Tortuga Motion Pictures’ Morrya (Marathi; UA) is the story of a young man who cleans the gutters and the streets in his village.
Morrya (Jitendra Barde) works as a cleaner in his village. His job is to sweep the streets and clean the gutters. He lives with his wife, Surekha (Dhanashree Patil), and little son, Sachin (Rudram Barde). Although Sachin is brilliant in his studies, he is taunted in class for his low status. Morrya is keen to make his son a young man whom people would respect, but his lowly status in society comes in the way.
Morrya’s life is set to change when politician Bapusaheb Mohite (Umesh Jagtap) offers him a chance to contest the gram panchayat elections because only a scheduled caste person is allowed to contest the election from the village. Morrya wins the elections and becomes the sarpanch. Does his life change after that? What exactly happens after Morrya wins the elections?
Jitendra Pundalik Barde has written a story about the harsh realities of life when one belongs to a scheduled caste. Both, his story and screenplay, are depressing. What’s more, they are not too engaging also. After a point of time, the drama becomes predictable and hence loses its grip on the audience. Jitendra Pundalik Barde’s dialogues are so-so.
Jitendra Barde does a fair job as Morrya. Umesh Jagtap is good in the role of Bapusaheb Mohite. Dhanashree Patil is average as Morrya’s wife, Surekha. Rudram Barde is okay as Morrya’s son, Sachin. Sanjay Bhadane is alright as sarpanch Aaba. Rahul Rokade lends routine support as Vikas Kamble. Kunal Punekar (as a eunuch), Rupali Gayakhe (as Sangeeta), Shivaji Gaikwad (as Raghya), Dipak Jadhav (as Vashya), Nitin Nagarkar (as Appa), Akash Dhole (as Jibhau), Vijay Chaudhary (as the doctor) and Praveen Bhosle (as the owner of the mobile phones shop) are adequate.
Jitendra Pundalik Barde’s direction is ordinary. Amogh Inamdar’s music is nothing to shout about. Lyrics (by Jitendra Barde and Kedar Bhagwat) are routine. Amogh Inamdar’s background music does not need separate mention. Akash Kakate’s cinematography is fair. Rohan Patil’s editing is quite sharp.
On the whole, Morrya may point to a reality of life but it lacks entertainment value and it will, therefore, miss the box-office bus.
Released on 22-3-’24 at Plaza (daily 1 show) and another cinema of Bombay thru August Entertainment. Publicity & opening: poor.