VICKY VELINGKAR (Marathi) | 6 December, 2019

GSEAMS, Dancing Shiva and Loki’s Studio’s Vicky Velingkar (Marathi; UA) is a thriller.

Vicky Velingkar (Sonalee Kulkarni) gets strange dreams that her friend, Srushti (Jui Pawar), is being murdered. One day, Srushti is found dead. Vidya (Spruha Joshi) is a close friend of Srushti and is her roommate. Vidya and her boyfriend, police inspector Salunkhe (Kettan Singh), try to prove that Srushti had committed suicide.

But Vicky Velingkar and her computer hacker-friend, Lucky (Sangram Samel), are convinced that Srushti was murdered. Srushti had made a gadget which could immortalise humans. Vicky and Lucky feel, Srushti had been murdered by someone who wanted the gadget and the formula of preparing the gadget. Perhaps, that’s why her laptop is missing.

Who is right — Vidya and police inspector Salunkhe, or Vicky and Lucky? Was Srushti murdered or did she end her own life? What happens to her gadget?

Saurabh Varma has written a weird story which will not be understood by the majority. His screenplay is repetitive and tests the patience of the viewers. A large chunk of the drama is devoted to Vicky’s dreams, and the same dream is repeated each time, with just one additional scene. This irritates the audiences because they are not used to seeing the same dream being repeated a number of times and are also not used to watching so much of dream talk. The suspense is hardly exciting. In short, Saurabh Varma’s story is silly while his screenplay is vague, too class-appealing and confused. Dialogues, penned by Saurabh Varma and Swapnil Warke, are weak.

Sonalee Kulkarni is okay in the title role. Sangram Samel is alright in the role of Lucky. Kettan Singh does a fair job as police officer Salunkhe. Spruha Joshi is ordinary as Vidya. Jui Pawar is routine in the role of Srushti. Gaurav More (as taxi driver Parshuram), Rama Joshi (as Vicky Velingkar’s grandmother), and Vanita Kharat provide ordinary support.

Saurabh Varma’s direction is poor. Music (Omkar Patil and Manan Munjal) is commonplace. Lyrics (Sumeet Tambe and Piyush Aambhore) are functional. Manan Munjal’s background music is quite effective. Amit Singh’s camerawork is okay. Prachi Rohidas’ editing is loose.

On the whole, Vicky Velingkar is a flop show all the way.

Released on 6-12-’19 at Bharatmata (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Pickle Entertainment. Publicity: fair. Opening: weak.