Adapted from a play written by Vivek Bele interestingly titled as KATKON TRIKON (meaning ‘Right Angled Triangle'), this is a strong message oriented film smartly presented as a dramatic crime thriller revolving around a mysterious incident, wherein an old man falls from the balcony of his high rise building apartment.
Coming to the point in its first scene itself with Inspector Nagargoje (Nana Patekar) visiting the scene, AAPLA MANUS takes you on an engrossing, unpredictable ride ending on a highly thoughtful note and keeps you guessing throughout, until the enlightening revelation in the end bringing in a significant social twist.
Supremely led by Patekar as the chief investigator of the case, AAPLA MANUS can also be called as one of the finest representations of the famous RASHOMON effect, with the suspicion moving from one person to another tricking the engrossed viewer. But giving more emphasis to the powerful social message in its final 30 minutes, the film actually turns out to be much more than just an impressive crime thriller, shocking the viewer, forcing him/her to go into a self-introspective mode thinking about his own family.
Without revealing anything about its basic storyline, it’s an exceptionally written and conceived social eye-opener with just four characters emoting on the screen who make you feel ashamed as well as awaken at the same time. Brilliantly directed by Satish Rajwade keeping the suspense intact, it never wastes time on any forced subplot or song and keeps coming up with unexpected twists at regular intervals forcing you to change your perception about the case.
It’s certainly not easy to make a more than two hours long, song-less Indian film featuring just a few. But AAPLA MANUS does that perfectly well and that too giving an extremely important message for our present day society and generation somewhere lost in the deceptive virtual world ignoring their own loved ones.
Having some ignorable drawbacks of a few loopholes in its investigation theories, a forced double role and an avoidable cameo of Ajay Devgn (who has also thankfully produced the film), AAPLA MANUS essentially needs to be seen for its socially relevant subject, well-written dialogues and outstanding performances from the cast, wherein both Sumeet and Iravati successfully manage to stand tall in front of the incomparable Nana Patekar. In fact many might like to watch it again for Sumeet and Iravati alone, post their first watch remaining more influenced and devoted to Nana Patekar.
Yes, the middle and younger generations may consider it as a biased way of looking at things without giving them a chance of explanation. But accepting this valid point of criticism, AAPLA MANUS still remains a NOT TO BE MISSED thought provoking, unusual family thriller that deserves to be applauded and supported as another gem coming from our proud Regional Language Indian cinema.
However reading the name of Ajay Devgan as its producer, if you wish to ask a question that why they didn’t make it in Hindi reaching a much wider audience?
Then the answer is….. because they very well know that Hindi film audience is at present seriously caught in the web of the star/icon worship and not known for accepting or appreciating dry (song-less and romance-less) films with only four characters conversing for more than two hours ending with an introspective message.
And that’s exactly where Indian Regional Language Cinema and its viewers are miles…..miles ahead than both Hindi cinema and its audience.
In all, AAPLA MANUS is not only a superfine message oriented film, but also a rare combination of entertainment, thrill and suspense asking for an intellectual involvement of its viewer, we don’t often get to see in our Indian Cinema. So do go for it as a must, whether you understand Marathi or not, watching it with English subtitles (as the film has been released with subtitles all over).
(Note : Please dont reveal anything about the film at social sites or personal messages if you are a true lover of our outstanding Indian cinema)
Rating : Movies To See Before You Die
(A short edited version of the article was first published on UC-News Mobile App in February 2018)
Note : As an update in September 2020 - the film can now be seen at NETFLIX with English subtitles.
