Bhonsle (film)

Bhonsle is a 2020 Indian Hindi-language drama film written and directed by Devashish Makhija. The film stars Manoj Bajpayee, who co-produced the film alongside Piiyush Singh,[1] in the title role: a retired Mumbai police officer who befriends a North Indian girl and her brother who are targeted among other migrants by local politicians. Its first look was launched at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.[2]

Bhonsle
Film poster
Directed byDevashish Makhija
Produced byManoj Bajpayee
Piiyush Singh
Abhayanand Singh
Saurabh Gupta
Sandiip Kapoor
Written byDevashish Makhija
Mirat Trivedi
Sharanya Rajgopal
StarringManoj Bajpayee
Santosh Juvekar
Music byMangesh Dhakde
CinematographyJigmet Wangchuk
Edited byShweta Venkat Mathew
Production
company
Muvizz
Distributed bySony LIV
Release date
  • 5 October 2018 (2018-10-05) (Busan)
  • 26 June 2020 (2020-06-26) (India)
Running time
128 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi

Bhonsle premiered in the 'A Window on Asian Cinema' section of the 2018 Busan International Film Festival and was also screened in the non-competitive India Story section at the MAMI Film Festival, the 2018 Dharamshala International Film Festival, the 2019 International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Bengaluru International Film Festival and the Singapore South Asian film festival.[3][4][5][6][7][8] It won the Best Screenplay and Best Director Award at the Asian Film Festival Barcelona.[9] It was released on Sony LIV on 26 June 2020.[10]

Plot

Constable Bhosale retires from the Mumbai Police to live in a dilapidated chawl (a small apartment block for factory workers). He occasionally meets with his former superior about extending his service. An idol is shown being prepared for the ten-day Ganesh Chaturthi festival.

Homeless taxi driver Vilas is a foot soldier for a local political party which upholds local cultural identity, and blames migrants from North India for taking local jobs. He frequently gets into conflicts with Rajendra, who wants to lead the migrants. Vilas networks and unites influential locals to assert their identity. Bhosale is respected in the community, but refuses to join Vilas.

Sita and her teenaged brother Lalu move next door to Bhosale. Lalu refuses to join Rajendra's gang, but one night is tricked into vandalizing the billboard of Vilas's political party. The next day Vilas is irate and Lalu is frightened. After confessing to Sita, they inform Bhosale who warns them that he will tell the police if it happens again.

A few days later, there is a grand procession for Ganesh Chaturthi which involves everyone from the chawl. Bhosale collapses in his room from fading health. Lalu gathers their neighbours to take him to the hospital where Sita works, and she nurses him to health. She also takes care of the paperwork at his discharge, and he is given a discount on the assumption of being her family member. Bhosale forms a bond with the siblings and helps Lalu secretly repaint the billboard. Sita receives Bhosale's medical tests and informs him that he has a terminal brain tumor. Having acquired supplies to fix the billboard, Vilas takes credit when he finds it repainted in the morning. Bhosale exposes his lie, and Vilas is humiliated that Bhosale took the migrants side instead of his own.

Bhosale is heartbroken when he is informed that his service extension with the police is contingent on a medical check-up. As Sita returns from her night shift, Vilas kidnaps her and then rapes her. Bhosale finds Sita badly injured, and confronts Vilas, finding bloodstains in his taxi. The two fight and are both fatally injured, while on the last day of Ganesh Chaturthi the idol is sunk into the ocean.

Cast
  • Manoj Bajpayee as Ganpath Bhonsle
  • Santosh Juvekar as Vilas
  • Ipshita Chakraborty Singh as Sita
  • Virat Vaibhav as Lalu
  • Abhishek Banerjee as Rajendra
  • Rajendra Sisadkar as Talpade
  • Kailash Waghmare as Sawant
  • Shrikant Yadav as Mhatre
  • Neetu Pande as Mrs. Jha
  • Dev Mehta as Ismail

Production

Makhija started writing the script of Bhonsle in 2011 and completed it in 2015 but could not gain interest from producers. In 2016, Makhija directed an 11-minute short film titled Taandav starring Manoj Bajpayee, about a head constable who breaks out into a dance to deal with the strains of his life.[4] Bajpayee had suggested him to make a short "to prove that they could carry off the idea".[4] Makhija said that he made the short because he was not able to make Bhonsle. He said that the purpose of the short was to "show the world that a film about a havaldar (constable) could be interesting."[4] Makhija took inspiration for Bhonsale's mannerisms from his father who had become "something else" after Makhija left for Mumbai from his hometown Kolkata.[4] The script was selected by the National Film Development Corporation of India for their event, Film Bazaar in 2016.[11]

