This was among the films that offered the tightest competition to the Oscar nominee this year. The tightrope of realism and entertainment is perhaps the sharpest in movie-making, and it is brilliantly balanced by actor (not in this film) and debut director Shivraj Waichal that one indeed looks forward to his next venture. If there is any ‘evidence’ still needed to know that Marathi cinema has been indeed going places in the last few years, this is definitely one solid example.
Aata Thaambaaychay Naay! (We cannot stop now!) is a classic film that entertains, educates and elevates. Based on a real 2017 case of a reformist assistant commissioner named Uday Shirurkar in the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC), the film narrates the saga of a group of Class IV BMC workers who are summoned by Shirurkar (Ashutosh Gowariker) and advised to attend night school.
It is his faith that education can take them places in life, and that’s also the dictum he wants veteran Sakharam Manchekar (Bharat Jadhav) to follow, even if he has been in service for 35 years and has just a year or so to go before retirement.
The ‘students’ are naturally doubtful and then reluctant. They slog through the day, the women also taking out time for their homes, husband and children, and attending school and learning at their ages becomes a cumbersome task. Each has his or her own set of personal problems, but the incentives offered now and promised later, however, make them ‘do the needful’.
Sakharam, for example, is a widower and so is his daughter-in-law (Rupa Borgaonkar), who supplements his family income with her vada-pav stall. Sakharam is bitter about his son’s early death, his daughter-in-law’s bonding with a male friend, and his grandson’s aversion to him as he stinks—the Class IV workers must handle the garbage and clean the drains, often at personal risk minus protective wear and headgear as well as safety equipment.
Maruti Kadam (Siddharth Jadhav), on the other hand, runs a taxi by night but is still regarded by his alcoholic father (Deepak Shirke) as a useless person. Everyone else has their life story of struggle and that includes the women workers.
The appointed teacher, Nilesh Mali (Om Bhutkar) is all cooperation but faces resistance. He is proud of his job, though he is poorly paid. Seema (Parna Pethe) likes him as a potential marriage proposal and admires his pride in his profession, though she also suggests his taking up a lucrative job that will pay four times as much in her own office: a call-center.
Things come to a head when the students protest and quit en masse. A demoralized Nilesh seeks the call-center job and admits to Shirurkar that he has failed. For answer, Shirurkar motivates him and tells him to do the same with his students, making them see the value of education. What happens next includes the most heartwarming sequences I have seen of late in any movie, including the end-crisis and the way it is resolved.
The film is lifted by magnificent writing (especially the dialogues that are so pertinent and crisp) and the powerhouse performances across the board. Bharat Jadhav as Sakharam, Siddharth Jadhav as Maruti, Kishor Bachhav as Sagar, Kiran Khoje as the long-suffering yet pragmatic Apsara Jadhav, Arpita Ghogardare as Maruti’s wife Sarita, Om Bhutkar as Nilesh Mali, Prajakta Hanamghar as Jayshree, Pravin Dalimbkar as Pravin, and in briefer but impactful roles Deepak Shirke as Bhau Kadam and Rupa Borgaonkar as Sakharam’s daughter-in-law share the topmost acting honors along with the unknown actress playing Shirurkar’s assistant.
Ashutosh Gowariker as Shirurkar, Parna Pethe and Rohini Hattangadi as Shirurkar’s mother and everyone else is also in great fettle, as the script and superb direction ensure that they put in terrific contributions.
The music (Gulraj Singh) is good, the lyrics (Manoj Yadav) even better and the background score (Saurabh Bhalerao) fabulous.
The film not only tells us that education is invaluable and a must, but also spotlights the much-abused and very taken-for-granted civic workers who risk life, limb and health to keep our homes, streets and a city’s (literal) underbellies clean so that we can live a good life. It also compels us to take a look at teachers and their sad economic plight today and how a single visionary boss can change his staff’s future for the better.
Not to be missed, this one. After a successful theatrical run, it is now streaming on ZEE5.
Rating: *****
Chalk and Cheese Films’, Film Jazz’s & Zee Studios’ Aata Thaambaaycha Naay! Produced by: Umesh Bansal, Bhavesh Janavlekar, Nidhi Parmar & Dharam Walia Directed by: Shivraj Waichal Written by: Dharam Valia, Shivraj Waichal, Omkar Gokhale & Arvind Jagtap Music: Gulraj Singh Starring: Ashutosh Gowariker, Siddharth Jadhav, Bharat Jadhav, Om Bhutkar, Pravin Dalimbkar, Arpita Ghogardare, Prajakta Hanamghar, Kiran Khoje, Parna Pethe, Yash Nikam, Namantar Rajendra, Deepak Shirke, Rupa Borgaonkar, Shrikant Yadav, Yogesh Yelwande, Sp. App.: Rohini Hattangadi & others
