax.
A
grandfather narrates the story of his childhood to his grandson. It takes us to
the last days of British rule to a remote village in Konkan. Daaji (Prabhawalkar)
is a British loyalist and expects his grandson Govind (Bhavsar) to follow the
suit. This makes him the butt of villager’s jokes who believe in revolutionary
thought. However, his loyalties are tested when an officer named Khoffner is transferred
to the village.
Vitti
Dandu is not promoted as a dying sport but portrayed as something which had an
impact on the freedom struggle. Now, the director’s attempt to correlate the two
goes like a ship moving in circles trying to reach its destination. His grip on
the plot is weak. A scene which grabs your attention is followed by another which
is completely lifeless. This happens till the very end.
The
film could’ve done better without some songs and some subplots. The second half
is stretched and filled with melodrama. I don’t think the blow of a Dandu (handled
by a kid, yes, a kid!!) creates a ‘South Super Effect’ on the victim (who is
triple his size). Can someone tell me whether such effects were in existence in
1947? Despite these flaws, the one thing which stands out is the cinematography.
The locations in the film are serene and beautiful.
Dilip
Prabhawalkar is fabulous as Daaji. All the supports have done a good job except
Yatin Karyekar who looks like a typecast as Usmaan Chacha (remember the hapless
father in Iqbal?)
I’m going with
two and a half stars out of five for Vitti Dandu. It’s better to watch a slapstick
comedy at home than waste your time on it.
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