Baboo Band Baaja Movie Review: A sneak peek into the life of a Vidarbha Bandwallah.
Hollywood, Marathi, Regional Tadka, Reviews — By Rasik on September 25, 2011 3:31 pmVidarbha. If one is playing word association he/she is most likely to associate this word with farmer suicides. Over the years the large number of farmer suicides in Vidarbha has, sadly, made the region being identified with it. It has also made for some cinematic fodder. Gabhricha Paus(The Damned Rain) was brilliant in capturing the Vidarbha cotton farmer’s situation in the drought prone region. Jhing Chik Jhing adopted a much more bright and positive outlook. Amazingly, the makers of Baboo Band Baajaa were observant enough to find a story in Vidarbha which was equally if not more captivating than that of the cotton farmers.
Bandwallahs are common in all places in India. The peculiarity of the Vidarbha bandwallah is that he doesn’t play only at weddings but also at funerals and other occasions like the birth of a child. Baboo Band Baaja is a heartening story of such kind of a band member and his family’s struggle to lift themselves up from abject poverty. The film is also a fine portrayal of a tug-of-war between fate and poverty. A done to death subject? The struggles of a ‘bandwallah’ to meet his ends were hereunto undiscovered in cinema. And therein lays the film’s strength.
Shantanu Rode, the scriptwriter, excels in capturing the nitty-gritties of the life of a typical band member in Vidarbha. The songs they play, the instruments used, certain events which are of importance to their livelihood have all a sense of authenticity to them. As the story unfolds we get a sneak peek into the life of the protagonist, Jaggu, who once had a band of his own but had to pawn his instruments for some money. He now makes do with playing at funerals and other not so lucrative occasions. His wife Shirmi being a ‘bhandiwali’ sells vessels for a living and also accepts old clothes in return for some money. She, unlike Jaggu, wants their only son Baboo to get educated and break the shackles of poverty. Jaggu’s mother who also lives with them tries to be of some help to the family by selling handicraft items. These are the main characters around which the story revolves.
There’s also a parallel love story involving the daughter of a family friend of Jaggu’s. This love angle though has not been used only for its own sake. Rode, very smartly integrates it into the plot. The character of a crazy woman of the village, astoundingly, is also quite influential to the plot. The script which has no visible loose ends shines out. Shantanu Rode, who has also written the dialogues for the 2005 animated feature Hanuman, is without doubt a man to watch out for.
Baboo, played convincingly by Vivek Chabukswar, is a sincere student who shows interest in studies but due to his economic conditions there are quite a few obstacles in his way. Having a father who doesn’t encourage his schooling also doesn’t help. But Baboo doesn’t lose his resolve to learn. His mother makes him a makeshift notebook out of a few loose pages. Baboo’s school teacher though doesn’t approve of the notebook and punishes him by repeatedly hitting it on his head. While facing the punishment Baboo is more worried about his book and pleads with his teacher to stop hitting him not because it is hurting him but the notebook, made with so much love by his mother, will tear.
There are a few poignant moments between Jaggu’s wife Shirmi and their son Baboo. A scene where the school pant for her son that Shirmi trades with vessels ends up being too loose, brings a smile on your face.
Milind Shinde
The acting by the leads is up to the mark. Milind Shinde who plays the protagonist Jaggu is brilliant in showing the despair that his character feels. You completely feel for Jaggu as a broke bandwallah especially when he says that committing suicide is also not going to help as unlike the cotton farmers his family isn’t going to get any compensation. It strikes suddenly realize that the state of a bandwallah in Vidarbha is no better than the farmers. Mitali Jagtap Vartak as Shirmi is spot on. A scene where she acts while also bathing a just born baby, leaves you particularly impressed.
The presence of a cotton mill in the village is given away by the typical siren of a mill which runs in the background when the characters are going about the daily duties. Such subtlety deserves appreciation.
Throughout the film it is visible that the makers are trying to tell a story in an honest manner. In a premise tailor made for over the top melodrama, the restraint and the effort to show humor in the routine and also difficult times of life is definitely applause worthy. No wonder then that Baaboo Band Baajaa ended up getting 4 National Awards.
