Movie Review: Basta (Marathi) An Emotional Roller Coaster Ride

Basta Emotional Roller coaster Ride!

During a Maharashtrian wedding Basta is a process of buying gifts for the families from groom’s side as well as bride’s side. In the process, the families get to know the behaviours of all the members, their financial capability while choosing gifts for the opposite party, etc. Though it is a ride full of fun & humour, it may turn out to be a deal breaker as well! This film unfolds reality of life with humour on the forefront.
Jyothi Venkatesh

Swati after rejecting 4-5 grooms zeroes in on a government employee

The film is about a hardworking farmer - Namdeo Pawar whose earnings is directly related to the monsoons in the region and hence has to depend on the weather conditions to understand how the days would look like for himself and his family. Because of this situation in the village, even the daughters of farmers were reluctant to marry farmers’ sons. Namdeo’s daughter Swati (Sayali Sanjeev) wants a groom who is not dependent on farming as a source of income. Swati after rejecting 4-5 grooms zeroes in on a government employee. Namdeo agrees to all their ridiculous demand for dowry since he only dreams of seeing his beloved daughter happy in life!

To the chagrin of Namdeo Pawar, the families turn out to have strange behaviour and select costly clothes for themselves – expenses that were to be borne by Namdeo. Already where Namdeo has borrowed to get his daughter married and is in a soup. After making all the wedding arrangements, Namdeo and his friend Ankush go to the city for collecting the gifts from the shop, but while returning from the city, Namdeo lands up at the police station along with all the articles that he had purchased from the shop in the city and tells the police that he has borrowed a loan for his daughter’s marriage and now there is nothing that he can offer police by way of bribe.

Namdeo leaves a suicide note & runs away from the police station

The chief cop (Subodh Bhave) warns Namdeo that giving dowry is a crime under the Indian law and will not let him go. Namdeo leaves a suicide note & runs away from the police station. What happens next when Namdeo makes an attempt to commit suicide and whether Swati chooses the right groom forms the crux of the plot.

Among the performances both Akshay Tanksale (who is Swati’s cousin and Sayali Sanjeev as Swati stand out with their parts well etched effortlessly while Suhas Palshikar steals the show as the helpless father Namdeo. Jyoti Subhash delights with her flashback stories of how girls were treated way back, Pallavi Patil looks beautiful but has hardly any role. So is Subodh Bhave in a small cameo. While Parth Bhalerao does not get scope to display his talent, Bharat Ganeshpure, as the corrupt cop impresses.

Arvind Jagtap deserves kudos for an innovative story

Music by Santosh Mulekar is melodious and especially the song Kareena Aali Kamaal Jhaali is hummable. As the director, Tanaji Ghadge shows his deft skill in concocting a film with all its characters in the right place, and succeeds in extracting emotional high from the viewers and subtly shows how dowry should be eradicated from marriage and how important it is for young women of today to stand up for their own choice instead of letting their poor parents submit themselves to monstrous dowry seekers. Arvind Jagtap deserves kudos for an innovative story though the film deserves a skilful editing as it starts meandering on and on in between.

Basta not only entertains subtly but also drives home a subtle message to the viewers and is nothing but a journey filled with humor and offers an emotional roller coaster ride!

Producer- Sunil Rajaram Phadtare and Varsha Mukesh Patil

Director-Tanaji Ghadge

Star Cast- Akshay Tanksale, Parth Bhalerao, Sayali Sanjeev and Pallavi Patil,

Suhas Palshikar, Subodh Bhave, Shubhangi Gokhale, Jyoti Subhash

Genre- Social

OTT Platform- Zeeplex on Zee 5

Rating- *** (Three)