Duniyadari

Story: Friendship doesn’t see the ways of the world and nor does it follow any set rules. It follows the heart and Duniyadari is all about the journey of the heart – which can be arduous, but almost always fulfilling.

Review: Set against the backdrop of the late 70s, director Sanjay Jadhav introduces us to his lead characters in a Pune college campus. Digya, (Ankush Chaudhary) and Shreyas (Swapnil Joshi) are as separate as chalk and cheese and quite naturally start off as enemies.

While Digya is a temperamental college rowdy, Shreyas is the well behaved, calm student. However, one event sees them become the thickest of pals and they are part of a larger gang, which rules the campus. Their katta (a bench) near a tea stall is their adda, and this is where they discuss life, love and scores to be settled. This is where they realise that yaari is more important than duniyadari.

While the seeds of this friendship are blossoming beautifully, two beautiful girls enter their lives. Shireen (Sai Tamhankar) is a medical student, who Shreyas loves and Meenu (Urmila Kanetkar) is another student in love with Shreyas. As various twists and turns in the plot finally sees true love prevail, what Duniyadari also shows is that friends are for life and they will be there with you through thick and thin.

As a whole Sanjay Jadhav manages to pull off this friendship film with ease. Confusion, pathos, sacrifice and the mystery in love too are portrayed well and engage the audience for most of the time. However, if the number of twists were reduced, the film would be taut and more gripping.

But, making up for these little deficiencies is the peppy music and acting by all the stars. While Swapnil looks and act the cute part to the T, Ankush Chaudhary holds his own aura and has a screen presence that is truly riveting. While Sai and Urmila shine, it has to be said that in the current crop of actors, when it comes to sporting the sad, betrayed look Sai wins hands down.