This is cinema (Marathi)

Marathi film industry has been blessed with not only talented actors but visionary film makers too. Marathi film industry has always been more close to content driven films and considered their viewers to be intelligent. The industry was well aware that audience are not drawn to the theaters because of the star cast but rather the story and presentation. There are several hidden gems of Marathi cinema. One of them is "Ashi hi banwabanwi" which was the first film grossing ₹ 1 Cr at the box office, that too in 1980s. Though Marathi viewing audience are in love with this film, I believe it is still not recognized outside of Maharashtra.

This film revolves around 4 young men who are close friends: a store salesman, an aspiring singer, an aspiring script writer, and a medical student (who is salesman's brother). They struggle to live in a rented accommodation because of their poor financial condition. After being evicted, they find a place to stay at a bungalow wherein the homeowner is an old woman. Her only condition is that she would give the rooms on rent to married couples. Defeated by the destiny four men are forced to accept the condition but they come up with an idea. Two of them cross dress and present to the homeowner as married couples. This begins the saga of comedy, drama, struggle, and love.

This film is a cult classic. Each minute of this film is packed with entertainment. Each character is brilliantly crafted and the actors portray each character with a genuine dedication to the craft. The background music and songs are evergreen. The dialogues are the heart and soul of the film. The fans of this film can go on and on with the sequences and dialogues without a pause (me included). Despite having multiple characters in the film, none of the character appears to be rushed. Each character gets its deserved time to establish its significance.

Another aspect of this film that has been brilliantly handled is the intent of the film. Though the characters cross dress, the film never moves towards vulgarity or makes jokes about the anatomy. The cross dressed characters are treated with equal respect. The characters are never shown to be deceptive, disrespectful, or dishonest. They are portrayed as the victims of inflation and unemployment, which feels relatable and genuine. Each scene and sequence has its importance. Each minute adds to the essence of the film. Not only that even over 30 years from its original release, the story and concept of this film is still relevant and it still gets the approval from audience.

The film has definitely inspired an entire generation. We still see the dialogues and sequences from this film in the pop culture even today. The song of baby shower is still widely recognized and is a main feature of baby shower even today. Partial storyline of the first installment from Ajay Devgn starrer 'Golmaal' has been inspired for this film.

Overall, I believe 'Ashi hi banwabanwi' is an iconic and groundbreaking film that deserves more love and recognition. It must receive its 'flowers' as it deserves.

Have you watched a film and thought "wow it is ahead of its time", or "will it be relevant after 10 years", or "am I able to relate to it because of my current situation"? I had all these questions when I watched the film "Bindhaast" in theatres.

I remembered I was in school when this film released. The film was an unexpected massive success at a grand scale. It was a film for which the theatres were cancelling shows of Bollywood films and airing this regional film instead. In Maharashtra it had become a pop culture phenomenon. Almost every resident of Maharashtra irrespective of their native language had watched and enjoyed 'Bindhaast'. The film was winning hearts, praise, and awards. But what made this film special was the topic.

Bindhaast is a story about female friendships in college. This film openly discussed how female friendships do not flourish after the college life is over; how female friendships are de-prioritized over carrer, marriage, and children. Additionally it deals with college rivalry. It deals with the tender bond between an orphaned niece with her aunt. Then it adds a surprising element of a murder mystery. Bindhaast deals with multiple subjects at the same time but gives justice to each issue.

When I watched the film I was completely blown away by how masterfully the film deals with multiple complicated topics at the same time. Before this film I had never watched a film which discussed the complexities of female friendships. I had never watched a film where the characteristic all women and only one male character playes a role that too as a guest appearance. Don't get me wrong when I said the roles are played by women - this is not the whitewashing that we generally see with superhero films where the male characters are easily rehashed to make them the female characters. Here the characters are essentially the women playing the roles of aunt, friend, niece, sister, professor, guide, college rival, and police inspector. All characters show thoughts, feelings, and vulnerability of women. The characters are strong at the same time they display the very essence that makes them women. It is debateable whether this is a movie with a feminist agenda because I did not feel so while watching it. Also being an 'all female cast' film this film also does not deal with ideas such as patriarchy in the society. It rather deals with the very realistic issues that women face while going up - expectations from the family, career advances, marriage, family, responsibilities, and rivalry. It also shows that to what extent women can go to protect their families. The film also gives a subtle message about how the real world is different from what we see during our school and college life.

I would say that this was one of the pivotal films when we talk about coming of age genre of films involving women. This film had a use cultural impact as well. Looking at its popularity and box office collection an attempt was made to remake it in the Hindi language. However the Hindi language film did not prove to be as effective and profitable as the original regional film. Yet there are some influences that we still see today in various films. Partial plot of the famous Hindi movie 'Bhagam Bhag' did include the plot taken from this film. Even today whenever there is a discussion about the position of women in academia, corporate, business, friendships, or society this film is often refer to. I believe this film is even relevant today despite being released over 25 years ago. Unfortunately this film was not popular outside of Maharashtra and hence I am writing today about this film to spread the word about it.

Note: I am not getting any commission from the makers to write about it. A film of this caliber deserves more recognition, hence I wrote about it.