Vantage point




Monday, April 20, 2009

About Mee Shivajiraje Bhosale Boltoy

I haven't seen the film yet. But I find it difficult to understand how the two following articles be about the same movie.

Smruti Koppikar writes in Outlook

In a politically surcharged climate that makes capital out of the Marathi manoos's seeming marginalisation and oppression in Mumbai, Dinkar's is a timely and remarkably sane voice.
[..]
By the time it ends, this film, running to full houses in theatres across Maharashtra, has made several significant points. Among them: migrants in Mumbai are not necessarily 'outsiders', they are Maharashtrians; Marathi-speaking citizens of Maharashtra have no reason to feel inferior; they allow politicians to claim Shivaji's legacy, they should use it to assert their own identity in a positive way. At one point, angered by Dinkar's litany of complaints against 'outsiders'—Gujaratis, Udupis (south Indians), Sikhs, UP-walas—Shivaji even admonishes his newest disciple with the words: "Do not credit outsiders for your own failures".
[...]
That the audience has underwritten its success means the rational approach has immense support. Raj Thackeray and his Maharashtra Navnirman Sena 'workers', better wake up! Says Manjrekar (incidentally, a friend of Thackeray's, though clearly not a political sympathiser): "If this film changes perceptions of even two people in a positive direction, my effort is worth it.... If any political party takes it up, I will only be too happy".


Kiran Tare writes in DNA

Even though the Shiv Sena hasn't declared its 'star campaigner' for the Lok Sabha polls, a Marathi film Me Shivajiraje Bhosale Boltoy (I am Shivajiraje Bhosale speaking) has taken up that role.
[...]
Though the film takes forward MNS chief Raj Thackeray's point that local people are being ignored in the state, and its dialogues remind the audience of the fiery speeches of Sena chief Bal Thackeray.
[...]
"After watching the film one can easily tell that the dialogues have been heard before," said Ashish Deshmukh, an advertising professional. "Needless to say, it is Balasaheb's theory."
[...]
The Shiv Sena, however, did not appear too keen to cash on the sentiments of their supporters. "The film conveys the right message but it does not mean that it has become our star campaigner," said a party leader.


Huh??? Is this a Marathi Rashomon? Exactly which of the two people quoted above has done a ध चा मा I ask!

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