Now, whether the film will be applauded by the masses remains to be seen. The director-producer Rajesh Pinjani though doesn’t plan to release it any soon. He hopes to get it to various international festivals first and gain some reputation. With the difficulty involved in releasing an offbeat marathi film in India one hopes that Baboo Band Baaja is bought by some foreign distributors like Gabhricha Paus did. The similarity of the title of the film to the popular Yashraj film Band Baaja Baarat will be helpful to the cause of the film or would go against it also remains to be seen. But there is no doubt that the film is very likely to strike a chord with filmgoers. Let’s hope that the film does get a good release and reaches a very wide audience which it certainly deserves.
Rasik
Cinema, a few years ago, has taken over cricket as my first love. The World Wide Web is to be blamed for that. Deeply in love with present Marathi Cinema.
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I am so happy Rasik that you are writing about non commercial films and helping to spread the word of interesting cinema.
Your review does generate an interest in the viewer to see the film
Keep it up.
Oorvazi
Thank You Ma’am.
Thank once again for recommending and making us aware of another good film from Marathi cinema.Hope the film gets a wide release and ends up going the Gabhricha Paus way. Hope that the similarity of the tile wrt YRF ‘ BAnd Baaja Baarat doesn’t harm its prospects.Keep up the good work n thanks for the recco.
Yes. And whenever it does release cinema buffs should make an extra effort to actually go and watch it in the cinema halls.
Nice….and being 4 National award winner, makes it even more keen to have a view…
National awards are not always fair. But yes, 4 national awards can’t be ignored.
need to see this film, i think corporates should start entering marathi cinema and start distribution of this kind of films which involves low cost so low risk, and they a re sure to work, also will be happy to see hindi remakes of such films
You are really right on the first count. As low cost low risk ventures big producers should look to produce these small-medium budget regional films not only from Maharashtra but from all over the country especially from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal etc where there is obvious talent. I also think it is high time these regional movies are exposed to an all India audience by subtitling or dubbing through cinema halls or even television channels. I really wish we have a movie channel which shows quality cinema from every corner of India without limiting itself to any language.
With respect to remakes, I don’t think some movies can be remade into any other language. Baboo Band Baaja is essentially a film from Vidarbha and remaking it into hindi would be equivalent to killing the authenticity of the subject.
Rasik, since you have brilliantly described the film, i can’t help but tell you that Mr. Ashok Burbure who was honoured with the best teacher award by Maharashtra government has claimed to be the original writer of the script. You may want to read the play, “Agta” written by him which was published in 2001 and he owns copyrights to that book. Also, it won 3 awards in the 50th State Drama Competition and various theatrical actors have been perfoming this play all over Maharashtra. Mr. Rajesh Pinjani tried to convince Mr. Burbure to give him the rights to make the film but because Mr. Burbure had some inhibitions about the title of the film and twisting of the script to generate commercial interest, he did not permit Mr. Pinjani. However, Pinjani still made the film and kept Mr. Burbure in dark about it. Mr. Burbure got to know about this only when took the film won the national award. Ashok Burbure has sued Pinjani in Wardha District Court Senior Division. I just hope that the original owner gets his due credit for the excellent script.
Thank You. I really didn’t know anything about this. Where can one get to read the play?
Hi, Rasik and Priyanka …..
I have hard copy of this book, if you are seriously interested i will scan and upload a soft copy.
my email id
satyashilnagrale@gmail.com
thanks for the information, where can we get hold of ‘agta’?
Wonderful review. I am not sure when will I get a chance to see the movie. But I am certainly looking forward to it..
If you live in Maharashtra then this film is supposed to release in April/May. Thanks for the kind words
Rasik-
I saw the film today at Cinemax sion.Loved the film.Loved Milind Shinde’s & the kids mother acting as well.The movie is a social commentary on the hardships people have to face in village.Have to confess,I almost broke down in the end.
The film shows how fucked up we are as a country,we cant provide basic education to kids and talk about becoming a super power.This film is like a small fish in the river and hope its not overshadowed by Bollywood film(read houseful 2)
Thanks for recco.would have missed it
My immediate reaction after watching the film was like Aditya’s. But later as the film sunk in i didn’t feel the end was out of place. And your ‘vicious circle’ point lends the ending even more merit.
kushal i am so so glad watched the film and liked it. Trust me only efforts like these encourage me to write on such films.
Btw, Aditya Savnal was of the opinion that the sad ending could have been avoided. What do you think?