Rege, Marathi Film Movie review, Johnson Thomas Rating: * * * 1/2

Rege, Marathi Film Movie review, Johnson Thomas Rating: * * * 1/2

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#Rege(Marathi) Rating: *  *  * ½ An innocent bystander caught in the vortex of crime -Harsh realism predicated on facts and depicted with unabashed, tangible, shocking poignancy. The true reality about the underworld-builder-politician-police nexus is here. Everyone’s a villain only the degree differs. A not-to-be-missed experience! #MaheshManjrekar #PushkarShrotri #SantoshJuvekar #ArohWelankar #AbhijitPanse #CineshorePR #MaheshLimaye#RavindraKarmarkar #ShivkumarParthasarathy

Marathi film review

Johnson Thomas

Truth is more powerful than a thousand fiction

Film: Rege       

Cast: Mahesh Manjrekar, Pushkar Shrotri, Santosh Juvekar, Aroh Welankar

   Director: Abhijit Panse

Rating: *  *  * ½

Frankly, the manner in which Marathi cinema has risen up to the challenge of providing good cinema, we can all but anoint it as the precursor of the new wave of the 21^st century. It began with ‘Shwaas’, then ‘Vihir’ ‘Jin Chik Jin’ ‘Deoul’ and many others in between before ‘Fandry’ ‘Yellow’ ‘Dhag’ and now ‘Rege.’ Young fledgling directors and cinematographers refusing to compromise on quality while providing good, clean, realistic, culturally rooted, stunningly poignant films that touch your hearts and leave you hungry for more - is certainly a sight for sore eyes. And they certainly havn’t disappointed the discerning viewer. With fresh, eager-to-learn youngsters of the soil willing to keep an open mind and learn all the tricks of serving good content without getting waylaid by commercial compulsions, we are in for a treat. And hopefully that enthusiasm for good cinema will spread to all corners of Maharashtra as well as the rest of India.

‘Rege’ is one sterling example of how even with the smallest of budgets a director can create a work worthy of high praise. Abhijit Panse’s debut effort has the makings of an assured, high integrity product where only minimum liberties are taken for cinematic niceness. This is definitely a great story to tell. An innocent curious bystander, an MBBS final student belonging to a family of Doctors gets caught up in the vortex of crime as a result of his need for secondary thrills. Aniruddha Rege,  son of a renowned surgeon feels it’s cool to be associated with the underworld. Power play in police force or politics in underworld is something ‘Ani’ has never experienced before and being getting caught between the two evils puts his own life at risk.

 The vulnerability of today’s overachieving youngsters towards the negative side of reality, is rendered with a passionless , unsullied and gritty severity. But that’s just one side of the story. The parallel universe here is the justice system where cops , in their greed for power, position and fame get overzealous in their effort to project themselves as the saviors, leaving in their wake collateral damage- youngsters who may have nothing to do with the actual crime yet become statistics in the conscienceless police book of deeds! That’s where the two parallel stories merge leading to an ending that makes you sit up and take notice. Of course the purveyors of the injustice use the system’s loopholes in order to escape from punishment.  It’s a systemic rot that needs to be rooted out and the Panse’s intriguing drama makes a strong statement for justice to be delivered in the right manner and speed.

Rege has been written, directed and produced by debutant Abhijit Panse. A slew of roles for a fledgeling filmmaker, but he does it with an assurance that would put even a Ram Gopal Verma to shame. Every sequence in the film is so close to reality that you actually feel as though you are an observer, privy to intimate lives of the principal characters. The non-linear structure adopted is a bit of a bear though. It doesn’t allow for complete coherence. The cutting back and forth blurs up the timelines and distorts the coherence. Then again, it also lends complexity and interest to the narrative. The performances, all, are utterly realistic and allows the film to be representative of a realistic world. And Mahesh Limaye's earthy camerawork lends authenticity to the experience. We’ve seen many films on crime (including RGV’s and Anuraag Kashyap’s better efforts) but none with such heart-stopping and anger inducing eloquence.

 

The film saw its world premiere in last year’s Mumbai International Film Festival (MAMI), where it was among eight Indian films selected in the prestigious ‘New Faces in Indian Cinema’ segment. It was also selected for Pune International Film Festival (PIFF), IFFI, South Africa International Film Festival and Mauritius Film Festival. So this is undoubtedly a not-to-be-missed experience!

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