A Marathi short film by Varun Narvekar. It features Dr Mohan Agashe & Siddharth Jadhav in an ad for ‘Chitale Bandhu’. It tries to change the point of view of looking at the Ganesh Festival in Maharashtra.
Agashe is a stingy old man. He drives away the sena that collects donation for the sarvajanik Ganesh utsav. In the Lockdown period he looks at the work done by the young brigade & willingly hands over a cheque of a huge amount. The leader, Siddharth is agast. Wearing a ‘Dhoni’ jersey he looks at the old man stumped!
Agashe has glowing praise & also sweets for him. ‘Modak’ from The sponsors. What I liked is .. he says ‘Ganapati came in March. You people have been taking care of the old & bringing in all the necessities. Distributing food packets & working ceaselessly.
Siddharth wishes to hug him . To which Agashe says he abhors the idea, distancing or no distancing. He hands him a basket which has an envelope & the goodies. It’s delightful to watch them interact!
Their confrontation is one of it’s kind. So natural. In the opening scene he calls a boy carrying a ‘Samai” & addresses him as the ‘Emperor’. The boy’s name is ‘Ashok’! His eccentric trait is seen there itself.
Many of their ads are done with a lot of effort. They remain with you for years!
Asian Entertainment 