Alibaba Ani Chalishitale Chor Review: Zany and interesting!

ALIBABA ANI CHALISHITALE CHOR (Marathi)

Producer- Nitin Prakash Vaidya, Vaishali Viraj Londhe, Nikhil Varadkar and Sandeep Deshpande

Director- Aditya Ingale

Cast- Subodh Bhave, Mukta Barve, Atul Parchure, Madhura Welankar, Anand Ingle, Shruti Marathe

Platform of Release- Theatres

Rating:

By Jyothi Venkatesh

Playing with literally words from the title of the popular story Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, director Aditya Ingale’s film Alibaba Ani Chalishitale Chor is a zany fun take on the lives of a group of middle aged friends, both males as well as females who are married as well as in their 40s, with the exception of just one male.

The film itself is an adaptation of a popular play by the same name, written by Vivek Bele and staged almost about a decade ago. What is interesting about the film is that though it is verbose to a large extent, and extremely dialogue-heavy as it has been adapted from the stage, where visual representations take centre stage, dealing with the way the director has tackled the intertwined relations, midlife crisis etc, the story is as relevant as it was when it was first executed on stage.

The film begins with Doctor (Atul Parchure) and his wife, Sumitra (Mukta Barve), inviting friends over to their farmhouse for a party. The guests at the party are: Parag (Subodh Bhave) and his wife, Aditi (Shruti Marathe); Varun (Anand Ingale) and his wife, Shalaka (Madhura Welankar) and bachelor boy Abhishek (Umesh Kamat). While all are eating, drinking, and dancing, there is a power failure.  As soon as the lights go off, there is a sound of one person kissing another, and also a tight slap being given to someone. The party ends abruptly.

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While Vivek Bele’s story, screenplay and dialogues are extraordinary, direction by Aditya Ingle is extremely good. It is extremely difficult to exactly pinpoint which actor has done his or her best but it is Subodh Bhave who stands out among all with his colleagues’ while Madhura Welankar and Mukta Barve do justice to their parts adequately lending them with the right edge as well as support.

While Umesh Kamat is just about average, Atul Parchure is adept at shedding the comic image that he has been saddled with. Shruti Marathe is good as usual while Anand Ingale scores with his talent.

To sum up, the film is bold but not at all blatant and with an adult approach is sure to entertain the audiences. Go for it!