Mere Desh Ki Dharti Review: Purposeful yes but a little hackneyed!

Mere Desh Ki Dharti

Producer: Vaishali Sarwankar

Director: Faraz Haider

Cast: Divyendu, Anant Vidhaat, Anupriya Goenka , DalipTahil , Manu Rishi Chaddha, Annu Kapoor, Atul Shrivastava , Rajesh Sharma, Rutuja Shinde and Inaamulhaq

Platform of Release: Theatrical

Rating:

By Jyothi Venkatesh

Ajay (Divyendu) and Sameer (Anant Vidhaat) are both engineers who live in Mumbai. They are bogged down by the competitive spirit of the city as they aren’t earning enough. Ajay wants to start his own business for which he is in search of finance. Sameer is in love with Shilpa (Rutuja Shinde) whose rich businessman-father (Dalip Tahil) is money minded and class-conscious. Ajay and Sameer lose their jobs on the same day, and being frustrated with life, even contemplate suicide.

They decide to go to a village called Salamatpur where they see people are happy though not rich but burdened by loans and humiliation, the local farmers are committing suicide. That’s when Ajay and Sameer decide to do something for the village. In a way, they get a purpose in life. Though the film is not at all jingoistic, Mere Desh Ki Dharti sets out to explore the issue of farmer debts and suicides and much more.

As far as performances go, both Divyendu and Anant Vidhaat are earnest and tuck in excellent performances while Anupriya Goenka who otherwise is a good actress has been wasted in a supporting role of Jhumki. As Shilpa Rutuja Shinde also hardly has any role worthwhile while Dalip Tahil puts in a seasoned performance.

Also read: Chandramukhi Marathi Movie Review: Musical Masterpiece!

As usual both Atul Shrivastava and Rajesh Sharma are good though it is Brajendra Kala who steals the show in a role which is reminiscent of yesteryear actor Kanhaiyalal. Inaamulhaq who plays the role of Pappan Khan deserves a special mention as the oddball banjo party guy and shayar in the village who holds everything together.

Faraz Haider’s direction is satisfactory, but the screenplay had much to be desired. The editing also leaves a lot to be desired as the film starts boring you after it is halfway through. Piyush Mishra’s dialogues stand out in many scenes, especially the small-town parts. It’s a watchable fare if you do not deep dive into the multi-layered issues plaguing the farmers of the country and only view it as the two friends’ journey from being urban losers to ultimately becoming the rural heroes.

Though in an attempt to develop the backstories, the first half of the film doesn’t at all succeed to hold as much ground, thankfully, all said and done, to put it in a nutshell, I’d say that the movie does pick up in the second half and has you smiling through the eyes, with its message that one should not give up hope and when there’s a will, there is definitely a way. However, as far as the box office prospects are concerned, all that I can vouchsafe is that the film which is purposeful but at the same time also hackneyed to the core, may not be able to attract the audiences in a big way in multiplexes as it lacks good stars to attract them.