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By Our Correspondent Š2002 Bollyvista.com |
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Credits
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| Producer/s: |
Vishal Bhardwaj & Sanjay Routray |
| Director: |
Vishal Bhardwaj |
| Cast: |
Shabana Azmi, Makrand Deshpande, Shweta Prasad, Vijay Raj, Alaap Mazgaonkar, Mohini Mathur, Dayashankar Pandey, Vineet Kumar and Chittaranjan Giri |
| Music: |
Vishal Bhardwaj |
| Lyrics: |
Gulzar |
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Music composer Vishal Bhardwaj, who for long had harbored the dream of making his mark in film productions, makes his directorial debut with Makdee. Made for children, Makdee comes at time when dubbed versions of Hollywood flicks Harry Potter and Spider Man have done quite good at the Indian box-office.
Makdee is the story of a precocious little brat Chunni (Shweta Prasad) and her obedient twin sister Munni (also played by Shweta Prasad). Chunni is infamous for her pranks. She fools the village with her impersonation of her twin sister, Munni; she has a great friend in Mughal-e-Azam (Master Aalap), who does her homework and she also has all the opportunity to vex her schoolmaster (Dayashankar Pandey), the village butcher Kallu (Makrand Deshpande) and her father. There is one small problem, though.
In a mansion in the village, said to be haunted, lives the legend of a witch called Makdee (played by Shabana Azmi). The legend goes that whosoever wanders into the mansion, comes out as an animal! No one in the village dares to enter the mansion. Of course, there is the exception of the schoolteacher, who refuses to believe the existence of a witch and brushes it aside as mere superstition.
Things are going fine for Chunni until the day she decides to rankle Kallu. Kallu frets and fumes and is on the lookout for Chunni - she has, after all, let his hens loose and the butcher cannot take it anymore. When he does corner her, she very smartly dons on the disguise of her sister and re-directs the butcher's chase - towards Munni! Kallu chases Munni, who is terrified and runs into the haunted mansion to save herself from a very angry butcher.
Chunni is hysterical when she runs from pillar to post to gather help, but her credibility is at an all-time low and the entire village refuses to believe her. Except the cops, Ghanta and Banta, who do turn up but a little late. Chunni is already in the haunted house to find her sister.
Chunni is terrified in the mansion - dark passages, a very dark main hall - and a witch! Chunni meets Makdee, and also her sister - but it's not the sister she knows. The wicked witch has turned her into a hen! After Chunni's repeated pleas to the witch to let sister go, the witch strikes a deal - Munni in return for a 100 hens.
Chunni is now confronted with the biggest challenge of her life - 100 hens for the witch, in return for her sister, without the villagers ever getting to know of it.
Does she get Munni back? Or does she fall prey to the evil and cunning of Makdee?
Winner of 2nd prize at the Chicago International Children's Film Festival this year, Makdee is a film made for children but it is thrilling enough to entertain the adults as well. The film unfolds at a brisk pace to keep the audiences at the edge of their chairs. The screenplay, which is written by Bhardwaj himself, is what makes this film a winner. Bhardwaj's first film as a director is good enough but there's certainly scope for him to improve as a director. Makdee's songs, which are penned by Gulzar and composed by Bhardwaj, are quite hummable.
On the performance front Shabana Azmi has done a great job as a wicked witch but it is ten year old Shweta Prasad who clearly manages to steal the show with her sweet performance.
All in all, Makdee is not a film to be missed. Watch it with your whole family the minute you get a chance to! |
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