Deool – Religion for A Region

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Director- Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni

Cast-  Girish Kulkarni, Nana Patekar, Dilip Prabhawalkar, Sonali Kulkarni, Nassirudin Saha  and others.

Duration- 2 Hours 20 Minutes   

Deool takes you to an unconnected, deserted village of Maharashtra where village people had their everyday life running churning on very little sources of happiness and their own lives with a sense of disappointment as well. Some interconnected events took all these away from them and they opted the machinery which was sort of unwanted by the people present there.

“People in the city think the villages would be as serene and calm as it used to be and we could get our peace of mind there but what about the villagers who have to live and die in this field? Should they die because of poverty and deficiency of essential commodities?” These are the punching lines that this film throws straight at you so that you could take the right option from it. The film revolves around a small village in Maharashtra where a simple and straightforward man named Keshya ( Girish Kulkarni), who suddenly one day got a dream where Dutta(Lord Vishnu) appeared while he was asleep beneath a tree. He spread the news over the village that Dutta has arrived in their own village and amidst of all speculations people start believing that Dutta has really arrived at their village.

Bhau( Nana Patekar) played the role of village ‘Mukhia’, who has also kept Keshya for work. He along with Anna Kulkarni (Dilip Pavlenkar) wanted to build school and hospitals for the development of the village as Anna was the most intelligent and capable person residing at the village. But things took a turn after the news of Dutta made rounds through the outskirts of the village. Another group of young men decided to take advantage of this issue and they forced Bhau to make a temple which would embrace the god and would prosper the village. Bhau under pressure, has to welcome their decision and by scraping the plans to make schools and hospitals he had to give away the money to make a temple instead.

The village temple suddenly shot rise to fame and the gang of young men who were nothing yesterday became the proud caretakers of the temple. The village got connected to the outer world; people came rushing into the temple, donations and charities made the situation of the village quite healthy apart from the fact that there were still no hospitals or schools to serve the needs of the people residing at the village. Bhau was also caught in the glitterati of money and had left all the plans of development. Commercialisation of religion was on the high for the village as well.

Keshya on the other hand felt helpless seeing all this damaging serenity and divine nature of his mother nature, in his village where he was brought in. At last he took such brave step that changed the course of the village completely and paid the price of his dream that he had once seen, while he was asleep.

Girish Kulkarni with his on screen presence stunned the audience with his acting capabilities that binds the story throughout. Nana Patekar as Bhau has done an equally commendable job that needs no description. The one man that has to be mentioned when it comes to acting in this film is, Dilip Prabhawalker who has played the role of Anna and really banged it hard.

The cinematography of the film has been outstanding, portraying the scenic beauty of the deserted village with panache and the details that it depicted on screen of the natural mountains, rivers and canals.

The screenplay somehow lacks in continuity in the first half but caught pace at the second and comes to an end with an erring climax that puts questions around the heads of people. The direction, handled by Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni, has really took the level up for the film and remain that among the very best films of the year 2011.

Well it’s really hard to fit in an Item song in a film like this but the music of Mangesh Dhakde has made it possible as the item number sounds really necessary in order to take the movie forward through a music montage. The ‘vajan’ number ‘Deva tula shodhu Kutha’ has given a new dimension to the film in terms of pace and balance throughout the film.

The film has been internationally and nationally praised for its brave subject and witty portrayal of the commercialisation of religion in the prevailing society of India. The Urbanisation of villages has also been the core issue of the film providing the Best Film National Award (2011) as well for the film. Girish Kulkarni, for his powerful acting in the film got the Best Actor National Award as well.

Through the battle of commercial films these films really are the breather for film lovers and also to the film makers who want to portray social issues in a different way altogether. It’s certainly a must watch flick from the very old and known Marathi film industry.

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