Planet Marathi Production, Golden Ratio Films and KCR Reddy Production’s AB Aani CD (Marathi; meaning ‘AB and CD’) is the story of a young boy’s endeavour to have his family members give his grandfather the respect he deserves.
Chandrakant Deshpande (Vikram Gokhale) lives with his two sons and their families. His older son, Gopal (Sagar Talashikar), is married to Madhavi (Seema Deshmukh). Their son is Sunny (Akshay Tanksale). Younger son Govind (Lokesh Gupte) is married to Radha (Sharvari Lohokare), and they have a daughter, Shravani (Sakshi Satish). Sunny and Shravani feel sad when they see that their grandfather is hardly given the respect and love he ought to be given.
Sunny hits upon a brainwave when his friend, Gargi (Sayali Sanjeev), tells him that people had suddenly started taking her more seriously after her boss (Subodh Bhave), owner of Planet TV channel, had asked her to interview superstar Amitabh Bachchan for the channel. Sunny and Gargi send Chandrakant Deshpande an ‘invitation from Amitabh Bachchan’, requesting Deshpande to attend the 100th birthday of Bachchan’s teacher in Allahabad. Chandrakant Deshpande assumes that Bachchan and he might have been classmates. Deshpande’s family members start looking at the oldest family member with new-found love and respect.
Before the so-called 100th birthday celebrations, Chandrakant Deshpande’s friends decide to throw a party to celebrate Chandrakant’s 75th birthday. Why, they even invite Amitabh Bachchan for the same. Who ensures that the superstar gets the invitation? Who ensures that Bachchan actually attends the 75th birthday party of Deshpande? Were Bachchan and Deshpande classmates?
Hemant Edlabadkar’s story and screenplay are good enough for a television serial rather than a film. The drama has very little comedy. Had the comic quotient been big, the drama may have appealed. But in the form in which it is, the drama holds limited appeal. It does touch the heart at a couple of places but overall, emotions are not as pronounced as they should have been. Hemant Edlabadkar’s dialogues are ordinary.
Vikram Gokhale plays Chandrakant Deshpande with élan. Akshay Tanksale performs well as Sunny. Sayali Sanjeev is good in the role of Gargi. Sakshi Satish lends decent support as Shravani. Sagar Talashikar (as Gopal), Lokesh Gupte (as Govind), Seema Deshmukh (as Madhavi) and Sharvari Lohokare (as Radha) provide average support. Amitabh Bachchan lends tremendous star value in a brief special appearance in which he plays himself very effectively. Subodh Bhave is pretty effective as the Planet TV channel owner. Neena Kulkarni is alright as Varsha, the deceased wife of Chandrakant Deshpande.
Milind Lele’s direction is routine. Music (Ashish Mujumdar and Mayuresh Pai) is commonplace. Vaibhav Joshi’s lyrics are weighty. Rahul Ranade’s background music is alright. Suresh Deshmane’s cinematography is very nice. Narendra Haldankar’s art direction is of a fair standard. Mayur Hardas’ editing is quite sharp.
On the whole, AB Aani CD is a flop fare because it does not have the masala for a commercial entertainer.
Released on 13-3-’20 at Golden Digital Dadar (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru PVR Pictures Ltd. Publicity: fair. Opening: poor.