Viacom18 Motion Pictures, Carnival Motion Pictures, Sanjay Raut and Raut’ers Entertainment LLP’s Thackeray (UA) is a biopic of political leader Bal Thackeray. It talks about late Bal Thackeray’s philosophy and political ideology. The man was prepared to do anything for the welfare of the Marathi manoos, which was all that seemed to matter to him. In the process, he cared little for logic or law and earned the nickname of a firebrand leader of Maharashtra.
Sanjay Raut has penned the story based on incidents and episodes that happened in Thackeray’s life. Although the leader holds a position of esteem in the eyes of the Marathi-speaking public, it is not necessary that the public across India would endorse his ideology of violence and threats. Yes, it mostly appears in the film as if Bal Thackeray’s actions were retaliatory in nature, but the audience outside Maharashtra will not buy this theory. In other words, the viewers outside Maharashtra will not empathise with Thackeray’s philosophy and hence will find his actions too controversial. Breaking the law of the land, killing people cannot all be everybody’s idea of politics.
Abhijit Panse’s screenplay is an assemblage of anecdotes from Thackeray’s life. Again, these anecdotes are double-edged. While the Maharashtrian public would find the anecdotes praiseworthy, the same cannot be said of the public outside the state, where Bal Thackeray did not enjoy cult status. Yes, it does give an insight into the life and nature of the Shiv Sena supremo but that may be too much for the audience (outside Maharashtra) to digest. Had Bal Thackeray been a national hero, the screenplay would have worked big time. Had even his actions touched lives of non-Maharashtrians in an emotional way, the screenplay and drama would’ve been palatable for everyone. But that wasn’t the case, and, therefore, the screenplay has restricted appeal.
Arvind Jagtap and Manoj Yadav’s dialogues are better than the story and screenplay. The dialogues are, in fact, excellent.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui looks like Bal Thackeray quite a bit and does a fantastic job. It is delightful to see him play the legendary leader with such flair. Amrita Rao plays his wife, Meena, fairly well and with restraint. Mukund Gosavi leaves a mark as Prabodhankar Thackeray. Rajesh Khera is effective as Morarji Desai. Sandeep Khare is fair in the role of Manohar Joshi. Praveen Tarde makes his presence felt as Datta Salvi. Prakash Belawadi has his moments as George Fernandes. Nikhil Mahajan is natural as Sharad Pawar. Avantika Akerkar leaves a fine mark as Indira Gandhi. Vinit Sharma lends lovely support as police inspector Emmanuel Modak. Jayawant Wadkar is effective as a police officer. Anil Sutar (as Dada Kondke), Chetan Sharma (as Dilip Vengsarkar), Ashish Patode (as Javed Miandad), Sanjay Narvekar (as Comrade Krishna Desai), Sanjay Kulkarni (as Divakar Ravate), Mohaniraj Khare (as Pramod Navalkar), Prabhakar More (as Wamanrao Mahadik), Ashok Lokhande (as Yashwantrao Chavan), Sudhir Mishra (as Mastan), Praful Samant (in the role of Vasantrao Naik), Balaji Deshpande (as Rajni Patel), Rajeev Panday, and the rest provide good support.
Abhijit Panse’s direction is good. The mob scenes especially deserve mention. But the film’s narration pre-supposes a certain level of knowledge about the life of Thackeray. Therefore, it will be difficult for the audiences outside Maharashtra to feel thoroughly engaged and involved because they do not know so much about the late leader. Rohan-Rohan’s music is alright. Lyrics (by Dr. Sunil Jogi and Manoj Yadav) are impactful. Amar Mohile’s background music could’ve been more effective. It is, nevertheless, reasonably fine. Sudeep Chatterjee’s cinematography is superb. The film has been shot in parts in B & W. Pradyumna Kumar Swain’s action and stunts are raw. Sandeep Sharad Ravade’s production designing and Nitin Wable and Rajat Pathare’s art direction are good. Ashish Mhatre and Apurva Motiwale Sahai’s editing is decently sharp.
On the whole, Thackeray has masala for the audience in Maharashtra mainly. Outside the state of Maharashtra, the film stands bleak chances despite a National holiday today (January 26) due to Republic Day. Collections will show a big jump in Maharashtra today.
The film has opened in Marathi also and it will also score in Maharashtra.
Released on 25-1-’19 at Regal (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay by Viacom18 Motion Pictures. Publicity: good. Opening: quite good. …….Also released all over. Opening was below the mark at many places. …….The Marathi version released on 25-1-’19 at Bharatmata (daily 4 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Rajat Enterprises. Publicity & opening: excellent.