Vallu & Checkmate: Cinematic Bonanza in Marathi

When it rains, it pours, and right now, its raining good Marathi films! First Vallu and then Checkmate….am I dreaming? Nah, it’s true.

Courage of convictions and good cinematic intuition is what I’d say has resulted in a veritable windfall for the Marathi industry and the respective filmmakers. It’s been a while since discerning Marathi film buffs have been treated to such a feast. When was it last? Perhaps, "Dombivali Fast"?

Coming back to these two Marathi films, here's something on them.

Vallu directed by young, debutant film director Umesh Kulkarni, (an FTII Alumni) has a distinct youth and contemporary touch to it, as has Checkmate, directed again by debutant Sanjay Jadhav, otherwise a cinematographer. If Vallu is rustic and rural, Checkmate is totally urban and snazzy in its look. Yet both are so well made, that it revives your faith in good cinema; and good Marathi cinema at that!

Superb production value, great screenplay, brilliant dialogues and perfect music (without much ado). Running successfully in cinemas all over, both these films are actually talking about decent collections and have done plenty by way of marketing too, a fact that was sadly absent in Marathi cinema largely, hitherto.

Vallu (Wild Bull) has a story that revolves around a wild bull and how villagers discover various problems in their life, from village politics to family tensions, as they struggle to catch it. Appropriately, they're led in this by a forest officer (humorously portrayed by Atul Kulkarni).

Checkmate on the other hand, is the story of three young guys, who are in a hurry to make big money. They have each been duped of their capital by an investment firm and now they set out to ‘snatch’ their rightful money back. Deceit, frustration, some humor, some romance (just a hint) and plenty of ‘edge-of-the-seat’ fast paced, high voltage drama, with various layers, plots and sub-plots, makes this a very interesting and watchable film.

The technique of narration by the characters, keeping the intrigue value and slick editing reminding you of the TV series CSI- Miami, makes it even more challenging for the viewer.

All the artists in both these films have done plenty of justice to their characters. In Checkmate however one expected some more from Sanjay Narwekar and Anand Patwardhan, and they do disappoint. But the protagonists, Swapnil Joshi, Ankush Chaudhury and Rahul Mehendale - have done a satisfying job.

The character definition in Vallu couldn’t have been more appropriate Each one seems straight out of a nearby village you may have been to.

Its no crime to flaunt it, if you have it, where showbiz is concerned. A product that cries to be seen is as good as a dud if not sold well.

Umesh Kulkarni did just that - impressed with his film's rushes, the Rotterdam Film Festival granted him the Hubert Bal Funds of E- 20,000 to complete his film. Kulkarni's attempts yielded good results when Mukta Arts picked up the film for distribution, making it their first Marathi venture. What more could a debutant ask for?

Checkmate produced by Nishad audio visuals too has gone all out in their marketing strategy and their gamble too has paid off with people thronging movie halls - whoever said Marathi audience doesn’t come to the halls would be eating their words!

Both films are a MUST SEE.