What Is the Story About?
Jivan Abhyankar is a widower in his 60s who is currently staying with his son and daughter-in-law. Sandhya Joshi is a widow, also in her 60s, who stays all alone in her apartment. A chance meeting happens between both sexagenarians which eventually leads to friendship. However, as they spend more time with each other, their feelings start to change into something more. Will they act upon these feelings? Or will they ignore them for the sake of their families?
Performances?
Jivan Sandhya primarily focuses on the two lovebirds – Jivan Abhyankar and Sandhya Joshi. Jivan is portrayed by Ashok Saraf, while Sandhya is portrayed by Kishori Shahane. While both actors are good in the first half of the film, they become much better in the second half. Jivan becomes paralyzed on his right side, while Sandhya is forced to play the role of a caretaker to stay close to Jivan. This change forces both actors to step up their game – and step up they did.
Analysis
Jivan Sandhya is a beautiful love story. Two people meet each other by chance and strike up a friendship. Upon repeated meetings, they realize that they have feelings for each other. But when their family comes to know about their relationship, they disapprove. Still, they continue with their relationship. But due to some reasons, they are forced apart by their family. They eventually hatch a plan to get their families to accept them. While the story sounds like it might have been done before – in this film, our “lovebirds” are two sexagenarians. Not your typical love story.
And that’s what makes this setting unique. Usually love stories are quite repetitive in some manner – and this film does show romantic clichés we have come to expect in romance films over the years. The unnecessarily long flashbacks, the slow pacing and love songs are all common themes that we find in many Indian romance features. However the film has other problems – like Ankur’s inexplicable rage. We can understand the reasoning behind Ankur’s anger – his father getting married to someone he doesn’t know (who he doesn’t want to meet by the way), inheritance problems (again he has not met this woman), doesn’t want an unknown woman replacing his mother (which is a legit reason but they do not touch up on this issue in the Jivan Sandhya by the way), random people talking about his father (which should be the least worrying problem, but Ankur gets worked up on this reason the most), etc., but he is way too angry for a man who finds out that his retired father is walking around with a woman his age during the day. Ankur is shown as a caring son, but he also doesn’t want his father to have a girlfriend. This script needs some work.
And that’s what the film boils down to… sense in the script. While most of the story and the screenplay are quite good – the rage shown by both Jivan’s and Sandhya’s family is a little over the top. We understand that there will be problems in this unique situation, which the film does decently well in explaining – but it does not explain this heavy disapproval. Especially against parents who took care of them after their significant other had passed away. The script wanted an antagonist, and we got a few shoddily made ones.
Still, Jivan Sandhya is not all bad. The second half of the film is surprisingly watchable. The script may have problems, but the overall story is quite good. Especially the unexpected ending of the film and Ankur’s acceptance of Sandhya. This last part helps us appreciate this extremely lengthy affair.
Overall, Jivan Sandhya is a good film to watch for romance film fanatics. The movie will be harder to watch for others, but if you can hold out till the end of the movie – the ending will make the film (almost) worth the wait.
Other Artists?
Sameer Dharmadhikari, Ruchita Jadhav and Ravindra Mankani are the other three actors who are prominent in this film. They play Ankur, Pratibha and Dr. Damale respectively. Ruchita is the standout among them, while Sameer is also good in his role as the film’s “primary antagonist”. We just wish that the script had made a better reasoning to make Sameer the “villain”.
Music and Other Departments?
The Music is good, yet not very memorable. The songs in the films are used as a method to show the passage of time, which Jivan Sandhya does expertly. The script had the potential to be much better. The director does a decent job, but the overall pacing of the film is out of whack.
Highlights?
The Jivan-Sandhya Love Tragedy
Drawbacks?
Ankur’s Unexplainable Rage
Slow Pacing`
Did I Enjoy It?
Could have been better.
Will You Recommend It?
If you love tragic love stories, then this is the movie for you. If you can’t handle slow films, then go ahead and skip.
Jivan Sandhya Marathi Movie Review by Binged Bureau
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