Sairat....the heart is insane

'the heart is insane..' goes the first song of Marathi film Sairat (Wild) directed by Nagraj Manjule, maker of Fandry. Starts on a firm clip with humour and laughs triggered mostly by bow-legged Pradeep, friend of hero Prashya (Akash Thosar) and heroine Archie (Rinku Rajguru); the deep well scenes are done well; it holds enough water for girls and boys; perhaps, Pradeep is the best in Sairat, though most will disagree. A long three hour film ...goes on and on....and on with one song reminding of a Tamil hit (forget which)....Manjule does not edit, the camera rolls and rolls, some wideangle shots pleasing; Rama likens it to a Tamil village thriller; by the second hour, me is tired, Rama yawns; pray to God for the end, a clean one hour away. Clicked the mobile, it was 2.18 p.m. with the film unwiring at 11.30 a.m. at Maxus Borivili; Prashya and Archie were striding from love to marriage and kid.. the mandatory slummy, poverty; then a Big Bang Silent five minutes before the camera curls away; 'the heart is insane'... Yes, Manjule makes it; the cursing gave way to stuns. Viewers pasted to their seats watched and couldnt believe what they watched; yes, it should have been a two-hour edited telling by Nagraj; power and caste equations are largely left undebated, undetailed; years ago, the family in Kolkata was hit by a love affair between a Brahmin girl and a non-Brahmin boy; father lighted up like a gas cylinder; knock dead the woman, turn her out, went the cries; nothing beyond crying happened; the couple is alive and happy; a strong film on sugar barons of Maharashtra is a need in these times of drought; has yet to be made. Have seen Fandry and thought Manjule would be precise; he is haywire with melodrama ...the love chases from toilets to trees and dishooms (please can directors abandon disgusting and boring love plus dishoom-dishooms) in sugarcane fields and streets are a waste of abundant cinematic talent. If Manjule has to be make it, he has to be deep and crisp in the telling; with Sairat, Nagraj just about escaped. The Marathi is easy, me could grasp and the English sub titles helped. A shame me has not learnt Marathi in 40 years of Mumbai. Better talent than me can comment on the quality of Marathi films today; theatres are prepared to screen, crowds are coming and me hopes Nagraj Manjule will come up with a classy offering shortly. He can do it. Will he do it? ...the heart is insane.....