Shahanpan Dega Deva

One does not expect a film of this standard from Mahesh Manjrekar. Shahanpan Dega Deva,his latest release,is a mix of many things that do not really make any sense. What can be the reason for a filmmaker of Manjrekar’s calibre,one who has been churning out good and message-oriented movies,to make such a film is a big question mark.

Bharat,Sanjay,Ankush,Siddharth and Vaibhav are inmates of an asylum in which Kishore Pradhan,Vidyadhar Joshi and Kishore Kadam are corrupt doctors. Mahesh Manjrekar is Dr Subodh who sympathises with the patients and is always lending a ear to their problems. However,he is a hindrance for the trouble-makers. Bharat,a doctor who accidentally injects a patient,loses his mental balance after he dies. Sanjay is a cricket fan,Ankush is a film buff while Siddharth and Vaibhav form a team of bhakt and bhagwan respectively. Dr Subodh decides to take the five of them for a cricket match. While he stops at a petrol pump,he is shot at by Himesh (Santosh Juvekar) and Reshammiya (Dhananjay Mandrekar),the henchmen of Sir Paden (Kamlakar Satpute),who has got his name as he is always farting much to the disgust of his men and also to the viewers of the film.

Mahesh Manjrekar as Dr Subodh has a new look,with curly hair and glasses that suit him. Besides that there is not much to his act. Playing mentally-retarded is actually a challenge but brilliant actors like Bharat Jadhav,Sanjay Narvekar,Siddharth Jadhav and Vaibhav Mangle are wasted here. Sadly,except for Bharat,it is not justified why they are all in the asylum. Ankush as a film buff is good in his role. He has dialogues from Hindi films and even mimics the actors. Heroines Kranti Redkar,Manva Naik and Purva Pawar have nothing much to do. Kishore Pradhan,Vidyadhar Joshi,Kishore Kadam,Dhananjay Mandrekar and even young actor Santosh Juvekar as the miscreants do not jell. Kamlakar Satpute as a gay gang leader who keeps farting is repulsive. It is also not clear what they are against and why they are doing wrong deeds. The famous song Tumha var keli mee marji bahal from Pinjra is shown and even mentioned as an ‘item’ song. The climax is also very abrupt leaving one wondering what the film was all about. Sadly there is not much to praise about the film.

Verdict: *

One star for Ankush’s performance.