Valu (2008)

Three characters, a wild bull, a reluctant forest officer and a village deep in the interior of Maharahstra. The wild bull goes on a rampage destroying a lot in the village and to stop it, a forest officer is called to catch the bull. The Marathi film “Valu” directed by debutant director Umesh Kulkarni has this one line story which forms the skeleton of a interesting two hour movie.

Valu is a village tradition in Maharahstra where a bull is let loose in the village in god’s name. The bull is free to roam anywhere in the small village of Kusavade until it goes berserk and starts destroying crops and the village. To counter the menace, a forest officer is called from the government forest department. What happens after that is what the story is about.

Valu is not as much of a story as in having a start or a climax. Its all about catching the bull but then it explores the socio-economic condition with respect to caste, gender and the political struggle. A reluctant forest officer who thinks catching a bull is below his status, a aging village headman (sarpanch), a wannabe sarpanch who wants each and every opportunity to be the sarpanch, a mad woman who is trying to protect the bull, an old woman who is the only one who feeds the bull. a young couple who are separated because of the bull, the village priest who has a bowel problem, his wife who’s only dream is to build her own latrine, a couple who wants to see their daughter be a successful heroine, a villager who is helping the forest officer with everything and prides of his closeness to the officer, the forest officer’s brother who is making the documentary of the whole process make a long list of interesting character each different and each with its dreams and belief.

Capturing their every antics and goof-up is the documentary film maker. It makes the story interesting as each person tries to be best in front of the camera

Valu does not have a hero or heroine but has characters each as important as the other in the movie and the plus point of the movie is the one-line story and a great script. Valu biggest plus point is the script and the characters and the actors who play the characters. Each character has been well-defined, well-etched and does not look like a mere add-on.

While watching Valu, I could not help comparing them with the TV News channel. A political rivalry, a love story, an environmentalist who is in minority, the fascination of reality TV and to capture this all, a film maker who wants to make an exciting documentary. The emphasis of the film maker is to tell an exciting story rather than the truth much aligned to the new channels of today who want to sensationalize the news as an entertainment and not as news.

While watching the movie with Sandeep, he was excited to watch because he could relate a lot to the language and tradition shown in the movie. This is a compliment to the movie to show the Maharahstra as real as possible, 

Valu does not have any songs but the background score by Mangesh Dhakde is too good. Another good aspect is the Cinematography by Sudhir Palsane. The dry mountains, the serpentine roads, the village has been captured beautifully. Atul Kulkarni waking up and standing on the door while the sun rises behind him, the dry golden hills, the dark bull standing on the barren hills are some of the shots worth mentioning.

Watch the scene when husband and wife are fighting in a shop as their small daughter watches. Three characters seen through three doors. A wonderful scene.

As for the actors, there are many. Atul Kulkarni as the forest officer, Swanand Gaddamwar is as usual very good. Then there is Dilip Prabhavalkar, Mohan Aghase Bharati Achrekar, Amruta Subhash, Jyoti Subash and many others. A worthy mention is Girish Kulkarni who plays the role of Jeevan, the man who helps the forest officer around the village. Amruta Subhash did seem to be a little out playing the village girl but by the end of the movie she did seem to hold on quite well.

I wish the editing was more crisp as some scenes seem to drag a little but then its a minor drawback.

I was losing faith on Marathi movies again with some pathetic release the last few months with most movies being a poor remakes of English or Hindi movies. Kedar Shinde’s last two movies namely “Bakula Namdev Ghotale” and “Yancha Kahi Name nahi” disappointed a lot. He seem to be losing the magic of “Aga Bai Arechya“

Valu does come as a breath of fresh air and hopefully Marathi film makers come up with such nice stories. Remakes just does not make any creative idea.

Valu is funny, entertaining and thought-provoking. Its a good story, brilliantly shot and good acting.

It has been just released (25th January 2008) and if it is still playing, go and see it. Its worth a watch

Rating: 8.5/10

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