Chetana Bhandarkar

Phulwanti is a visual treat. Prajakta Mali looks beautiful with dazzling jewelry and vibrant sarees with lovely color combination. Superb music and dances.Lavish sets. Full marks to all these aspects. She has also left no stone unturned to promote the movie. The storyline was however not convincing for me. Especially about how Phulwanti could hear Shastri's comments which he had whispered into his friend's ears amidst loud music with herself singing and dancing, (maybe she had supersonic ears)....later on Shastri claiming that he made those comments/whispers (calling her a whore) to bring an improvement in her (i.e tame her pride). Also, what made Phulwanti fall in love with Shastri who insulted her very badly to the extent that she deliberately loses to him bringing shame to herself, her teacher and entire dance fraternity. There is no incident to show that Shastri impressed her in any manner prior to the competition for her to put her pride at stake. She is also shown to be practicing for the competition day and night in anger for the insult she was subjected to with her feet bleeding. After all this, she deliberately loses to Shastri (who learns to play Pakhawaj for first time for the competition) willing to be his slave. Was it just his physical appearance that impressed her (as shown by her expression in the first glimpse that she takes of Shastri) and was this aspect more overpowering than the insult she was subjected to (him calling her a whore).... The story claims to talk of unspoken love...tell me who would call the person you love 'a whore' that too a learned person like Shastri. There was a TV serial by the same name on DD few years back starring Arun Govil and Archana Joglekar based on the same novel which had answers to all these questions. In this, Shastri makes an open statement in Peshwa court that Phulwanti's dancing skills are half baked as he has sound knowledge of the art, he being an expert mridangam player besides being well versed in shastras ( though he had not practiced mridangam for a while). In the competition that follows, Phulwanti though an accomplished dancer, loses to him as she is no match for his skills. She starts living in his house to be a slave to keep her word but Shastri and his wife don't treat her like one. They take good care of her and treat her respectfully. Shastri educates her about the mistakes she had made while dancing earlier and they often discuss art. Both eventually fall in love. Shastri however, doesn't want to wrong his wife who is a virtuous lady and fully trusts him. He therefore frees Phulwanti of slavery in front of Peshwa king and sets her free. He leaves his house with his wife to an unknown destination as memories of Phulwanti haunt him in his very house where he had fallen in love with her. Next day, Phulwanti comes to Shastri's house unable to bear the separation from him only to find it vacant. Looks like Prajakta Mali and Sneha have taken cinematic liberties to twist the tale in the bargain of leaving a hard to digest storyline for the audience. Nevertheless, I would still rate the movie 4 stars as it is high in overall entertainment quotient.

Sets look so artificial. Cast is also not good. The person playing Lord Rama is good looking but always has some fear in his eyes instead of confidence, maturity and divinity when compared to Arun Govil in Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan. Sita is not beautiful or regal rather has a bad posture. Overall not impressive. Ravan touching Sita, pulling her hand is nonsense as he was cursed that he could not touch a woman against her will. Also, Sita visiting Ravan's palace many times is utter rubbish.