Superb musical biopic

Illustration/Uday Mohite

Me Vasantrao (I, Vasantrao) by Nipun Dharmadhikari is a deeply satisfying Marathi film. It is a period biopic on the late classical vocalist Vasantrao Deshpande, played by noted vocalist Rahul Deshpande, his grandson. As a film dealing with an artiste's struggles, we recall three Marathi films - Ravi Jadhav's superb The Sound of Heaven-The Story of Bal Gandharva (2011), on the remarkable Marathi natyasangeet (musical theatre) artiste (disclaimer: I did its Marathi-English subtitles). There's Subodh Bhave's Katyar Kaljat Ghusli (A Dagger through the Heart, 2015), based on the natyasangeet play of the same name from the 1960s. The latter, on the rivalry between two Hindu and Muslim vocalists, had Vasantrao Deshpande play the Muslim Khansaheb in the play. I've never liked the play or the film, because both were stridently right-wing and demonised the Muslim, to thunderous applause from the Maharashtrian crowd. And there's Chaitanya Tamhane's remarkable The Disciple, that won the Best Screenplay and FIPRESCI Awards at the Venice Film Festival (2020). Dharmadhikari, also an actor and screenwriter, earlier directed Baapjanma and Dhappa; the latter won the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Film on National Integration.

Me Vasantrao is told as a flashback, related by an ageing Vasantrao Deshpande, to a fictional character he has earlier played in a play: both their careers were throttled by circumstance (I'm avoiding spoilers here). Vasantrao's single mother ‘Tai' was a deep influence: she walked out on his feckless father early on. Ignoring his musical career, he became a clerk to support his family. Taunted by purists, he rarely got an appreciative audience as his Hindustani classical music was not circumscribed by any one gharana; he imbibed various influences, as well as natyasangeet and bhaktigeet. There was also a warm, lifelong friendship between Vasantrao Deshpande and Purushottam Laxman (Pu La) Deshpande, originally a singer who, when he realised Vasantrao's musical gifts, graciously became a writer instead, and supported Vasantrao's career.

The marvellous screenplay weaves in many themes, but it is most gutsy and admirable for being a firmly secular film, so rare in today's majoritarian right-wing India. It celebrates Deshpande's various gurus, including Dinanath Mangeshkar (Amey Wagh), Shankarrao Sapre (Sarang Sathaye) and Ustad Asad Ali Khan (Kumud Mishra, wonderful), a Muslim sufi guru in Lahore. When he meets Begum Akhtar in Lucknow, there is a respectful, poignant frisson between the two. The film also reflects on the Katyar Kaljat Ghusli narrative: Khansaheb is not so much the despicable Muslim, as he is reviled because his gharana is different and unfamiliar. There is also a significant amount of Hindi and Urdu spoken by Marathi speakers - Tai says, "yaad rakh," and Pu La Deshpande is called Bhai throughout (Pu La himself is the subject of Mahesh Manjrekar's Bhaai: Vyakti kee Valli). The screenplay is also a takedown of the patriarchy, with a cowardly father who abandons his family; a strong single mother who raises her son alone; Vasantrao himself who is comfortable doing the cooking. Moreover, Marathi cinema is still rooted; when did you last see a Hindi film in which the protagonist goes to a kirana shop? The film also questions ageism and hierarchies within art, with the deeply moving scene in which a poor, ageing lavani artiste is so erotic when she sings and dances, that Vasantrao honours her with a jugalbandi; and Pu La calls her Akka (elder sister).

The direction is absolutely confident. Rahul Deshpande is largely convincing as an actor, though he is far better as a vocalist and composer. Tai (Anita Date), as his mother, and Pushkaraj Chirputkar as Pu La Deshpande, stand out from the cast; Amey Wagh's Master Dinanath Mangeshkar; Alok Rajwade as the Mama, Arush Nand as the young Vasantrao, and the crusty critic, are marvellously cast. The screenplay, by Upendra Sidhaye and Nipun Dharmadhikari, is rich and effortlessly weaves multiple strands, with quite a few moving scenes. Abhimanyu Dange's cinematography is superb - the gaffer's lighting is notable - and includes a marvellous ‘time lapse' shot in which the camera moves from a seated Vasantrao, about six, learning music, to his guru, then to a teenage Vasantrao by the window, and back to an older guru as well - all seemingly in one fluid take. Faisal Mahadik and Imran Mahadik's editing is quite good, meaty despite its 2h 52min length, though they could have had fewer than 13 songs (22 in all; some only audio). Music directors Rahul Deshpande and Bhushan Mate are superb, including traditional songs, compositions by Pt Jitendra Abhisheki and original songs. Anmol Bhave's sound design is meticulous, and Sandip Nulkar and Anoop Deshpande's English subtitles are outstanding. The producers include Jio Studios, Chandrashekhar Gokhale, Darshan Desai and Niranjan Kirloskar. The film, that released on April 1, is still in theatres all over Maharashtra, including Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, Nashik and Nagpur. Don't miss it.

Meenakshi Shedde is India and South Asia Delegate to the Berlin International Film Festival, National Award-winning critic, curator to festivals worldwide and journalist.
Reach her at meenakshi.shedde@mid-day.com