Zee Studios and Mahesh Manjrekar Movies’ Panghrun (Marathi) is an unusual tale of a widower bhajan singer and his second wife who is slightly older than his daughter. The film is set in pre-Independence India.
Ananta Guruji (Amol Bawadekar) is a bhajan singer of a village. He is a widower who has two daughters, Manjiri and Saguna. The villagers insist that Guruji remarry and so he gets married to Lakshmi (Gauri Ingawale) who is a very young widow. Unable to get over the demise of his first wife, Guruji does not consummate his marriage with Lakshmi.
Madhav (Rohit Phalke) is Guruji’s disciple who is attracted towards Lakshmi. Although Lakshmi spurns Madhav’s advances, they land up in bed one night in a moment of passion. What’s more, Guruji sees them sleeping together. What happens thereafter?
The film is inspired by a story written by author and poet B.B. Borkar. The story is interesting and has several poignant moments. The screenplay, written by Mahesh Vaman Manjrekar and Ganesh Mitkari, is extremely sensitive. The scene in which Guruji sees his wife in bed with his disciple is wonderful. The drama thereafter is both, heartwarming and unexpected. It is also a bit emotional. Ganesh Mitkari’s dialogues are sensitive.
Gauri Ingawale is splendid and delivers an award-winning performance in her maiden film. Her dance is very graceful. Amol Bawadekar does a very fine job as Ananta Guruji. Rohit Phalke performs ably as Madhav. Sulekha Talwalkar is alright as Radhakka. Pravin Tarde supports well in the role of Dnyandeo Khot. Baby Sanchi Parab (as Manjiri) and baby Pranjal Parab (as Saguna) lend decent support. Vidyadhar Joshi is so-so as Lakshmi’s father, Ramnath. Dipti Lele (as Kunda), Prabhakar More (as Lakhoba), Medha Manjrekar (as Ananta Guruji’s first wife, Janaki) and Savita Malpekar lend good support.
Mahesh Vaman Manjrekar’s direction is sensitive, which is the need of the subject. Music (Hitesh Modak, Salil Kulkarni, Pawandeep Rajan and Ajit Parab) is good. The music is a mix of songs and abhangas. Lyrics (Sant Tukaram, Sant Savta Mali and Vaibhav Joshi) are appealing. Hitesh Modak’s background music is quite nice. Karan B. Rawat’s cinematography is of a good standard. Prashant Rane does an excellent job as art director; he has recreated the British era beautifully. Satish Padwal’s editing is sharp.
On the whole, Panghrun is a well-made and entertaining film but it has no face value. It deserves to pick up due to positive word of mouth.
Released on 4-2-’22 at Plaza (daily 2 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay by Zee Studios. Publicity: fair. Opening: poor.