Chintoo, a breath of fresh air

Chintoo

By Netra Joshi

Chintoo, the movie, has its origins in the famous Marathi comic strip of the same name that appears in Sakal (and Loksatta earlier) newspaper.


The brainchild of creators Charuhas Pandit and Prabhakar Wadekar, Chintoo who made his debut on the silver screen last week is perhaps the first Marathi film to be based on a comic strip character. 

In what is a vacation gift for all Chintoo lovers, the movie is a breath of fresh air in today's age of making new friends through Facebook and playing sports online in the virtual world. Watching Chintoo and his gang in action on the playground is real fun.

Chintoo, the comic strip, does not have any story by itself and therein lay the challenge for the makers of the film to weave a story around the various characters.
Vibhavari Deshpande and Shrirang Godbole however perform a stellar job in giving Chintoo and his gang a credible story, keeping all their pranks in mind.

Chintoo, a very sweet, loveable and naughty boy, has a full gang of friends -- Mini, Neha, Pappu, Baglya, Sonu and Raju. All these kids are from upper middle-class families who stay in very lively neighbourhood. Their exams have just got over and they are in full of ideas.

However, Chintoo has a different plan in mind. This summer, he wants to win the cricket match against their rivals -- Vinchu Biters, another gang of kids. Soon Chintoo and his friends set up their own team, Wanarwede Warriors.

Warriors start practicing very hard under the guidance of Satish Dada. Finally, the day comes when the Warriors take on the Biters. 

But no sooner does the match begin than Guru, a rogue, barges forcefully on to the Wanarwede stadium and the match has to be halted.

No one except Colonel Kaka objects to this encroachment. The kids try to convince Guru, pleading with him to get their ground back. But all their attempts fail until Chintoo, the mastermind, comes up with his own idea.

So what is this idea? Does it work and do the kids get their ground back? What happens to the match? To know this and more, you must take your kids to the theatre.

It's after many years that a children's movie in Marathi has hit the silver screen. Produced by IME Motion Pictures, Chintoo is directed by Shrirang Godbole.
Sandeep, Salil are back after a break with new children's songs that are meaningful and sung by Salil's son, Shubhankar Kulkarni.

Shubhankar Atre is quite successful playing Chintoo's sweet, innocent, naughty and extremely witty character. Chintoo's gang Mini (Suhani Dhadphale), Neha (Rumani Khare), Pappu (Nishant Bhavsar), Raju (Ved Ravade), Baglya (Animesh Padhye) and Sonu (Arjun Jog) prove that their selection was perfect.

Vinchu Biters don't have much screen time, but we still end up loving them. Satish Dada (Alok Rajwade) too plays a stellar role in the movie. The film's other characters are played by Vibhavari Deshpande, Subodh Bhave, Nagesh Bhosale, Om Bhutkar, Shriram Pendse, Dilip Prabhavalkar, Bharati Achrekar and Padmashree Satish Alekar.

The costumes, designed by Geeta Godbole, in the film, however, leave a lot to be desired. Each character wears his/her own dress of the same design every day, making things a bit too monotonous. Also, the make-up done is sometimes extremely garish (especially that of Vibhavari and Subodh) and seems like it is the work of an amateur. It catches your attention especially because the film has too many close-ups and few long shots. You can't convince yourself that Chintoo's mother, a housewife, will wear such loud make-up while singing a lullaby.

But if you are watching the movie as a child, this will not bother you at all. In short, if you are sending your kids alone to movie, then it's not like you will miss something, but if you are planning to take them with you, then this movie will definitely take you back to those lovely days of childhood and nostalgia.