Carnival Motion Pictures’ Mere Desh Ki Dharti (UA) is the story of rural India where agriculture is the main source of income.
Ajay (Divyendu) and Sameer (Anant Vidhaat) are bosom pals. They are both engineers and live in Bombay. Both are bogged down by the competitive spirit of the city as they aren’t earning enough. Ajay wants to start his own business for which he is in search of finance. Sameer is in love with Shilpa (Rutuja Shinde) whose rich businessman-father (Dalip Tahhil) is extremely class-conscious. Ajay and Sameer lose their jobs on the same day, and being frustrated with life, decide to commit suicide. Their plan takes them to a village where they see two things — people are happy in spite of not being rich; burdened by loans and humiliation, farmers are committing suicide. That’s when Ajay and Sameer decide to do something for the village. In a way, they get a purpose in life. What is their plan?
Dr. Shrikant Bhasi and Neel Chakraborty have penned a good story with a lovely message to the youth of India. Although the story deals with farmer suicides, it does not become dark and depressing as it also offers a solution to the raging problem of farmer suicides. The screenplay, penned by Faraz Haider, is very well written and moves at a nice pace, involving the viewers. It has good light moments, some heartwarming and heart-touching scenes, drama and melodrama. The pace of the screenplay does slacken at times but it soon gathers steam. The best part about the screenplay is that although the drama is about agrarian India, it does hold relevance for the city audience too. Another plus point is that the ambience of the drama is well created. Piyush Mishra’s dialogues are extraordinary and add greatly to the drama as well as the mood.
Performances are of a high order. Divyendu shines in the role of Ajay. He remains in character from the start till the end and delivers such a fine performance that the audience enjoys watching his ease in front of the camera. Anant Vidhaat is wonderful as Sameer. He acts with effortless ease and endears himself to the viewers. Not in a single scene does the audience get the feeling that the two heroes are not in synch with the respective characters they play. Anupriya Goenka is nice as Jhumki. Inaam-ul-haq does a remarkable job as Pappan. He gives the viewers reason to smile and laugh in several light scenes. His dialogue delivery deserves special mention. Rutuja Shinde is quite nice as Shilpa. Atul Shrivastav lends terrific support with a supremely natural performance as Ajay’s father. Rajesh Sharma makes his presence felt as Kishanlal. Brijendra Kala is fantastic as Dubey. Kamlesh Sawant has his moments as Bhau. Farrukh Jaffer is cute as Pappan’s grandmother. Imran Rasheed leaves a fine mark as farmer Ramdas. Dalip Tahhil is good in the role of Shilpa’s father. Annu Kapoor and Manu Rishi Chadha lend very good support in special appearances as the celebrity anchor and Billu Hudda respectively. Habeeb Azmi is impressive as the sarpanch. Shabnam Vadhera makes a mark as Ajay’s mother. Neel Chakraborty is wonderful as Ajay’s colleague, Gautam. Sanjay Gurbaxani (as Ajay’s boss), Arun Verma (as Sameer’s boss), Avantika Khatri (as Sameer’s colleague, Priyanka), Aparajit Singh (as Ron), Anoop Joshi (as the rude bank manager), Avinash Nimmade and Vijay Acharya (both as mandi agents), Bipin Surve (as Bhau’s sidekick), Alok Gach (as the tempo guy), Manish Sharma (as Balwai), Naushad Salmani (as Irshad bandwala), Pawan Barjatya (as the second bandwala), Balwinder Singh (as Babban), Shivangi (as Ramdas’ wife), Manoj Rawat and Khalil Ahmed (both as bank recovery agents), Dr. Chandresh Shukla (as the astrologer), Deepak Shah (as the ticket checker in train), baby Juhi (as Ramdas’ daughter), Dilshad (as agent Vinod), Rajat Vivek (as Captain. Rajat), Asad (as the beggar) and the others lend tremendous support.
Faraz Haider’s direction is very good. The man knows his craft and knows how to keep the audience engrossed. Vikram Montrose’s music is quite nice but the songs have not become popular. The ‘Khudaya re’, ‘Naagan naach’, ‘Jallad zindagi’ and ‘Tu tip top’ songs are tuneful. The title song is melodious. Aseem Shirazi’s lyrics are of a fair standard. Pavan-Bob’s choreography is alright. Vikram Montrose’s background music is reasonably nice. Hari K. Vedantam’s cinematography is appropriate. Action and stunts (R.P. Yadav) are okay. Sanjoy Dasgupta’s production designing is alright. Pratik Chitalia’s editing is sharp.
On the whole, Mere Desh Ki Dharti is a well-made and entertaining film with a good message. If, inspite of merits, the film goes largely unnoticed, it would be because of almost nil publicity and promotion.
Released on 6-5-’22 at Metro Inox (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru PEN Marudhar Cine Entertainment. Publicity: poor. Opening: very weak. …….Also released all over. Opening was terribly poor everywhere.