The first thing that you hear is an alarm clock ringing urgently...
Right then you know that this is a movie about someone whose life is a routine affair revolving around the clock...in the next series of scenes we see the central character Madhav Apte (Sandeep Kulkarni) going through his daily act of preparing to leave for his job in his less-than-luxurious residence...we see his children being bullied into getting up by his harried wife and him leaving the house, to board the second class compartment of a very crowded local train...he then reaches the bank where he works, has his lunch, then a cup of tea at a roadside stall & the evening sees him again in a congested local...finally we see him having dinner with his daughter...the exact same routine is repeated several times & we get the idea of a lower middle class family struggling to exist in a far-flung suburb of Mumbai, Dombivli...
We learn that Madhav is a principled individual who sticks to his beliefs at the cost of being impractical - an oddity in a world full of people who have resigned themselves to the ways of the world...in this world, Madhav sticks up like a sore thumb & rubs several people the wrong way, including his clients, colleagues & his long-suffering wife...needless to say Madhav's unrelenting attitude has been causing friction in his world & his family suffers as a result...faced with the bleak prospect of spending the reminder of her life in this thankless manner, Madhav's wife one day goads him by telling him to try & change the world if he can...
An emotionally stressed out Madhav snaps when a shop keeper attempts to charge some extra money over the MRP for a soft drink he has just had...he proceeds to destroy the shop with a wooden bat...he then goes on a rampage venting his ire at several things including a wrongly parked bike, corrupt cops accepting bribes, a Corporator who is blind to the miseries of the common man & so on...
Further on, Madhav also sets fire to a drug joint & shames a doctor into admitting a poor person in his hospital...during a run-in with the cops, his wooden bat is confiscated, so he uses a knife & then a revolver which he picks up...though he never causes grievous injury to any person, the media picks up his story in a sensational manner (that we are all familiar with) & we see the reactions of the common man, ranging from the skeptical to the sympathetic & apathetic...this entire range of events happen in the course of 2 days...
During all this, the police is hot on his trial, but always a couple of steps behind...Inspector Anaspure develops a peculiar empathy with Madhav as he feels that he (Madhav) is doing something that the police is paid to do, however are unable to do justice to...having studied Madhav's background, Anaspure knows that Madhav is a sincere & honest soul, but wants to stop him for his own good...finally under tremendous political pressure, a shoot-at-site order is issued by the police Brass against Madhav...
The final confrontation happens (ironically) in a local train, which a tired Madhav boards to reach home...the police is tipped off & when they arrive, it is evident that Madhav's mental equilibrium has failed, as he does not have a perception of having done anything wrong...this results in a stand-off between Inspector Anaspure & Madhav and ends with Madhav being shot fatally...it is then revealed that Madhav's revolver was empty of bullets, which underlines the fact that he never intended to hurt anybody...
A particularly poignant moment is when a dying Madhav tells Anaspure that he has spent his life sitting on the fourth seat in a local train, so whether he could sit at the window seat for some time...the movie ends with a deeply moved Inspector Anaspure reflecting that while Madhav took the easy way of setting things right, the System took a much easier way out by killing a person, who dared to stand up for what is right...
This thought-provoking movie is directed by Marathi Director Nishikant Kamath...it is a critically acclaimed movie & Sandeep Kulkarni's acting bagged him the Star Screen award for Best Male Actor (Marathi)...what is not well-knowing is that this movie is inspired by a 1993 Michael Douglas film "Falling Down"...however it has been well adapted to our city & times...this movie deals with several very valid issues, including the evil practices prevalent in the education system (teachers who fail students who do not attend their coaching classes & colleges illegally charging donations)...
Watch this movie and watch out for my favourite scene in which Madhav in a monologue laments the fact that human beings developed a set of rules & regulations to establish civilizations, but then instead of adhering to the same, in their greed for more, relentlessly break the very same rules...a person like him who strives to follow those rules is branded as an anti-social & eccentric person...he then vents his rage & frustration to the Almighty proclaiming that he is not eligible to live on this planet as per norms set by fellow human beings, so he is resigning his life & enclosing his soul to be taken back by God...
