Satya-Saiee Films and Skylink Entertainment’s Juna Furniture (Marathi) is the story of today’s youth who treat their aged parents like old furniture.
Govind Pathak (Mahesh Manjrekar) lives with his wife, Sushasini (Medha Manjrekar), in a suburb of Bombay. His son, Abhay (Bhushan Pradhan), lives in town with his wife, Avani (Anusha Dandekar). Abhay is a very well-placed IAS officer. He operates his father’s bank account and gives him money every month for expenses.
One day, Suhasini suffers a heart attack. Govind rushes her to hospital but, unfortunately, her Mediclaim policy details and papers are with Abhay who doesn’t receive the father’s telephone calls as he and Avani are celebrating their wedding anniversary attended by top ministers. Abhay learns later that his mother had died because the hospital did not start treatment due to lack of funds and non-availability of Mediclaim details. The hospital was willing to start treatment even if Abhay would’ve called the doctor as he (Abhay) was an IAS officer. Soon, Govind files a case in the court against Abhay, seeking damages of Rs. 4.73 crore as, according to him, Abhay’s irresponsible behaviour had resulted in Suhasini’s death. Govind wins the case and gets the money from his son.
Days later, Govind informs son Abhay that his mother was alive. It is now Avani’s turn to get agitated. As she had been trolled on social media for being an irresponsible daughter-in-law and indirectly responsible for her mother-in-law’s death, Avani now files a case against her father-in-law for causing her mental agony by lying about Suhasini’s death. What happens thereafter? Does Avani fight it out legally with her father-in-law? Does she win the case? What did Govind do with the Rs. 4.73 crore he got from Abhay?
Mahesh Vaman Manjrekar has penned a story and screenplay, in which court cases are filed but nobody is a villain in the real sense. There’s a genuine reason for Abhay and Avani not answering Govind’s phone calls. It is not as if Abhay knew that his mother was serious and yet intentionally did not answer his dad’s calls. It is also not as if Abhay and Avani treated his parents as old furniture. Govind’s lie about Suhasini’s death looks weird and uncalled for. Avani’s case against her own father-in-law also seems a bit silly. All in all, the entire drama looks too far-fetched and often goes to such extreme levels that it’s not funny. Another drawback of the screenplay is that the drama is not half as heart-wrenching as it ought to have been. For the drama to have struck a chord in people’s hearts, what needed to be shown was a thankless son and/or daughter-in-law. Showing both of them as fairly good human beings dilutes the impact of the drama so much that the pain experienced by aged parents simply doesn’t come through. It often appears that Govind did what he did to teach not Abhay and Avani but other ungrateful children a lesson. And this seems to be a weird stand on Govind’s part — to drag his son to court and to ‘extract’ Rs. 4.73 crore from him for not really a major fault or lapse on the son’s part.
Mahesh Vaman Manjrekar’s dialogues are definitely nice.
Mahesh Manjrekar shines as Govind. He does an excellent job. Bhushan Pradhan does very well as Abhay. Anusha Dandekar is good as Avani but she doesn’t look like a Maharashtrian daughter-in-law because of her accent. Medha Manjrekar is nice as Suhasini. Upendra Limaye makes his mark as Pakyabhai. Sameer Dharmadhikari has his moments as Abhay’s father-in-law. Vijay Nikam makes his presence felt as advocate Dinkar Pandit. Dr. Girish Oak is adequate as Abhay’s advocate, Bapat. Sachin Khedekar performs ably as the judge. Onkar Bhojane (as Bandya), Shivaji Satam (as the judge), Sharad Ponkshe (as Govind’s advocate in the case filed by Avani against him), Santosh Mijgar and Alka Parab lend decent support. Others are good.
Mahesh Vaman Manjrekar’s direction is fair but the narration seems a bit too extreme to emotionally move the viewers. Music (Hitesh Modak, SRM Alien and DH Harmony) is fair. Lyrics (by Vaibhav Deshmukh and Vaibhav Joshi) are alright. Hitesh Modak’s background music is effective. Ajit Reddy’s cinematography is of a fair standard. Prashant Rane’s production designing, and Ketaki Ghuge’s art direction are okay. Rahul Bhatankar’s editing is sharp.
On the whole, Juna Furniture is not the tear-jerker it ought to have been. It looks like a drama with misplaced emotions. Hence it will not fare too well at the box-office.
Released on 26-4-’24 at Plaza (daily 2 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru AA Films. Publicity: okay. Opening: ordinary.