Pak Pak Pakaak (2005) -

Nana Patekar made his directorial debut with Prahaar. This was his only directorial venture till date. The movie had well known faces like Dimple Kapadia and Madhuri Dixit and an unknown face called Gautam Joglekar who played a very important character in the movie. He was if we could define the second hero of the movie.

Gautam Joglekar is son of Sai Paranjpe who gave us movies like Katha, Sparsh and Chasme Bhadoor. Gautam Joglekar made his directorial debut with “Pak Pak pakaak” and the person who stars in the movie is Nana Patekar and with this film, Nana patekar returned to Marathi movies after a long time.

“Pak Pak Pakaak” (PPP) is a Marathi movie about a small naughty boy and a supposedly ghost living in a forest. The story is conceptualized by Sai Paranjpe and is very similar to her 2001 movie, “Bhaago Bhoot”

The story is of a parent-less little boy, chiklu who plays pranks on everybody in the village. Her old grandmother is also fed up with his activities that she resorts to punish him now and then. The village is surrounded by a big forest which inhabits a ghost named as “bhootya”. The villagers are afraid to venture into the forest alone in the fear that they will be harmed by bhootya. Bhootya is actually a herbal doctor living in isolation from the society. He has been wronged and his wife killed which makes him loose hope and trust in humanity.

Chiklu while playing another prank on his teacher ventures into the jungle to find he facing Bhootya. After some confrontation, Chiklu and Bhootya accept each other. Bhootya teaches Chiklu to be good and Chiklu convinces him to come back to the society which he had shunned long back. Just as Chiklu changes, he understands the changing attitude of others toward him. He understands that earlier people who had cursed him were appreciative of his behavior.

The journey of Chiklu from being a naughty brat to a nice well-mannered boy is what constitutes the rest of the movie.

In spite of having a small boy as a central character, it cannot be termed as a children’s film. I would call it rather a fun film to be enjoyed by everybody. Some of the scenes do remind of Shyamalan’s “The Village” like the flags on the forest’s boundary and the torches on the boundary. It would be described as beauty and the beast without the love story.

Nana Patekar plays Bhootya, a eccentric man who has lost everything in his life. He detests people who kill for ego, pleasure and money. His life is shown in flashback where he is shown as an efficient herbal doctor. After his wife’s murder by an influential person, he becomes a hermit like character wearing his own hand made clothes, living on trees, building a small hospital for animals and keeping alive the legend of ‘Bhootya’. He has played many characters like that like in “Diksha” but this one has a comedy track.

Saksham Kulkarni is Chiklu and he matches Nana Patekar at every step. I think Chiklu is more interesting in PPP than Bhootya and ofcourse occupies more space than bhootya. Shaksham bring alive Chiklu and his prank. Earlier child artist were mostly over-acting. Now they have become more professional. Directors tend to show more real children than children coming straight out of a Moral Science text book, all with a goody goody image.

Jyoti Subhash plays Chiklu only relative, her grandmother. She is a veteran stage actor in Marathi theatre and plays her part effectively. She can convey her emotions perfectly without going over board.

TV Actress Narayani Shastri plays shalu, Bhootya’s love interest. She looks beautiful and is given a very rustic rural marathi dialogs supporting the story adequately.

The songs in the movie are in tune with the naughty nature of the movie. The movie starts with the title song and is hum able. The other songs like “Aaga aaga Shalu” and “Dipadi Dipadi Dipaang, anadi panachya nanachi taang” are a treat to watch.

Gautam Joglekar keeps the story tight and interesting till the end. Like his mother, he has made a light-hearted movie which gives a feel-good feeling. He also writes the story and the dialog. PPP is a light comedy and does not intend to divert from that concept. Some of the sequence would not be termed logical but you tend to ignore them. Aren’t movies mostly fantasies?

It does preaches about nature conservation but there are no heavy duty dialogs. Some sequence like Chiklu trying to kill neighbor’s cow and Bhootya’s idea of sending Chiklu to school by different means and some more scenes are well handled.

Gautam Joglekar like his mother has made a light hearted comedy. One of better Marathi movies to watch out for. So if you need a nice movie and can find this movie, see it, you won’t regret it. The question is, are we looking at another Sai Paranjpee? Its a long way off maybe.

Rating : 8/10