‘April May 99’ review: An irresistibly charming summer vacation

The summer of 1999 in the Maharashtrian coastal town Shrivardhan promises to be like any other. The school term will end. Krishna (Aaryan Menghji), Prasad (Shreyas Thorat) and Siddhesh (Manthan Kanekar) will spend the break loafing about.

However, a tsunami is gathering. Prasad’s father Suresh wants to send him to Mumbai to improve his English. Krishna and Siddhesh see this as nothing short of a betrayal.

A solution is presented by Jaie (Sajiri Joshi), a neighbour’s niece, who comes to Shrivardhan for a vacation with a camera, curiosity about the ways of the fishing town, and an enviable command over English. But Jaie’s entry into the boys’ lives causes turbulence for which they are unprepared.

Rohan Mapuskar’s Marathi-language April May 99 is out in cinemas with English subtitles. Mapuskar’s directorial debut is an irresistibly charming account of the comforts of the old clashing with the shock of the new.

Mapuskar’s screenplay, written with Kunal Pawar and Bimal Oberoi, is very good at creating low-key incidents that take on the air of massive problems for the impressionable boys. Much of the hilarity flows from the bad temper shown by the hosts when they have to take Jaie around, and then confusion when they begin to feel emotions they have never confronted before.

Despite its subject...

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