Start the week with a film: ‘Valu’ is a side-splitting comedy with a brilliant cast

A bull in a village is behaving like its counterpart in a china shop, running around wild, rampaging through crops and killing people? Hyperbolic comedy is the chief mode of expression in Valu, Umesh Kulkarni’s acclaimed Marathi-language movie.

Valu, which is available on Sony LIV, has a crackling script and a to-die-for cast. Kulkarni co-wrote his feature debut from 2008 along with Girish Kulkarni – the latter also plays one of many over-enthusiastic characters on a bull-taming mission.

Leading the list of caricatured villagers is Atul Kulkarni as Gaddamwar, a pompous forest department officer who likes to swear in English. Annoyed at being ordered to capture the bull – he would rather chase wild animals – Gaddamwar develops a superiority complex over the villagers, which they promptly destroy by nicknaming him “Foresht”.

The attempts to ensnare the bull, which always seems out of reach, ratchets up the rivalry between village elders, exposes the problems faced by the village, and fuels a romance. Gaddamwar’s task unfolds alongside a documentary being filmed on the capture – a clever way to introduce the ensemble cast.

Some of the best ever actors available in Marathi cinema line up to play the motley bunch who help as well as hinder Gaddamwar’s mission. Nobody overshadows...

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