Aanibaani- आणीबाणी Movie Review
Rating: 
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Plot: in 1975, Vimal and Abhimanyu are trying to conceive a child facing extreme challenges when the PM declares an emergency.
Direction: Dinesh Jagtap
Screenplay, Story and Dialogue: Arvind Jagtap
Cinematography: Mangesh Gadekar
Music: Devdutta Baji, Aadi Ramchandra
Cast: Sayaji Shinde, Veena Jamkar, Upendra Limaye, Praveen Tarde
Aanibaani- आणीबाणी Movie Review
A gutting image of horrors instantly flashes in your mind when someone mentions the emergency of 1975. But director Dinesh Jagtap has taken a comic way around it. Aani Baani is based on the stories of families and especially men trying to run away from the family planning scheme which came along with the emergency.
The film starts with a bed ridden Abhimanyu (Upendra Limaye) and his wife Vimal (Veena Jamkar) living a simple life happily. Their son notices Vimal teasing Abhimanyu to remarry. Upon questioning she begins to narrate their memories of the Emergency era when they were trying to conceive him.
The flashback starts with the Sarpanch (Sayaji Shinde) putting up murals and posters for people to conceive only 1 or 2 children. The police constable of the village Pintu Sheth (Sanjay Khapre) is nabbing people and forcing them to do vasectomies just so he can meet the targets given by ministry. In all of this, Vimal and Abhimanyu get stuck as Vimal can’t bear a child. She suggests that Abhimanyu should remarry. Falling to her requests, he agrees to marry Jyoti (Seema Kulkarni). As all of these things fall into place, mixed with a lot of twists and turns comes a comic tale full of drama.
The story has so much essence that the product feels butchered up. The direction and screenplay is to blame for this. The repetitive jokes and moments of people getting scared of vasectomy only work for a while. The gags get repetitive and I can’t even get started on the million vasectomy jokes it has. The background music is absolutely on point and works like a charm. Simply, the best thing about the film. The production design does a good job to bring out the 1970’s era. The cinematography and the editing feel patchy and fail to bring out the best.
Coming to the performances of the huge star cast it has, only Veena Jamkar manages to really grab your attention. Upendra Limaye lacks a consistent character. Sayaji Shinde and Praveen Tarde have been doing the same thing for the past year. Seema Kulkarni doesn’t get much screen time to even make an impact. Sanjay Khapre does a decent job as the police constable.
All in all, Aani Baani is a tarnished attempt at a simple comedy dramatic story. It definitely falls in the one time watch category.
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Aanibaani- आणीबाणी Movie Review
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