SMP Productions’ Alyad Palyad (Marathi; UA) is a horror film. There’s a village which is believed to be visited by spirits on three days every year. This year is no different. It’s time for the spirits to return to the village because of which the entire village is in the process of being vacated, as always. Ultimately, the village is vacated.
However, Pankya (Bhagyam Jain) and his two friends, Kisha (Saksham Kulkarni) and Chatur (Gaurav More), decide to silently return to the village and shoot a documentary on the happenings of the three days. They seek the help of Dilya (Sandeep Pathak) to come to the village in a boat. The sarpanch’s daughter, Nidhi (Anushka Pimputkar), hides in the boat and meets the three friends once they reach the village. By then, Dilya has returned to his home. The three friends assume her to be the spirit and hence run away. They then meet Sadhu (Makarand Deshpande) who is actually searching for his disciple, Chelusha (Pritam S.K. Patil), with whom he had come to the village. Soon, Dilya meets Chelusha. Ultimately, the three friends, Sadhu, Dilya and Chelusha are all united. They then encounter Nidhi too. All seven of them go to the sarpanch’s waada and learn (from some old papers) about the reality of the three days. Whose spirits visit the village every year?
Pritam S.K. Patil has written a weak story which doesn’t hold the audience’s attention for too long. Sanjay Navgire’s screenplay is so-so mainly because of the few comic scenes and light moments. Otherwise, the horror element is not too impressive. Sanjay Navgire’s dialogues are ordinary.
Makarand Deshpande is alright as Sadhu. Gaurav More is fair as Chatur. Saksham Kulkarni is okay as Kisha. Bhagyam Jain does an average job as Pankya. Anushka Pimputkar is ordinary as Nidhi. Sandeep Pathak performs well as Dilya. Suresh Vishwakarma lends routine support as the sarpanch. Pritam S.K. Patil just about makes his presence felt in the role of Chelusha. Sunil Godbole passes muster as Guruji. Chinmay Udgirkar lends decent support in a tiny role as Sardar. Others pass muster.
Pritam S.K. Patil’s direction is hardly better than the script. Rugved Kulkarni and Amit Patil’s music is so-so. Lyrics (by Nayum Pathan) are nothing to rave about. Song picturisations (by Rahul Mane, Harsh Rajput and Rohit Mane) hardly deserve special mention. Abhinay Jagtap’s background music ought to have been better. Yogesh Koli’s camerawork is average. Yogesh Ingale’s art direction is okay. Editing (Saumitra Dharasulkar and Titiksha Bagul) should’ve been tighter.
On the whole, Alyad Palyad is too ordinary a fare to score at the box-office.
Released on 14-6-’24 at Inox Nakshatra (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Filmastra Studios. Publicity: so-so. Opening: weak.