Ideal Venture’s Gulhar (Marathi; UA) is the story of a poor shepherd boy, Gulhar (Vinayak Potdar), who wants to learn to read and write. He helps his friend, Dhiraj (Ramesh Choudhary), marry the girl of his choice, Shilpi (Shivani Baokar), despite family opposition. He also takes on Nana Deshmukh (Suresh Vishwakarma) who steals his sheep. What happens to Gulhar, his sheep, and to Dhiraj and Shilpi?
Mohan Padwal’s story seems scattered and tries to convey too many things. Sanjay Navgire’s screenplay is loose and doesn’t hold the audience’s attention for too long. The drama fails to make an impact on the viewers as nothing touches the heart. Sanjay Navgire’s dialogues are ordinary.
Vinayak Potdar does a fair job in the title role. Ravi Kale is good as Girju. Bhargavi Chirmule performs well in the role of Radha. Madhav Abhyankar lends decent support as Naik. Suresh Vishwakarma makes his presence felt as Nana Deshmukh. Ramesh Choudhary is average in the role of Dhiraj. Shivani Baokar is quite good as Shilpi. Shivaji Bhintade, Swapnil Landge, Manjiri Yashwant, Vinod Kadam, Ganesh Kokate and Anup Shinde provide routine support.
Ramesh Choudhary’s direction is confused, like the script. Padmanabh Gaikwad’s music is ordinary, like the lyrics (Sanjay Navgire, Padmanabh Gaikwad, Vaibhav Kulkarni, Sagar Kamble and Rahul Suryavanshi). Vishal Patil’s choreography hardly deserves separate mention. Kedar Divekar’s background music passes muster. Kumar Dongre’s camerawork is average. Ganesh Patole’s art direction is nothing to shout about. Editing (Kumar Dongre) is loose.
On the whole, Gulhar is a poor show.
Released on 6-5-’22 at Glamour (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru August Entertainment. Publicity & opening: dull.