Ghalib Natak Review:
Chinmay Mandlekar’s ‘Ghaalib’ brings the glory back to the Marathi Rangbhoomi with a tightly knit thriller comedy!

Rating:

Plot:
 A famous author Prof. Manav Kirloskar is deceased. His daughter Ila is caught off guard when his ex-student Angad Dehlavi, now a famous writer, enters her life.

Team:

Writer and Director – Chinmay Mandlekar
Set Design and Lights – Pradip Mulaye
Sound – Rahul Ranade
Costumes – Mangal Kenkre
Cast – Gautami Deshpande, Virajas Kulkarni, Ashwini Joshi, Gururaj Avdhani

Detailed Review:

Chinmay Mandlekar has been one of the frontrunners in the Marathi entertainment industry for a while now! He is back to the stage with a thrill-com Marathi Play ‘Ghaalib’. He has written as well as directed this two-act play.

Going by the title, you may guess the play is based on Mirza Ghaalib, but that is not the case. The play is actually based on an author’s quest to write about Ghaalib while maintaining his sanity and relationships.

The play starts with the drowsy Ila (Gautami Deshpande) who just fools around all day doing nothing. She is living in her dead father, Prof. Manav Kirloskar’s (Gururaj Avdhani), 5 room bungalow. Prof. Manav was a famous novelist who had left his job to complete his quest and for lifelong dream of writing a biography of Ghaalib. His obsession with writing resulted in madness and eventually took his life.

Ila was the only one who took care of him during illness and so she is stuck in his memories in the house. One day, Prof. Manav’s ex-student Angad Dehlavi (Virajas Kulkarni), now a famous writer, visits Ila to look for anything substantial in Manav’s study. He is convinced that Manav sir did complete ‘Ghaalib’ before he died.

Ila allows him to go through 400 notebooks of gibberish as the time passes. Enter Reva (Ashwini Joshi), Ila’s elder sister, also visits her to check on her health. All three with different intentions enter the bungalow but get pulled into the same mystery. Did Prof. Manav complete Ghaalib or not?

Since it is a thriller comedy with a dash of mystery to it, I don’t think I can reveal much about what happens further. But I can guarantee that you will get entertained to the fullest. Both the acts are superbly paced and the play has a strong hold on its characters. Not even once you will feel bored.

Chinmay Mandlekar’s layered writing along with his tactful direction leaves you wanting for more! He carefully crafts the characters without leaving any loose ends. Some of the dialogues like “There is a difference between being GOOD and being SUCCESSFULL” just hit hard! The sound design feels a little out of sync as the ins and outs are quite random. The set is quite grand and definitely looks like a downtrodden villa. The lighting, though nothing out of the box, works well!

Coming to the performances, Gautami Deshpande has put up a magnificent display of her class as an actor. She is seen in almost all the shades a character can be! May it be loving, caring, angry, notorious and what not! Virajas Kulkarni charms you like a sweet little but cunning chocolate boy. Ashwini Joshi’s performance was so good that I hated the character even more. Her character looks quite fake, but can’t really say if it is the character or the actor!

All in all, Ghaalib is a complete package of laughter, mystery, drama and thrill! Chinmay Mandlekar and team are bang on with the execution and entertainment quotient. Go watch the upcoming shows, you won’t be disappointed!

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