Dinisha Films’ Aanibaani (Marathi; UA) is the story of Abhimanyu (Upendra Limaye), a married man who is childless. He gets married for the second time when his wife, Vimal (Veena Jamkar), insists on the same so that he can have a child. The child, Vishwas (Padmanabh Bind), grows up and revolts against his father who is now suffering from paralysis. Vishwas is unaware of the pains and perils his father had to go through just so that he could have a child.
The film is set against the backdrop of the 1976 Emergency when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had announced her Family Planning programme. Police inspector Pintu (Sanjay Khapre) had tried to forcibly sterilise Abhimanyu so that he wouldn’t marry Pintu’s sister, Jyoti (Seema Kulkarni). Inspector Pintu was keen to get Jyoti married to sarpanch Nanasaheb (Sayaji Shinde) who had lost his wife.
Arvind Jagtap has written a silly story devoid of emotions of any kind. His screenplay meanders here and there, making the audience wonder what exactly the writer was trying to arrive at. By the end of it, the viewers are exhausted not just because of the long-winding drama but also because much of it doesn’t make sense. Arvind Jagtap’s dialogues are fair.
Upendra Limaye does well. Veena Jamkar acts ably as Vimal. Seema Kulkarni is okay in Jyoti’s role. Sanjay Khapre lends nice support as police inspector Pintu. Sayaji Shinde is okay as sarpanch Nanasaheb. Pravin Tarde is alright as Keshav. Sunil Abhyankar has his moments as the doctor. Usha Naik (as Abhimanyu’s mother), Dhananjay Sardeshpande (as Abhimanyu’s father), Kishor Mahabole (as Jyoti’s father, Vasantrao), Rohit Kokate (as Bharat), Padmanabh Bind (as Vishwas) and Prajakta Hanamghar (as Chandrakala) lend routine support.
Dinesh Jagtap’s direction is fair. Music (Devdutta Manisha Baji, Aadi Ramchandra and Pankaj Padghan) is below the mark. Lyrics (Valay Mulgund, Prasanna Deshmukh and Dinesh Jagtap) are ordinary. Sangram Bhalkar’s choreography hardly deserves mention. Pankaj Padghan’s background music is alright. Mangesh Gadekar’s cinematography is so-so. Sudhir Sutar’s art direction is dull. Pramod Kahar’s editing leaves something to be desired.
On the whole, Aanibaani is a flop show.
Released on 28-7-’23 at Glamour (daily 2 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru AA Films. Publicity: so-so. Opening: poor.