PMRY Productions and Jumping Tomato Marketing Pvt. Ltd.’s Berij Vajabaki (Marathi; meaning ‘Gains and losses’) is a film with a message.
A school, Vatsalya Gurukul, is being run by Chaudhry Sir (Nandu Madhav) and he is aided by the school owner. The school allows students to do whatever their hearts desire. A builder eyes the plot of land on which the school stands. The teacher and the land owner turn down his offer to buy the plot. That’s when the greedy builder and the owner’s greedy brother throw the duo a challenge: the land would be retained for the school if, in an inter-school competition to be held, the students of Vatsalya Gurukul school prove victorious. If, however, students of Vatsalya Gurukul school lose, the land would have to be handed over to the builder.
Two students are selected for the inter-school competition from Vatsalya Gurukul. Likewise, two students are selected from each of four more schools. The ten students come from different backgrounds. During the treasure hunt competition, they and their parents get to learn about friendship, bonding, unity, nature etc.
Pratap Deshmukh has penned a dull story which tries to preach. The screenplay, written by Raju Bhosale and Pratap Deshmukh, is not at all convincing or interesting. Why the landlord accepts the challenge thrown by the builder is not explained satisfactorily. Even otherwise, the drama is not engaging enough. Pratap Deshmukh’s dialogues are so-so.
Nandu Madhav does well as Chaudhry Sir. Mohan Joshi performs ably. Upendra Limaye makes his mark. Devika Daftardar makes her presence felt. Pravin Tarde, Milind Gawali, Girish Pardeshi, Smita Shewale, Gayatri Deshmukh and Bhakti Chavan provide decent support. Neel Bakshi, Ramesh Pardeshi, Jayesh Sanghvi, Amit Waze, Neeta Donde and the rest are adequate.
Raju Bhosale’s direction is below the mark. Abhijeet Narvekar’s music and background music are routine. Ambarish Deshpande’s lyrics are okay. Song picturisations (by Seema Desai and Raju Bhosale) are commonplace. Chandrashekhar Iyer’s camerawork is functional. Rakesh Patil’s action and stunt scenes are average. Dilip Kandhare’s sets are dull. Editing (by Rajesh Rao) leaves something to be desired.
On the whole, Berij Vajabaki lacks entertainment and will, therefore, flop at the turnstiles.
Released on 13-12-’19 at Movie Star (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay by Jumping Tomato Marketing Pvt. Ltd. Publicity: so-so. Opening: poor.