This Friday, we have a special release in M Town, which comes in the form of Ekk Albela, which is a biopic made on the dance legend called Bhagwan Palav usually called as Bhagwan Dada by the industry. The film is directed by Shekhar Sartadel, while produced by Dr. Monish Babre under the banner of Kimaya Motion Pictures in association with Manglmurti Films. The film has an interesting star cast having Mangesh Desai playing the character of Bhgwan Dada along with having Vidhyadhar Joshi, Swapnil Rajshekhar, Prasad Pandit, Vighnesh Joshi, Shriram Kolhatkar, Shekhar Phadke and Arun Bhadsavle in the lead and supporting roles and not to forget the B Town actress is Vidya Balan seen in a cameo role. The film is set in the fifties and showcases the life and struggle of the dance legend of Bollywood. Let’s have a review of it:
Review
The biopics made whether in B Town or M Town can be a tricky affair especially if they are at the backdrop of fifties and sixties as seen in the case of Ekk Albela. The makers really have to pay lot of attention to the detailing of the costume and embark designs which perfectly talks about the chosen era. Shekhar and his team have wonderfully managed to achieve this goal. Yet you can find the film remaining more at the superficial level after checking the look of Bhagwan Dada’s life and the detailed look at the legend himself. The first half happens to be very much haphazard to see his journey from being a rebellious Gandhi supporter to a Pan shot vendor followed by a motion picture actor. He went on to become an action star, dancer and even a man who direct movies, which is seen in the first halfin the most haphazard fashion.
Despite all these disconnected moments found in the movie, the makers of the film tried to make their first social movie Ek Albela. In fact, it was very much challenging for the makers of this movie, which he has tried to overcome while making the film, which somehow helped him to give an engaging second half. One of the biggest victory of Ekk Albela is the lead actor himself playing the character of Bhagwan Dana- Mangesh Desai. He has really worked hard to keep things done by the legend the best along with flaunting even the signature details in a much precise fashion. On the other side, Vidyadhar Joshi also played his standout performance playing a typical film distributor giving the memorable impact in the most cunning fashion and of course the signature coughs.
Vidya Balan though had a small space in the film while playing Geeta Bali but she managed to emotionally connect the film so well with Bhagwan Dada. The film goes with a bilingual approach that works perfectly for the movie with deft switches between the two languages (Marathi and Hindi) unlike the usual conversation. What doesn’t really go well is the sadly the story of the movie. The makers seem to have stayed in a safe zone even while showcasing the interactions within the M Town and Bollywood industry. Hence the film simply fails to marvel at whereas it is more meant to focus over the making of the movie as it chooses not much of the glamor element or other elements like the death or failure. Also, the film has managed to showcase is life as a larger than life persona using lofty dialogues and dramatic music; however, these prove out to be a tough thing for the audience to carry.
Ekk Albela – Last Word
Talking about the larger picture of the film Ekk Albela, the film is all about introducing a legend in a present day industry which seems to have forgotten Bhagwan Dada. In many ways, it can be called as a successful venture of the makers, however, don’t expect any wow element from this film as such movies provide less opportunities for the same. All in all it’s a noble attempt to reincarnate the lost hero in the dark pages of the history of Bollywood.
Rating – 3.0
