Director – Om Raut
Cast – Subodh Bhave, Chinmay
Mandlekar, Priya Bapat, Angad Mhaiskar, Sameer Vidwans
Lokmanya
is the best possible start to 2015. It is an amazing film which covers those aspects
of Tilak’s life which are relevant even today. It is a fast paced biopic that
transits smoothly into the past and present.
A
journalist (Mandlekar) is asked to cover an event which makes Tilak’s unheard
audio tape public. He is moved by the speech and decides to study more on the
late leader’s life. This process brings a change in his thought process and
motivates him to do something for the society.
The film
explains Tilak’s idea of Swarajya (which includes economic freedom), adherence
to western education without overlooking cultural roots, his reasons for
extremism and opposition to Hindu reforms. Journalists can improve themselves
after studying Tilak in his role as the editor of Kesari.
Director Om
Raut has a passion for detail. The end credits will justify it. His script
(written with Kaustubh Savarkar) is well researched but also carries minor
flaws. The modern story could’ve been shorter. Annie Besant, who had a big role
in Tilak’s ‘Home Rule Movement’, is absent. So is MA Jinnah who was Tilak’s
lawyer in 1897.
Subodh Bhave is brilliant as Lokmanya Tilak
but is overshadowed in certain scenes by Sameer Vidwans as Gopal Ganesh
Agharkar. Vidwans is perfect to the core. Chinmay Mandlekar’s ‘botox infested’ face
rarely allows him to express and Priya Bapat is better and far more natural as
compared to her role in Happy Journey.
Every year, some
groups celebrate ‘Shaurya Diwas’, to mark the decisive victory of the British over
the Peshwas in 1818. This is not to remember the brave but out of hatred. I urge all of them to watch Lokmanya.
I
am going with three and a half stars out of five for Lokmanya. Don’t miss it.
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