A remote Indian village with innocent people, living a simple life and having its own superstitious beliefs, is exposed to the absolute urbanization and commercialization by a bunch of greedy politicians who claim to be the well-wishers of the villagers. When most of them fall prey, one of them decides to stand up for his beliefs and what he sets out to do is what the rest of the movie is all about.
Language:
Marathi
Running Time:
146 min
Rating:
U
Release date:
4 November 2011
Directed by:
Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni
Produced by:
Abhijeet Gholap
Written by:
Girish Pandurang Kulkarni
Starring:
Nana Patekar
Dilip Prabhawalkar
Girish Kulkarni
Sonali Kulkarni
Sharvani Pillai
Jyoti Subhash
Naseeruddin Shah
Music by:
Mangesh Dhakde
Shot by:
Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti
Editing by:
Abhijit Deshpande
Distributed by:
Devisha Films

What’s Hot

  • A knot as simple as “What would happen if God appears in Rural India? “ has been so creatively taken to the bigger canvas. In the age of cinema where a story which appears to be exciting on paper fails to impress on silver screen, Girish Pandurang Kulkarni waves his magic wand of common sense and innocence on it and makes it as enticing as possible.
  • The presence of so many characters in the movie, adds layers of complexity to the otherwise simple script. The do-gooder Anna, the bitter-sweet Bhau, a confused-innocent Sarpanch, a god-fearing-couch-potato Kanta, a god- fearing-dacoit; the casting would have been too cluttered if there were any more characters than the existing one. Each has its own space and overlaps with the other character at places.
  • The comic sense seems to form the under-current in the movie. Be it the IPL ringtone, Bhau’s kids having breakfast with the parents or the women visiting an ill Keshav one by one asking the same question. The beauty is not to overdo it, yet tickle a funny bone without losing the track of serious issue being dealt. The timing is almost impeccable.
  • It is a herculean task to show people of good nature with shades of negativity. It is even more so, as the subject being handled here is not in an urban setting but a village which boasts of its pristine culture and backward thinking. To show a woman who coos lovingly into the ears of the Cow to show her the God and showing the same lady not perturbed by its death brings the stark nature of humans into light.
  • The cinematography and the sound-engineering is such a plus for the movie. Imagine the impact that a single static frame would create if you add/remove a just a few elements. Add a temple, replace the bulbs with tubelights and silence with devotional song from speakers. It does not take a trained eye to see this and be in complete awe of the shot-division. Lastly, the Dutta-song is an apt peppy number showing the fast paced development that the village is witnessing.

What’s Not

  • To pull off a movie like this needs a lot of guts and game-plan. Though it might impress the critics, it becomes quite taxing at places for the general audience. The film that picks up speed like a bullet train loses the steam towards the end as the simmering emotions start overflowing, yet not as impactful as the beginning.
  • The concept of showing actors sitting in scorching sunlight without feeling the heat is very disorienting and the performances lacked overall smartness and intelligence. A similar feeling occurs when we get to see Naseerudin Shah just for a brief period of time – you keep wondering why not give him some more screen space considering his accomplishments.

Badges

Screened at

Cinema Rendezvous

To rejoice & to reflect with the world of Cinema - A Chennai based Film Club. Showcasing films with fine discussions.The club meets once a month on Second Saturdays by 9.45 am @ Hotel Savera. Each date has a screening followed by an informal discussion with a distinguished guest.

Event Info

Date of Screening : 11-Apr-2015
Venue and Time : Hotel Savera, 9.45 AM
Guest: Bramma and J. Sathish Kumar

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Verdict

Verdict Stamp

Deool is a compounded end product of simple elements like innocence, ignorance, sarcasm, selfishness, politics and superstition that is put through a good process. With the execution taking the story home, it’s a hard to miss and intriguing tale of how we are losing out on our cultural values in the greed of modernization.