Dhurala


Dhurala is a 2020 Indian Marathi-language political drama film directed by Sameer Vidwans. It stars an ensemble cast including starring Ankush Chaudhari, Alka Kubal, Sai Tamhankar, Siddhartha Jadhav, Sonalee Kulkarni, Amey Wagh, Umesh Kamat and Prasad Oak. The film is and written by Kshitij Patwardhan and revolves around the story of gram panchayat elections in a small village in Maharashtra.

Plot

Ambegaon is a small village in Maharashtra and the sarpanch Nivrutti "Anna" Ubhe, of the gram panchayat, dies while the new elections are approaching. His eldest son Navnath "Dada" Ubhe runs their family business and considers himself as heir apparent for the sarpanch position and decides to run in the elections. Opposition leader, Harish Gadhwe, is furious over his last loss; but now thinks he has good chance of winning since Dada is new to politics. But the battle gets a new turn when Member of the [Legislative Assembly |MLA] Prithviraj Shinde convinces Jyoti Tai Ubhe to also run in the elections as women empowerment is necessary at grassroot. Jyoti Tai is step-mother of Dada and their relationship has not been very cordial. Dada also inducts his wife Harshada in his newly formed party to give a female face to his team. Hanumantha, the second son of Anna, has a cement business. But his wife Monica sees the power-play going on in the family and persuades Hanumantha also to fight in the elections. The drama continues as the fight for the position intensifies and also disturbs their familial bond.

Cast

The film is directed by Sameer Vidwans based on the story written by Kshitij Patwardhan. They both have earlier collaborated for films: Time Please, Double Seat, YZ and Mala Kahich Problem Nahi. In 2013, the storyline was adapted as a play by Vidwans and Patwardhan and was presented under the title Saglech Ubhe Aahet. However, due to poor script writing and a low response from the audience, the play did not do well. The script was then re-written and presented in the film.

Soundtrack

Reception

Critical response

In their review, Maharashtra Times compared the films with older Marathi films based on politics like Sinhasan, Vazir, Sarkarnama, Saubhagyavati Sarpanch and Sattadhish and appreciated the modernization of politics shown in the film while still keeping the major core same to the old one. The review by Madhura Nerurkar highlights the notable work done in story writing, dialogues, and Tamhankar's portrayal of her lead role. Lokmat compared the film with its play version released in 2013 and noted the tremendous improvement in storyline and scriptwriting.
At the Marathi Awards">Marathi language">Marathi Awards, 2021, the film won seven awards from 16 nominations. Chaudhari won the award in Best Actor category and Tamhankar won award in Best Actress category. She shared the award with Neha Pendse for the film June. The Best Supporting Actor award was presented to Jadhav and Best Supporting Actress award to Kulkarni. She shared the award with Geetanjali Kulkarni for the film Karkhanisanchi Waari. Adarsh Shinde won the award for Best Playback Singer and AV Prafullachandra received it for Best Background Score. The award for Best Dialogues was shared by Irawati Karnik for Jhimma and Kshitij Patwardhan for Dhurala. The film also received three awards at Ma Ta Sanman ceremony, organized by Maharashtra Times in March 2022.

Awards and nominations

YearAwardsCategoryRecipientResultNotes
2021Filmfare Marathi AwardsBest FilmDhuralaNomitated
2021Filmfare Marathi AwardsBest DirectorSameer VidhwansNomitated
2021Filmfare Marathi AwardsBest ActorAnkush ChaudhariWon
2021Filmfare Marathi AwardsBest ActressSai TamhankarWonShared with Neha Pendse
2021Filmfare Marathi AwardsBest Supporting ActorSiddhartha JadhavWon
2021Filmfare Marathi AwardsBest Supporting ActressSonalee KulkarniWonShared with Geetanjali Kulkarni
2021Filmfare Marathi AwardsBest Supporting ActressAlka KubalNomitated
2021Filmfare Marathi AwardsBest Music AlbumAV PrafullachandraNomitated
2021Filmfare Marathi AwardsBest Playback Singer Adarsh ShindeWonFor the song "Rada Dhurala"
2021Filmfare Marathi AwardsBest Background ScoreAV PrafullachandraWon
2021Filmfare Marathi AwardsBest StoryKshitij PatwardhanNomitated
2021Filmfare Marathi AwardsBest DialoguesKshitij PatwardhanWonShared with Irawati Karnik
2021Filmfare Marathi AwardsBest Production DesignNilesh WaghNomitated
2021Filmfare Marathi AwardsBest CinematographyAkash AgarwalNomitated
2021Filmfare Marathi AwardsBest EditingFaisal ImranNomitated
2021Filmfare Marathi AwardsBest Sound DesignAvinash SonawaneNomitated
2022Ma Ta SanmaanBest FilmDhuralaWonShared with film Dithee
2022Ma Ta SanmaanBest ActorAnkush ChaudhariWonShared with Kishor Kadam
2022Ma Ta SanmaanBest Supporting ActorSiddhartha JadhavWon
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