Shree Samarth Krupa Production’s Babu (Marathi; UA) is a story about enmity.
Charusheela Tandel (Smita Tambe) and her brother, Anil Tandel (Sanjay Khapre), are at loggerheads with Krishna Bhoir’s (Shrikant Yadav) son, Babu Bhoir (Ankit Mohan). Actually, Charusheela has an axe to grind with Krishna Bhoir due to a very old enmity. Matters get aggravated when, after years, Babu gets the contract which belonged to Anil, transferred in his name. To seek revenge, Anil takes his own marriage proposal to the father of Supriya (Ruchira Jadhav) who is Babu’s girlfriend. He also gets Babu jailed and gets back the contract in his name. What happens thereafter?
Mayur Shinde has written a story which doesn’t give satisfaction to the audience of having been given the complete picture. Charusheela had been pregnant with her boyfriend’s child but what happens to the child in her womb is simply not shown. The attack on Babu by a man who arrives from Karnataka is also not very convincing as it is not revealed who the man is and why he is gunning for Babu. Mayur Shinde’s screenplay is confusing and it fails to engage the audience. The viewers, therefore, passively watch the drama unfold, without getting involved in it. Mayur Shinde’s dialogues are ordinary. Since the dialogues are in the Agari dialect, some people might not find that too acceptable.
Ankit Mohan does well as Babu. Neha Mahajan is alright as Babu’s wife, Sunita. Ruchira Jadhav is average in the role of Supriya. Smita Tambe acts ably as Charusheela Tandel. Sanjay Khapre is okay as Anil Tandel. Mandar Mandawkar lends average support as Santya. Shrikant Yadav is ordinary as Babu’s father, Krishna Bhoir. Hardik Joshi is fairly nice. Nilesh Mane is adequate. Others are average.
Mayur Shinde’s direction is nothing to shout about. Music (Rohan-Rohan, Rishikesh Kamerkar and Santosh Mulekar) is alright. Future bayko is fair while Babu astana, Michael nastana is average. Lyrics (Mangesh Kangane, Kshitij Patwardhan and Sharmila Ranade) are okay. Swaroop and Imran’s choreography is nothing to shout about. Background music (Rohit Kulkarni) is ordinary. Aneesh Anil’s camerawork is passable. Babbu Khanna’s action and stunt scenes are fair. Mahesh Kudalkar’s art direction is so-so. Aashish Gaikar’s editing leaves a lot to be desired.
On the whole, Babu is a poor fare.
Released on 2-8-’24 at Gem (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru White Lion Entertainment. Publicity: okay. Opening: weak.