Review: VED (Marathi)

REVIEW

VED (Marathi)

Producer-Genelia Deshmukh

Director- Riteish Vilasrao Deshmukh

Star Cast- Riteish Deshmukh , Genelia Deshmukh, Ashok Saraf, Khushi Hazare, Vidyadhar Joshi Raviraj Kande and Jiya Shankar

Genre-Social

Platform of Release- Theatres

Rating- **1/2

Predictable Tear-jerker!

Jyothi Venkatesh

The story which has been adapted from the Telugu film Majili starring Nag Chaitanya and Samantha does not excite you though it is designed to be an out and out tear jerker, right from the word go. By the way, it should be noted that Majili was Chay and Sam’s last film together before they separated.

It is about an ambitious boy Satya (Riteish) from the outskirts of Mumbai who aspires to be a cricketer. He crosses paths with Nisha (Jiya Shankar) he falls in love with. Destiny takes her away from him and he continues to live in grief even after he is married to his neighborhood girl Shravani (Genelia Deshmukh) who has loved him forever. It is about him finding his redemption and making peace with the past.

Interestingly, this is for the first time that both Riteish Deshmukh and Genel;ia D’Souza are working together in two films back to back-Ved and Mister Mummy, after being a part of movies such as Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya, Tujhe Meri Kasam.Riteish makes his debut as a director with Ved in which he packs almost every possible masala ingredients to lure the masses, including cricket which as a sport is nothing less than religion in India and teaming opposite his real life wife Genelia D’Souza and last but not the least Ajay-Atul’s peppy and soulful music. Besides casting the veteran actor Ashok Saraf as his father with whom he is always at loggerheads

As far as performances go, I should concede that Riteish not only makes a very promising debut as a director after working as a leading man in several films in Hindi but also renders a performance which will stand in your mind forever. While Jiya Shankar is just about passable as a hot newcomer, Genelia, a natural performer, is superb in her role as the housewife who dotes on her husband madly. Raviraj Kanade as the villain leaves a lot to be desired and does not do justice to his part which needed a stronger actor. Vidyadhar Joshi scores with his character as the help-less father of Shravani while Ashok Saraf as the father of Satya is his usual competent self  as an actor with effortless ease. The tiny tot Khushi Hazare simply scores though she is a trite too precocious to the coreThough the film is predictable and the tale lacks logic to some extent, the performances by the starcast raises the level of the film which has thrown up a good new director