REVIEW: SWAGATHAM (Gujarati)

Producer-Bharat Sewak

Director-Neeraj Joshi

Star Cast- Malhar Thakar, Katha Patel ,Chetan Dhanani, Jay Upadhyay, Vandana Pathak and Ojas Rajwal

Genre- Thriller

OTT Platform- ShemarooMe

Rating- ***

Humorous Dark Tale!

Jyothi Venkatesh

This twisted tale of a conservative Gujarati family, that is not only dark but is also considered to be extremely mad.

It is dark because it resembles a mental asylum and revolves around a bride seeking boy who lives in a dysfunctional family where the inhabitants have the habit of killing old people who have nothing to do in life and disposing of their bodies in a separate room in the house itself.

The young boy lives in the bungalow along with his old sister and grandmother.The grandmother and sister actually hide dead bodies after burying them if they are Muslims, and cremating them if they are Hindus.

The ancient bungalow also has a very strange madcap uncle who overacts and also alternates between the British pre Independence period and the current time.

And to control him, you have no other ploy but to play Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’s Caravan, which is nothing but a safe ploy to make the audiences stay glued with vintage gems of songs mostly sung by Mohammad Rafi. It is also a good enough plug for Sa Re Ga Ma to publicize heir Caravan

This dysfunctional family drama , though it looks flat at times with hardly any new drama included in it, will give you teeth-biting moments along with a progressive love track involving debut making Katha Patel and the popular super star Malhar Thakar playing in the background.

The only minus point in this hilarious film is that at times it looks like it is a play which you are watching on the stage as the entire plot has been formatted inside the four walls of the bungalow.

Vandana Pathak is extremely good as the grandmother in the film and lives every minute of her complicated role practically on the wheel-chair while it is debut making Katha Patel who ignites your enthusiasm by getting into the character of the leading lady who flits in and out of the house frequently.

Manhar Thakar proves once again that he is an actor who is not only expressive to the core but also able enough to improvise as and when the need arises in the plot.

Though she does not have a role worth its salt, she is commendable as an actress and it is Difficult to believe that Katha is actually making her debut with the film as an actress when you see her smooching Manhar with a passionate lip to lip kissing the climax.

Neeraj Joshi is good as a director and though the dialogues are situational and humorous, as far as the screenplay is concerned there are a lot of loopholes.

What sets this film apart from the others of its ilk is the fact that it augurs well for the Gujarati film industry that the film has had its digital premiere release in ShemaroMe OTT even before its theatrical release later this year.