Movie Review: ‘Sairat’ scores BIG!

I know this is way too late for me to write a review about any movie however, I could not stop myself from writing a review on this masterpiece by Nagraj Manjule. The movie shows two sides of a love story. The rosy dating days which is represented with songs and dreamy sequences and the harsh reality when the lovers run away from home.

Prashant Kale aka Parshya (Akash Thosar) is the cricket team captain and the brightest student in his year but the beautiful and confident Archana aka Archie (Rinku Rajguru) is out of his reach. She belongs to a rich and higher caste family and her father is a kingpin in local politics. But Archie is a headstrong girl who won’t let anyone boss her around and she likes the persistent and brave Parshya. After few dreamy sequences and duet songs the youngsters fall in love. However, when their families (especially Archie’s affluent family) come to know of their love all hell breaks loose. What happens to the lovers? What are the conditions they have to face? Is love above everything? Does their love story find a happy ending? The movie explains all layer by layer.

First and foremost, I would like to appreciate the director Nagraj Manjule for being brave enough to choose a sensitive subject like this. This is a great follow-up to his debut movie Fandry which released couple of years back. The script, dialogues and screenplay is perfect and flawless. The music by Ajay-Atul is one of the high points. This movie has almost every character played by a debutant. The performances are world-class especially the lead pair Rinku and Akash who are stars to watch out for. They fit their parts perfectly and for not even a frail second you feel them out of sync with their characters. No wonder Rinku won a National Award for her performance as Archie.

Cinematography by Sudhakar Reddy is good. He captures the rustic feel of the village and the gory details of the slum life in Hyderabad wonderfully with his camera. The editing is crisp and the background score compliments the tone of the movie.

Overall, it is one of the best movies of 2016. Please go and watch it!