Ashi Hi Banwa Banwi
Ashi Hi Banwa Banwi is a Marathi film directed by Sachin Pilgaonkar and had released in India on 23 September 1988.[1] It is a comedy film revolving around four close friends. It borrows the basic plot from the 1966 movie Biwi Aur Makan, directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee,[2] which was also remade in Telugu in 1991 as Chitram Bhallare Vichitram , in Kannada in 2003 as Olu Saar Bari Olu , in Hindi in 2009 as Paying Guests , in Punjabi in 2014 as Mr & Mrs 420 and in Bengali in 2017 as Jio Pagla.[3] It is now considered as a cult classic comedy in Marathi cinema.
| Ashi Hi Banwa Banwi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Sachin Pilgaonkar |
| Produced by | Kiran Shantaram |
| Written by | Vasant Sabnis |
| Starring | |
Production company | V. Shantaram Productions |
Release date |
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Running time | 156 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Marathi |
| Box office | 3.00 cr |
Plot
In Pune, in 1988, Dhananjay Mane is a street-smart salesperson in a cosmetic store owned by Madhuri. He lives as a tenant of a stingy landlord, Vishwas Sarpotdar. He is soon joined by his younger brother, Shantanu, who is a medical student. Though prohibited by the landlord, Dhananjay and Shantanu allow their friends, Sudhir and Parshuram "Parsha", who have come in search of jobs, to secretly live with them. Sudhir has been kicked out by his uncle where he also worked to earn money and pay for his singing classes. Parsha has been kicked out by his abusive employer, Chhabu Rao, because he finds out that his daughter, Kamali and Parsha are in love.
One night, Dhananjay, Parsha and Sudhir insult Vishwas and his wife while drunk and are taken away by Shantanu, who arrives at the scene a little too late. Enraged by this harassment, Vishwas orders them to vacate the place in 4 days. After many failed futile attempts of finding a new home on rent, Dhananjay and Shantanu finally reach the palatial house of a rich, old, kind and half-blind widow named Leelabai Kalbhor. She lives with her female servant, Tanu and is often harassed by her nephew, Bali, for money. She is willing to rent some rooms in the house to Dhananjay and Shantanu provided they are married. Thus begins the comedy of errors. In order to comply with Leelabai's condition, Dhananjay and Shantanu convince Parsha and Sudhir to disguise themselves as their wives. Parsha thus turns into Parvati (Dhananjay's wife) and Sudhir turns into Sudha (Shantanu's wife). Shortly after arriving at their new rental home as couples, Leelabai's niece, Manisha and her friend, Sushma, who is also Shantanu's girlfriend from college, visit for a long stay at the house. Sudhir (disguised as Shantanu's wife Sudha) is now a successful singer and courts Manisha, stating that he and Sudha are twins, and that Sudhir disapproves of her marriage with Shantanu and hence is not on talking terms with both Sudha and Shantanu. While, Shantanu makes up a fake story of his wife's cancer to appease Sushma, who is clearly upset at seeing him married. Meanwhile, Dhananjay and his employer Madhuri also fall in love with each other. One day, Bali attacks Parsha disguised as Parvati but Dhananjay saves him. To stay home, Parsha (as Parvati) acts of being pregnant.
Dhananjay and Co. develop a bond of motherly love with Leelabai. Eventually, Tanu and Bali come to know about the disguises when they notice Sudha leaving the house as Sudhir through a window and Parvati as Parsha talking to Kamali when she had come to his house to meet him. Dhananjay and Co. then decide to leave the house. On their way out, they are exposed in front of Leelabai by Bali and his men and are handed over to police called in by Tanu. But at the police station, Leelabai absolves them of their deceitfulness because she feels these guys did the drama out of their need for a roof over their heads and did not steal from her or take advantage of her half-blindedness. If anything, they only treated her like a mother. And hence she decides to take them in as her sons. The movie ends with a family picture of all 4 newly-wed couples with Leelabai.
Cast
- Ashok Saraf as Dhananjay Mane
- Sachin Pilgaonkar as Sudhir / Sudha Mane
- Laxmikant Berde as Parshuram "Parsha" / Parvati Mane
- Siddharth Ray as Shantanu Mane
- Ashwini Bhave as Madhuri
- Supriya Pilgaonkar as Manisha
- Priya Arun-Berde as Kamali
- Nivedita Joshi-Saraf as Sushma
- Nayantara as Leelabai Kalbhor
- Viju Khote as Bali Kalbhor
- Sudhir Joshi as Vishwas Sarpotdar
- Suhas Bhalekar as Sudhir's Uncle
- Jairam Kulkarni as Chhabu Rao, Kamali's Father
- Lata Thatte as Mrs. Sarpotdar
- Gulab Korgaonkar as Tanu
- Madhu Apte as Venus Cassette Company Manager's Assistant
- Bipin Varti as Police Inspector
Soundtrack
The lyrics were penned by Shantaram Nandgaonkar and Sudhir Moghe. Well known Marathi song Hridayi Vasant Phulta Na was sung by Anuradha Paudwal, Suresh Wadkar, Sudesh Bhosale, Uttara Kelkar, Shailendra Singh, Amit Kumar, Suhasini, Aparna Mayekar, and Sachin Pilgaonkar.