‘Chhora Ganga kinarewala’ takes to the ghats
Mumbai: After over three decades in Bollywood, superstar Amitabh Bachchan takes a fancy in portraying out and out ‘‘mee Mumbaikar’’ characters in two back-to-back films.
The just-released ‘‘Sarkar’’ saw the Big B as the protagonist Subhash Nagre, a character with some shades of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray’s persona, while in ‘‘Viruddh’’, releasing later this month, he will be seen as a typical middle class Maharashtrian father fighting the system to seek justice for his dead son.
‘‘Sarkar’’ is produced by Ram Gopal Varma’s company Factory, while ‘‘Viruddh’’ is a Mahesh Manjrekar-directed film produced by Big B’s company A B Corp to be released on July 22.
Bachchan stars opposite Censor Board chief Sharmila Tagore, who makes a comeback in films after a long hiatus.
In ‘‘Viruddh’’, Bachchan plays Vidyadhar Patwardhan, resident of Vile Parle East, a pre-dominant middle class Maharashtrian locality in the suburbs.
It may be recalled that the megastar had inaugurated the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Natya Sammelan at Dombivali near here in January this year. In his brief speech in Marathi, he acknowledged the influence Marathi-speaking people had cast on him througout his life in Mumbai.
Last year, in Farhan Akhtar’s film ‘‘Lakshya’’, Amitabh had essayed the brief role of Col Sunil Damle and had mouthed a Marathi proverb in one of his dialogues.
As Subhash Nagre in ‘‘Sarkar’’, he speaks one or two lines in Marathi – ‘‘Thamba (wait)’’, ‘‘Kai Zala (What happened)’’, ‘‘Kay Challay (what’s happening)’’.
But, movie buffs who saw the film felt that even though the ambience of the family in ‘‘Sarkar’’ was Maharashtrian, the ethos was missing. This could be attributed to the background of the director Ram Gopal Varma who hails from Andhra Pradesh.
Perhaps, Mahesh Manjrekar as a Maharashtrian would be able to capture the quintessential ethos in ‘‘Viruddh’’, they say.
Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan had made a special appearance in a Marathi film ‘‘Akka’’ produced by Big B’s make-up man Deepak Sawant in 1994. Amitabh and Jaya appeared in the movie in a Ganpati ‘‘aarti’’ in Marathi.
The superstar’s special appearance, however, did not help the film which sank without a trace.