Right then you know that this is a movie about someone whose life is a routine affair revolving around the clock...in the next series of scenes we see the central character Madhav Apte (Sandeep Kulkarni) going through his daily act of preparing to leave for his job in his less-than-luxurious residence...we see his children being bullied into getting up by his harried wife and him leaving the house, to board the second class compartment of a very crowded local train...he then reaches the bank where he works, has his lunch, then a cup of tea at a roadside stall & the evening sees him again in a congested local...finally we see him having dinner with his daughter...the exact same routine is repeated several times & we get the idea of a lower middle class family struggling to exist in a far-flung suburb of Mumbai, Dombivli...
We learn that Madhav is a principled individual who sticks to his beliefs at the cost of being impractical - an oddity in a world full of people who have resigned themselves to the ways of the world...in this world, Madhav sticks up like a sore thumb & rubs several people the wrong way, including his clients, colleagues & his long-suffering wife...needless to say Madhav's unrelenting attitude has been causing friction in his world & his family suffers as a result...faced with the bleak prospect of spending the reminder of her life in this thankless manner, Madhav's wife one day goads him by telling him to try & change the world if he can...
An emotionally stressed out Madhav snaps when a shop keeper attempts to charge some extra money over the MRP for a soft drink he has just had...he proceeds to destroy the shop with a wooden bat...he then goes on a rampage venting his ire at several things including a wrongly parked bike, corrupt cops accepting bribes, a Corporator who is blind to the miseries of the common man & so on...
Further on, Madhav also sets fire to a drug joint & shames a doctor into admitting a poor person in his hospital...during a run-in with the cops, his wooden bat is confiscated, so he uses a knife & then a revolver which he picks up...though he never causes grievous injury to any person, the media picks up his story in a sensational manner (that we are all familiar with) & we see the reactions of the common man, ranging from the skeptical to the sympathetic & apathetic...this entire range of events happen in the course of 2 days...
During all this, the police is hot on his trial, but always a couple of steps behind...Inspector Anaspure develops a peculiar empathy with Madhav as he feels that he (Madhav) is doing something that the police is paid to do, however are unable to do justice to...having studied Madhav's background, Anaspure knows that Madhav is a sincere & honest soul, but wants to stop him for his own good...finally under tremendous political pressure, a shoot-at-site order is issued by the police Brass against Madhav...
The final confrontation happens (ironically) in a local train, which a tired Madhav boards to reach home...the police is tipped off & when they arrive, it is evident that Madhav's mental equilibrium has failed, as he does not have a perception of having done anything wrong...this results in a stand-off between Inspector Anaspure & Madhav and ends with Madhav being shot fatally...it is then revealed that Madhav's revolver was empty of bullets, which underlines the fact that he never intended to hurt anybody...
A particularly poignant moment is when a dying Madhav tells Anaspure that he has spent his life sitting on the fourth seat in a local train, so whether he could sit at the window seat for some time...the movie ends with a deeply moved Inspector Anaspure reflecting that while Madhav took the easy way of setting things right, the System took a much easier way out by killing a person, who dared to stand up for what is right...
This thought-provoking movie is directed by Marathi Director Nishikant Kamath...it is a critically acclaimed movie & Sandeep Kulkarni's acting bagged him the Star Screen award for Best Male Actor (Marathi)...what is not well-knowing is that this movie is inspired by a 1993 Michael Douglas film "Falling Down"...however it has been well adapted to our city & times...this movie deals with several very valid issues, including the evil practices prevalent in the education system (teachers who fail students who do not attend their coaching classes & colleges illegally charging donations)...
Watch this movie and watch out for my favourite scene in which Madhav in a monologue laments the fact that human beings developed a set of rules & regulations to establish civilizations, but then instead of adhering to the same, in their greed for more, relentlessly break the very same rules...a person like him who strives to follow those rules is branded as an anti-social & eccentric person...he then vents his rage & frustration to the Almighty proclaiming that he is not eligible to live on this planet as per norms set by fellow human beings, so he is resigning his life & enclosing his soul to be taken back by God...