Zee Studios’ Tumbadchi Manjula (Marathi; UA) is a comedy set in a village.
Keshav (Om Bhutkar) pretends that the spirit of Manjula has entered his body. He does so because he wants to save his skin when he lands in a tight corner and also because he wants to slap Ravi Anna (Jitendra Joshi) as the latter had slapped him for something he had inadvertently done. After a few days, he repeats his story of Manjula’s spirit entering his body, which prompts tantrik Karunakaran Guruji (Makarand Anaspure) to conclude that the spirit is of Manjula who used to live in the neighbouring Tumbad village. The villagers go to Tumbad village and ask Manjula’s daughter, Shobha (Sai Tamhankar), if she’s aware of Manjula’s spirit. Obviously, since there is no spirit of Manjula (because it’s a story cooked up by Keshav), Shobha pleads ignorance.
Soon, Shobha lands in Keshav’s village and requests Keshav to save her from her uncle who has been torturing her. Keshav asks the people of his village to give Shobha refuge but nobody comes forward. Therefore, Shobha is sent back to her village. Finally, Ravi Anna agrees to marry Shobha. It may be mentioned here that Ravi Anna had rejected Shobha 15 years ago as he was too thin then and she was on the fatter side. After that, both had remained single.
The story is so-so and does not have much to hold the audience’s attention. But it is Rushikesh Turai’s screenplay which has the viewers in its grip. The comic scenes in the drama are very entertaining and enjoyable. Turai’s drama also moves at a fast pace and, therefore, does not give the viewers time to think. Rushikesh Turai and Yogesh Shirsat’s dialogues are excellent and add to the comedy a great deal.
Jitendra Joshi is very good in the role of Ravi Anna. Om Bhutkar performs ably as Keshav. Sai Tamhankar is alright as Shobha. Makarand Anaspure lends fair support as tantrik Karunakaran Guruji. Anshuman Vichare is so-so as Satish. Siddheshwar Zadbuke is passable as Ranga. Priyal Naik is okay as Darshana. Usha Nadkarni, Atharva Ruke, Ganesh Pandit, Shardul Saraf, Umesh Jagtap, Yogesh Shirsat, Abhay Khadapkar, Varsha Dandale, Diya Rane and the rest of the artistes lend reasonable support.
Vividh Korgaonkar’s direction is good. His narration keeps the audience thoroughly involved and entertained. Music (by Aseem Anand Kurhekar, Prateek Omkar Kelkar, Tejas Aditya Joshi and Saurabh Bhalerao) is appealing. Vikram Edke’s lyrics are fairly nice. Sujit Kumar’s choreography is reasonably good. Amar Mohile’s background music enhances the impact of the comedy. Kaushal Goswami’s camerawork is nice. Bikash Kumar Singh’s action and stunt scenes are alright. Ankur Aserkar’s production designing is of a fine standard. Mayur Hardas’ editing is sharp.
On the whole, Tumbadchi Manjula is a very good entertainer.
Released on 5-6-’26 at Metro Inox (daily 2 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay by Zee Studios. Publicity: good. Opening: very good.