It’s been less than two months since Mahesh Manjrekar’s last directorial, Hee Anokhi Gaath. His latest, Juna Furniture, gave me the exact same vibes in terms of viewing experience, and I wasn’t pleasantly surprised by that feeling. If not a fan, I am an ardent admirer of Mahesh Manjrekar’s work as an actor, writer and director. After watching his last two films, I strongly feel that despite retaining that required charm in all three capacities, the artist is struggling to be in sync with the ongoing trends of movie treatments. The sincerity in all three roles is worth the praise and appreciation, but something feels missing in all of them, making his piece of work look slightly far from perfection.
Juna Furniture is the story of Govind Pathak (Mahesh Manjrekar), a seventy-year-old man who takes legal action against his son Abhay (Bhushan Pradhan). Govind accuses Abhay of his wife Suhas’ (Medha Manjrekar) death. As filmy, cliched, and unreal as it may sound, Juna Furniture’s plot is certainly interesting, and the courtroom drama feel of it makes it engaging as well. Imagining a father and son legally fighting may not be exciting enough, but the reason for their fight and that emotional touch to it makes all the difference. It’s very much like two men fighting because of the same woman but in a very different space. After all the trolling Baghban usually faces on social media, Juna Furniture smartly tries to refrain from getting attacked the same way, as the movie’s sentiment is very similar. This one still falters in various ways.
It won’t be fair to call the writing of Juna Furniture completely weak because it offers something to ponder, but the traditional approach taken to tell the story bothered me a lot. It all started with that bad attempt to generate curiosity in the first scene. Then, the characters are unbearably stereotypical. Abhay and his wife Avani (Anusha Dandekar) can’t be so cruel that they look unreal and sadly unbelievable. Parents villainising children to this extent is a little saddening. Suhas’ contrary perspective to Govind’s in this matter is of little to no help. Just when I was feeling like the movie is wonderfully staying away from being preachy, a discourse of how bad is the social media makes the film enter that zone in some capacity. Much like the caricaturish characters, the movie’s narrative structure is also not novel. Once a courtroom drama begins, it is the same old, a scene between two courtroom scenes till the end.
In the courtroom, I could see the lighting being experimented with. The darkness around the judge with a spotlight on him said something about his situation, and the bright light on others in the same room looked quite fascinating. The production value otherwise is just up to the mark. Slightly better aesthetics would have made the visuals pleasing. I was very happy with the absence of the songs throughout, including a devotional song in Mahesh Manjrekar’s voice till that one track in the end that felt like an emotional blackmail to the children’s generation. It plays a couple of times in a short span. I wonder about the intention behind it. The background score was also not unnecessarily rousing or was trying hard to infuse emotions against our will.
A place that requires the maximum emotional effect lacks it. Juna Furniture surprised me negatively with the performances it offered. If you have seen Mahesh Manjrekar host the reality show Bigg Boss, you may feel that his act in this one was on the lines of his hosting in that show. Every time he made an argument in court, there wasn’t an instance where I did not feel like I was not watching the reality show host. His experience makes his loud acting in these scenes worthy. He knows how not to look hammy in them. Medha Manjrekar, Sachin Khedekar, Upendra Limaye, Samir Dharmadhikari, Bhushan Pradhan, Anusha Dandekar, and every other supporting actor in the movie did justice to their respective parts, but they all had probably the most stereotypical characters to play. It wasn’t remarkable or the best of their performances. Also, I don’t think there was enough screen space or spotlight for anyone other than Mahesh Manjrekar.
I waited to hear about a dialogue about furniture that could justify the film’s title. I was given a lazy, preachy quote on those lines at the end, not leaving me on a happy or satisfying note. I still stick by my words about the movie’s premise being fairly interesting. All I wished for was a skilful/effective execution that would have urged me to rave about this one like I usually do about the filmmaker’s other films. The strong sense of the lack of requisite subtlety at the start and the borderline melodrama for most of the time worsens the condition of this already old furniture. Juna Furniture isn’t a bad watch at all. I would term it as best viewed with family on TV on a lazy Sunday afternoon, kicking in some nostalgic times.
meri maaa, CINEMAAA 