REVIEW – NAY VARAN BAATH LONCHA KON NAY KONCHA

Let me warn you at the outset that this is an out and out adult film which has not been designed for families and the children as it has a lot of expletives and sexual as well as violent scenes which may flummox you out of your wits. The makers of the Marathi film ‘Nay Varan Bhat Loncha Kon Nay Koncha’ have withdrawn the trailer of their film from all online platforms, after the National Commission of Women (NCW) had objected to some shots from the film, which they believe depict women and children in the wrong light.

The crime-drama based on the backdrop of the closure of mills in Mumbai is based on the late Jayant Pawar’s story Varanbhatloncha Ni Kon Nay Koncha The film revolves around how the young Digya (Prem Dharmadhikari) , after his father who was a dreaded gagster is murdered ,has his eyes set on following his late father’s footsteps into the world of crime, in the underbelly of Mumbai, in tandem with his friend Ilyas (Varad Nagvekar). Digya’s only ambition in life now is to find out who had killed his father and take revenge by killing him with help from his friend Ilyas. The only person who is very close to Digya is his grandmother (Chhaya Kadam) who runs the house efficiently.

The film has ample glimpses of Manjrekar’s Vaastav (1999) and Lalbaug Parel (2010) which too showed the effect of the closure of Mumbai’s mills on the mill workers’ families, and the younger generations of these families getting involved in criminal activities. Manjrekar has even gone on record that these three films complete his trilogy.

The excessive gore and titillating explicit scenes that Manjrekar takes recourse to in this film an even put off the audiences who are conservative though to his credit, Manjrekar has done his best to mask the violence and vulgar scenes by not fixating much on the activity as much as the reason behind it. Youngster Prem is menacing as the cold-blooded and determined boy who wants to be the king of crime, while Varad as his sidekick is also convincing. Like any other teenager, on the threshold of stepping to puberty, these two boys learn new things about the human anatomy and behavior each and every day. 

Among the seasoned actors, Chhaya Kadam and Shashank Shende deliver excellent piece-de performances; while actors like Rohit Haldikar, Umesh Jagtap, Kashmera Shah, Ashwini Kulkarni and Ganesh Yadav help take the story forward. Mention ought to be made of both Ashwini Kulkarni and Kashmera Shah for their uninhibited and bold performances, as Digya’s aunt and in house paying guest Supriya and also Shashank Shende as Babi

Though direction by Manjrekar is deft, all said and done the overtly explicit content, whether or not essential, often overshadows the story of revenge and crime that NVBLKNK is as it takes a Quentin Tarantino-like approach, not just in terms of explicit content and extreme violence, but also with the non-linear treatment that it gets. Nevertheless, of you can digest violence and explicit sex; it is a film which can be easily a one-time watch. Go and see it before it is banned!