''Gandha'' (English: ''Fragrance'') is a 2009

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

Indian film. The film is directed by

Sachin Kundalkar Sachin Kundalkar or ''Sacin Kuṇḍalakar'' is an Indian film director and screenplay writer who mostly works in Marathi cinema. He is known for his directorial works of '' Nirop'' (2007) and '' Gandha'' (2009). He has also written for the thea ...

and produced by Sandeep Kankariya under the banner Flashbulbs Ventures. The film blends three independent stories where the main characters of all stories go through experiences involving their sense of smell. The stories are written by Kundalkar and his mother Archana Kundalkar. Sachin Kuldalkar won Best Screenplay Award for the film at

Pune International Film Festival The Pune International Film Festival (also known as PIFF) is an annual film festival held in Pune, a city in Maharashtra, India. Open to general public, the films are screened at NFAI, Inox, City Pride, PVR cinema halls, all located in Pune ...

. The film also won two national awards. The film stars

Girish Kulkarni Girish Pandurang Kulkarni (born 25 November 1977) is an Indian actor, writer, and producer. He is a recipient of two National Film Awards namely, National Film Award for Best Actor in 2011 for his performance in ''Deool'' and National Film Awar ...

and Amruta Subhash in the first story,

Milind Soman Milind Soman (born 4 November 1965) is an Indian actor, supermodel, film producer, and fitness enthusiast. He was a contestant on '' Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi 3''. Early and personal life Soman was born on 4 November 1965 in Glasgow, ...

and

Sonali Kulkarni Sonali Kulkarni (born 3 November 1974) is an Indian actress, producer, and writer who primarily appears in Marathi and Hindi films. She has also appeared in Kannada, Tamil, Gujarati and English films. She has worked in over 70 films, both ...

in the second story and

Neena Kulkarni Neena Kulkarni (''neena'' Joshi) is an Indian actress. She began her acting career in the 1970s on the Marathi professional stage and Hindi experimental stage, along with fashion shows and modelling simultaneously. She met Pt Satyadev Dubey, h ...

in the third story as lead actors.

Plot

''Lagnaachya Vayachi Mulgi'' (English: ''A Bride To Be'') Veena is a young girl who works in a college and is now a bride to be. Her parents are looking for a suitable groom for her. But due to her dark complexion, she is not able to get any groom. Mangesh, an arts student from the college accidentally meets her and she starts loving the fragrance that he brings with himself. She hears a rumour from her colleague that Mangesh is alcoholic and hence is drowsy in his classes and comes with red-eyes. One day she follows him to his home and then learns that Mangesh works in an

incense stick Incense is aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burnt. The term is used for either the material or the aroma. Incense is used for aesthetic reasons, religious worship, aromatherapy, meditation, and ceremony. It may also be ...

factory at night. This explains the fragrance he brings and his drowsy look. They both talk and fall in love and decide to get married. ''Aushadh Ghenara Manus'' (English: ''A Man On Medicines'') Sarang is a

HIV+ The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

patient and lives on his medicines. His wife, Raavi, has abandoned him from one and half years just like his parents. One day Raavi comes to meet him to talk about their divorce. She is irritated by some disgusting smell that comes from the whole house. They both reminisce over the past and she has a thought of giving their marriage another chance. But the weird unknown smell keeps irritating her. Her irritation for the smell and Sarang's silence on how he turned out HIV+ turns her mad and she ransacks the whole house for the source of smell. She finally find a dead rat under the bed. Sarang then realizes that he has lost his sense of smell. ''Baajoola Basleli Baai'' (English: ''A Woman Sitting Aside'') The story is based in a small village of

Konkan The Konkan ( kok, कोंकण) or Kokan () is a stretch of land by the western coast of India, running from Damaon in the north to Karwar in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau in the east. The hinterland ...

when it is raining heavily. Janaki has her menstrual cycle and as per the practice in various societies in India, she is refrained from domestic activities in home for four days. Her sister-in-law goes into

labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

. Due to heavy rains, the baby needs to be delivered in their home. Janaki's mother-in-law is left alone to do all the work at home without Janaki's help. Janaki is continuously taunted by her mother-in-law for not having her own child till now. Janaki is worried about her husband who is stuck in another town due to rains. All she can do is worry and smell things from her room upstairs as she is not allowed to be involved in the home nor see the new born baby.

Cast

as Mangesh Nadkarni * Amruta Subhash as Veena *

Jyoti Subhash Jyoti Subhash is an Indian actress who works in Marathi film, television and theatre industry. She is best known for her works in Marathi films like '' Valu'' (2008), ''Gabhricha Paus'' (2009) and Bollywood films like ''Phoonk'' (2008) and ''Ai ...

as Veena's mother *

as Sarang *

as Raavi *

as Janaki * Yatin Karyekar as Janaki's husband * Vidula Jawalgikar as Laxmi * Seema Deshmukh as Janki's sister-in-law * Leena Bhagwat as Chanda Tai The film marks debut of model-turned-actor Soman in

Marathi cinema Marathi cinema is an Indian film industry of Marathi-language motion pictures. It is based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Based in old Mumbai, it is the oldest film industry of Indian cinema. The first Marathi film to be released in India was '' ...

. Also, Jyoti Subhash, who is the

real life Real life is a phrase used originally in literature to distinguish between the real world and fictional, virtual or idealized worlds, and in acting to distinguish between actors and the characters they portray. It has become a popular term on th ...

mother of Amruta Subhash is seen playing this same role in film.

Awards

''Gandha'' won two National Film Awards at the

56th National Film Awards The 56th National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in India to celebrate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 2008. Three committees were ins ...

in the Best Screenplay and Best Audiography category. The award for Screenplay was given ''"for its remarkable integration of three different plots using the sense of smell at as a liet motif to focus sensitively on human relationships"'' and for Audiography ''"for its use of dramatically scripted sounds to heighten the mood of the film"''. *

National Film Award for Best Screenplay The National Film Award for Best Screenplay is one of the categories in the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in India. It is one o ...

National Film Award for Best Audiography The National Film Award for Best Audiography is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several awards pre ...

- Pramod J. Thomas and Anmol Bhave * Best Screenplay Award at

- Sachin Kundalkar

References

External links

* * {{Sachin Kundalkar 2009 films Films that won the Best Audiography National Film Award Films whose writer won the Best Original Screenplay National Film Award 2000s Marathi-language films Films directed by Sachin Kundalkar