In short Popat deals about creating awareness about HIV AIDS in rural parts of Maharashtra. The film does not give you even a single hint regarding this in it’s initial 15-20 minutes, they are spoiled with item songs and stupid things done by jobless teenagers of any village. Due to some situations the three protagonists of the film Ameya Wagh, Siddharth Menon and Ketan Pawar find themselves trapped and plan to make a film on AIDS. They seek Atul Kulkarni’s help, the only guy in the entire village who can shoot, as his job is to shoot weddings and click pictures on any village events. After spending more than an hour they start shooting the film. The hero of the film is Atul Kulkarni, and while filming he feels of being an HIV positive patient. Here the director has used the tried and tested formula from his previous film Premachi Goshta.
The film is quite slow paced and finds it difficult to engage the audience for 155 minutes. More concentration on the past of three protagonists make the film slightly dull. Powerful dialogues with good situation could have done the work of those extra 30-40 minutes. Atul Kulkarni the crowd puller for the film shines in his performance. Being the main protagonist the director could not manage to make his appearance prominent in the film. The climax of the film is the saving grace which makes up for all the mistakes done in the entire film, even though it is very ordinary but gives you a good feel while you exit the theater.
Overall a good attempt made by the makers of the film. The film needed to be handled with much more care and it should have been kept as much short as possible. For the directors effort and the performance of the actors the film is a decent watch.
Rating: 2.75/5
