Lateral Works Pvt. Ltd., Ringing Rain Films and Niraksh Films’ Saavat (Marathi; UA; meaning ‘Effect of’, mostly ghosts) is the story of twin sisters, one of who is educated and the other is illiterate
Crime branch police officer Aditi Deshpande (Smita Tambe) comes to a village near Nanded to investigate murders committed there. There have been a total of seven murders in as many years.
Aditi meets Adhira (Shwetambari Ghute) who reveals that she had a twin sister, Aashni (Shwetambari Ghute), with whom she lived till eight years ago. While Aashni was educated, Adhira remained uneducated. Aashni had then begun to teach in the village school. One day, eight years ago, Aashni had noticed human bones and metal pots in the jungle and had assumed that there would be a treasure dug in there. She had contacted Vatsalabai (Sanjeevani Jadhav) who owned the plot of land where the treasure was assumed to be hidden. Vatsalabai had wanted to murder Aashni for fear that she would inform the authorities, after which the treasure and the plot of land would be taken away by the government. Before Vatsalabai could to anything, the villagers had given chase to Aashni one day, taking her to be a ghost roaming in the jungle. To save Aashni, Adhira had come out in front of the villagers, pretending to be Aashni while letting Aashni live at home as Adhira. The villagers had taken away Adhira, assuming that she was Aashni, to an unknown destination. Since eight years had elapsed, people in the village had assumed that Aashni was dead. On her part, Aashni had assumed that Adhira was dead.
The investigations lead Aditi Deshpande to the school where Aashni used to teach. There, she meets the school headmaster, Sawant (Nishikant Raoji). Meanwhile, the villagers now want to kill Adhira (who is actually Aashni) because they feel, she is also a ghost. That’s when headmaster Sawant admits to the seven murders. He reveals that he was the estranged father of Aashni and Adhira, and he had committed the murders to avenge the murder of his daughter. Saying this, he commits suicide by consuming poison.
Further investigations by Aditi Deshpande reveal that Adhira, who is assumed by the villagers to be Aashni, had not been murdered by the villagers. She had been held captive all these years in a secluded place with a man, Viraj, who had fathered three children through her.
Saurabh Sinha’s story is silly and quite senseless. Although Adhira saves Aashni because the latter is educated, it is not clear whether Aashni continues to teach in the school. The track of headmaster Sawant being the estranged father of Aashni and Adhira looks contrived. Saurabh Sinha’s screenplay is as stupid as his story. The track of Vatsalabai wanting to kill Aashni is forgotten midway for no rhyme or reason. Why the villagers assume Aashni to be a spirit is not explained well enough. Later, why they assume Adhira (who is actually Aashni) to be a ghost is also not very clear. All in all, the drama has poor entertainment value. Saurabh Sinha’s dialogues are okay.
Shwetambari Ghute is alright in a double role, as Aashni and Adhira. Smita Tambe’s performance in the role of Aditi Deshpande is okay. Nishikant Raoji does a fair job as headmaster Sawant. Sanjeevani Jadhav is so-so as Vatsalabai. Milind Shirole (as police inspector Atul), Shitanshu Sharad (as police inspector Tarun), Umesh Dhoot Nandedkar (as Gaitonde), Madhav Pawar (as Hari Lohar), Riyaz Anwar (as Ganesh Rane), Vijay Mohite (as Ojha Baba), Tanaji Shelgaonkar (as Anil Berde), Ganesh Lalaji (as sarpanch Vishwasrao) and the others lend routine support.
Saurabh Sinha’s direction is dull. There are no songs in the film. Team M’s background music is impactful. Camerawork (Vinod Patil) is quite nice. Vaibhav Bhosale and Abhinav’s art direction is alright. Editing (Parag Khaund and Dharam Soni) is loose.
On the whole, Saavat is a flop fare.
Released on 5-4-’19 at Bharatmata (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Sunshine Studios. Publicity & opening: poor.