‘Juna Furniture’ review: A simplistic crusade against the neglect of senior citizens

The 70-year-old lead character of Juna Furniture is compared to various over-performing Hindi film heroes – Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Sunny Deol. The Marathi-language movie is indeed a one-man show, written and directed by Mahesh Manjrekar and starring him as the septuagenarian crusading for the rights of his cohort.

Manjrekar’s Govind doesn’t tolerate bad behaviour, even standing up to neighbourhood goon Pakya (Upendra Limaye). When his beloved wife Suhas (Medha Manjrekar) dies from an easily preventable heart attack, Govind embarks on a war – against their only son, Abhay (Bhushan Pradhan).

A high-ranking, ambitious bureaucrat who is in thrall to his wealthy father-in-law (Sameer Dharmadhikari) and his snobbish wife Avni (Anushka Dandekar), Abhay isn’t around when his parents need him the most. Father takes son to court, accusing him of murdering the wife by negligence.

There hasn’t been a case like this ever, the media declares. And there hasn’t been a legal drama like Juna Furniture, in which the judicial process is dumbed down for a parable about the neglect of senior citizens by their children. The opposing lawyer (Girish Oak) and the judge (Sachin Khedekar) can only watch in wonderment as Govind argues his own case.

Manjrekar drags out the pre-interval portion before packing the second half with observations on the cruelty...

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