The film's principal photography began on 21 October 2017. The Ganpati festival scene was shot for two days in Mumbai in August, forming a backdrop in the film.[12] For the pullout shot on the day of the Ganpati immersion, Bajpayee was placed in the crowd of 70,000 people. The scene took six retakes to complete and throughout the shoot no one recognised Bajpayee.[4] The filming was completed in late December 2017.[13] Several scenes were shot in closed narrow spaces as Makhija wanted to "create a sense of suffocation".[4]

Reception

Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter praised Bajpayee's performance in the film and said that his "hermit retiree emerges as a quiet-spoken hero who opposes the racist hate-mongering around him with cool disdain." She felt that the film "builds tension well as it goes along", but called its first half "punishing".[14] Anupam Kant Verma of Firstpost wrote: "To Makhija’s peculiar blend of technical proficiency and poetic beats, Bajpayee brings the gravitas and masterful restraint that tugs at the kite of the director’s imagination the moment it threatens to pull away, in effect, harmonising the film experience."[15] J. Hurtado of Screen Anarchy wrote: "It's an exceptional film bolstered by a nearly silent performance from Manoj Bajpayee, one of India's finest actors, who also stepped in to produce the film when things were looking dire during production." He also included it in his list of 14 Favorite Indian Films of 2018.[16][17]

Accolades
Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
Asia Pacific Screen Awards 21 November 2019 UNESCO Award Devashish Makhija Nominated [18]
Best Actor Manoj Bajpayee Won
Filmfare OTT Awards 19 December 2020 Best Film - Web Originals Bhonsle Nominated [19]
Best Actor - Web Originals Manoj Bajpayee Nominated

References
  1. "After Amitabh Bachchan and Dhanush, Producer Piiyush Singh Is Bringing a Film 'Bhonsle' With Manoj Bajpayee". www.businesswireindia.com. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  2. "Cannes Film Festival 2018: Manoj Bajpayee returns to French Riviera with Devashish Makhija' political drama Bhonsle". Firstpost. 12 May 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  3. "Manoj Bajpayee's Bhonsle to be premiered at Busan International Film Festival 2018". India TV. 4 September 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  4. Ramnath, Nandini (26 September 2018). "In 'Bhonsle', Manoj Bajpayee's Mumbai constable has something to say on the insider-outsider debate". Scroll.in. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  5. Khan, Murtaza Ali Khan (8 November 2018). "I like proving people wrong: Manoj Bajpayee". The Hindu. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  6. "Bhonsle's outing at Rotterdam film fest". The New Indian Express. 26 January 2019. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  7. "BIFFes 2019: Chat with Debashish Makhija of 'Bhonsle'". Deccan Herald. 27 February 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  8. "Selected For 3rd Singapore South Asian International Film Festival 2019". SpotboyE. 27 August 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  9. "Manoj Bajpayee's Bhonsle wins big at Barcelona fest". Outlook. 15 November 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  10. Bhasin, Shriya (19 June 2020). "Manoj Bajpayee looks forward to OTT release of 'Bhonsle,' shares endearing trailer | Celebrities News – India TV". www.indiatvnews.com.
  11. Laghate, Gaurav (10 November 2016). "Muvizz.com's 'Bhonsle' starring Manoj Bajpayee selected by NFDC for Film Bazaar". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  12. Ramachandran, Naman (13 October 2017). "Busan: Helmer Devashish Makhija set for "Bhonsle" (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  13. "Manoj Bajpayee wraps up Devashish Makhija's Bhonsle in Mumbai". Hindustan Times. 29 December 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  14. Young, Deborah (28 October 2018). "'Bhonsle': Film Review: Mumbai 2018". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  15. Verma, Anupam Kant (5 November 2018). "Bhonsle movie review: Devashish Makhija's fascinating character study is enriched by Manoj Bajpayee's performance". Firstpost. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  16. Hurtado, J (3 January 2018). "J Hurtado's 14 Favorite Indian Films of 2018". Screen Anarchy. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  17. "Bhonsle: Manoj Bajhpayee Joins Ipshita Chakraborty Singh, Santosh Juvekar Stream Online On Sony Liv". Moviespie. 28 June 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  18. "13TH ASIA PACIFIC SCREEN AWARDS CELEBRATES 100 YEARS OF KOREAN CINEMA 2019 NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED". asiapacificscreenawards.
  19. "Flyx Filmfare OTT Awards 2020: Complete winners' list - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
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