Nagraj Popatrao Manjule, Anurag Kashyap and Insight Films’ Kastoori (UA) is the story of a young boy, Gopi (Samarth Sonawane), who belongs to a family of scavengers. Instead of cleaning toilets and opening up corpses for post-mortem, Gopi wants to study and do something better in life. His urge for knowledge gets an impetus when he is told that he has topped in class in one subject and will be awarded in front of the entire school on Republic Day. Since Gopi is often teased by his school friends about his stinking clothes (because of the job he does), he yearns for the Kasturi perfume which, he is told, can eliminate the foul smell.
Does Gopi study further or is his life such a curse that there’s no future other than scavenging?
Vinod Kamble has written a sensitive story of hope and self-belief. The screenplay, penned by Vinod Kamble and Shivaji Karde, is engaging but only for the elite audience. It moves at a very slow pace and since it is a single-track story, it also tends to get monotonous at several points. The duo’s dialogues are okay.
Samarth Sonawane does a very fine job as Gopi. Shravan Upalkar is very good as Gopi’s bosom pal, Adim. Vaishali Kendale lends lovely support as Gopi’s, mother. Malsidh Deshmukh is alright as Gopi’s father. Anil Kamble makes his mark as Subhash. Jannat is endearing as Gopi’s grandmother. Kunal Pawar has his moments as Vikas. Jaybhim makes his presence felt as Gambhire. Vijay Shikare (as Dr. Prasad Deshmukh), Ajay Chavan (as Mangal), Lala Shaikh (as Mamu), Raju Pardeshi (as Shubham), Akash Bansode (as Kailash), Wahid Shaikh (as Salim), Shamkishor Shinde (as Aakash), Virendra Gore (as Vijay), Samadhan Sarvgod (as Imran), Ritesh Bansode (as Ganesh), Sajid Bagwan (as the teacher), Sejal Bhalke (as Kasturi), Prashant Waghehoure (as Suresh), Sanjay Muneshwar (as Sevak), Dagdu Kamble (as Mukadam), Vinod Kulkarni (as the magician), Ram Ranzunjare (as Savkar) and the others lend the needed support.
Vinod Kamble’s direction is quite sensitive. Jaibhim Shinde’s background music is okay. Manoj Kakade’s camerawork is of a fine standard. Production designing (by Mahesh Kshirsagar, Vijay Shikhare and Atul Lokhande) and art direction (by Atul Lokhande) are alright. Shrikant Choudhari’s editing is quite sharp.
On the whole, Kastoori may be a well-made and sensitive film but it will appeal mainly to the festival circuit audience. Its box-office prospects are very weak — and not just because of poor promotion and awareness.
Released on 8-12-’23 at Cinepolis Andheri (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Cinepolis India. Publicity & opening: poor. …….Also released all over.
