It’s only been six weeks since Mahesh Manjrekar released his last directorial, Hee Anokhi Gaath. Juna Furniture, his latest offering, gave me the same feeling of déjà vu about viewing experience and I don’t mean that as a compliment. I’m not a fan, but I deeply admire Mahesh Manjrekar as an actor-writer-director. But after watching these two films back-to-back, I get the sense that while he is bringing it with all three of those aspects in terms of required charm quotient, he’s struggling to keep up with contemporary treatment trends in cinema. All three performances deserve accolades for sincerity alone, but there seems to be something missing from each one which makes his work look slightly short of perfection this time.
Juna Furniture tells us the story of Govind Pathak (Mahesh Manjrekar), a 70-year-old man who takes his own son Abhay (Bhushan Pradhan) to court on charges that he is responsible for Suhas’ (Medha Manjrekar) death. As far-fetched and filmy as it might sound like some Bollywood family feud gone wrong or worse yet yet another courtroom drama – there is definitely an interesting plot here; and what’s more it feels engaging because throughout you really do feel like they’re going at it in front of judges. It may not seem like much when two males are legally fighting over their woman rights but trust me on this one if you can figure out why exactly these guys got into such heated legal battles then half battle won! After all we’ve seen Baghban getting trolled enough times on social media already so perhaps Juna Furniture was trying not to invite similar wrath by being too sentimental? This much however is certain: everything about this film just doesn’t add up.
I would never say that writing in Juna Furniture is entirely weak because it does offer food for thought; however, what bothered me most was the way they chose to tell their story – which started with an ill-fated attempt at creating suspense in scene one. I mean come on guys! Then there’s also the problem of characterisation being too stereotypical Abhay and Avani can’t be THIS cruel without looking unrealistically so. And parents should never villainize their children like that it’s just wrong! Plus Suhas’ argument against Govind’s stand here feels pointless anyway, if anything she only serves as a mouthpiece for some hollow preachy lines about how bad social media is. Meanwhile, not only are all these characters drawn out lazily but even structurally speaking nothing new happens either once we enter into courtrooms. It’s always same old. one courtroom scene leading to another until finally credits roll.
They did try out some experimental lighting techniques within the court scenes though i guess? The judge was always surrounded by darkness and had this eerie spotlight over him while everyone else present in room looked like they were sitting under very bright lights.. It definitely added something visually interesting to otherwise mundane production values. But let’s be honest little better aesthetic sense could’ve made whole movie visually appealing! Also, I must admit that lack of songs throughout (except for that one devotional track sung by MM himself towards end which felt like emotional blackmail on part of makers) was quite refreshing. until the said song started playing two-three times over short span towards end again making us wonder about intention behind such placement!! Even background score didn’t unnecessarily pump up emotions where least needed or opposite.
A place that needs the most emotional impact; does not have it. Juna Furniture was a disappointment for me. If you have seen Mahesh Manjrekar hosting Bigg Boss, you might think that his act in this one is similar to his hosting in that show. There was not a single time when he made an argument in court and I did not feel like I was watching a reality show host. His performances are loud because of his experience which works for such scenes as these where one shouldn’t look hammy at all knowing how to do them; Medha Manjrekar, Sachin Khedekar, Upendra Limaye, Samir Dharmadhikari, Bhushan Pradhan, Anusha Dandekar name any supporting actor and they all stood up to their respective parts but were given perhaps the most stereotypical characters they could get hold of so it’s never going to be remarkable or best performance from any actor other than Mahesh Manjrekar also i don’t think there was much of screen space/scope or spotlight for anyone other than him.
I waited throughout for some dialogue about furniture which can justify the film’s title but what i got instead was a lazy preachy quote on those lines towards the end which didn’t leave me on happy/satisfying note still sticking by my words about movie’s premise being fairly interesting all i wanted now is some skilful/effective execution out of it that would make me rave about this one like i always do with filmmaker’s other films starting strong sense of lack requisite subtlety at start & borderline melodrama most of time worsens condition of already old furniture juna furniture isn’t bad watch at all would term it best viewed with family on tv on lazy sunday afternoon while kicking some nostalgic times.
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