A 2014 Marathi film directed by Sachin Kundalkar. Kundalkar has a great body of work in Marathi. His ideas are novel & the execution is terrific. This film was made in Malayalam in 2018, as Koode with different cast.
It stars Atul Kulkarni, Priya Bapat, Pallavi Subhash, Chitra Palekar & others. It is a story about a brother & sister. The family had sent him to Dubai to earn at a tender age of 13-14. He hardly meets his younger sister. After her death, she appears before him & shares the experiences that they had been denied.
The battered van is ‘Happy Journey’. She is unable to leave the van. Only he can see her. He has a crush on a girl, Alice but doesn’t have the confidence to approach her father. His sister encourages him to go for it.
He has never bought expensive clothes for himself. She does it from the I-pad . The small things in life that we deny ourselves! Why? Feel like having a Pav-bhaji, go and have it.
Opportunities knock the door once. Just grab it. I wouldn’t say you lose it, just that it gets postponed. Next time be alert & don’t let go.
Niranjan has this feeling of being an outsider & probably the money machine.. But that was not true. His sister had worshipped him. She is holding his photo so he is in very family photograph. After she is gone, he will be alone & get into his shell again so she pushes him towards Alice, the only girl he has ever liked. Alice has also made it clear that she had been waiting for him.
Being a Marathi film, it’s handling is not typical. It has it’s moments. The van is painted later & instead of “Happy Journey” it becomes ‘Tantrum’. With the colours on the van his life becomes colourful … the seats . cushions everything changes. The freedom of movement that a vehicle gives…
His sky is now boundless & he is looking forward to the future… his daughter is born .. again when he is playing football. His sister was born when he was playing football. All the actors are skilled & give us a memorable treat.
Asian Entertainment 