''Raakshas'' (English: Monster) is a 2018 Indian

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 * * ...

-language

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

thriller film written and directed by Dnyanesh Zoting, produced by Nilesh Navalakha and Vivek Kajaria. It was the first-time pairing of

Sharad Kelkar Sharad Kelkar (born 7 October 1976) is an Indian film actor and voice artist from Mumbai, Maharashtra. He works primarly in Hindi films, Marathi films. Kelkar has appeared as lead in television serials for brief period of time, now he do web se ...

and

Sai Tamhankar Sai Tamhankar (Pronunciation: əiː t̪aːmɦəɳkəɾ born 25 June 1986) is an Indian actress known for her work in Marathi, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam language films and television. She is the recipient of two Filmfare Marathi Awards and one F ...

, along with

Vijay Maurya Vijay Maurya is an Indian actor, writer and director who works in Hindi films and theatre. He is best known for his work in the 2019 Hindi musical film ''Gully Boy.'' Early life Maurya was born and raised in Mumbai, Maharashtra. His brother, A ...

and Umesh Jagtap. Rujuta Deshpande also portrayed a very important role in the film. The shooting of the film was held in 2015. The film released on 23 February 2018.

Plot

The story revolves around a missing documentary filmmaker and his daughter’s quest to bring him back.

Cast

* Rujuta Deshpande *

Daya Shankar Pandey Daya Shankar Pandey (born 19 November 1965) is an Indian film and television actor. He has acted in a number of Hindi movies like ''Lagaan'' (2001), ''Gangaajal'' (2003), ''Swades'' (2004) and ''Raajneeti'' (2010). He began his career with the ...

* Yakub Sayeed * Purnanand Wandhekar *

Umesh Jagtap Umesh is an Indian given name. People * M. S. Umesh, actor * Umesh Chandra Banerjee, jurist * Umesh Chandra Dutta, social reformer * Umesh Chandra Patra, zoologist * Umesh Harijan, footballer * Umesh Kamat, actor * Umesh Kulkarni (cricketer), ...

* Vitthal Kale * Pankaj Sathe * Anuya Kalaskar * Anil Kamble * Makarand Sathe * Jayesh Sanghavi * Sakshi Vyavhare * Abhijeet Zunjarrao * Somanath Limbarka

Reception

Critical reception

Mihir Bhanage of ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' gave the film a rating of 3.5 out of 5 saying that, "Raakshas explores the unexplored. Shot almost entirely in the jungle, the woods become an integral character in the story. In terms of performances, this film earns brownie points." Shriram Iyengar of ''Cinestaan'' gave the film a rating of 2 out of 5 and said that, "Dyanesh Zoting's parable of a jungle monster around the story of

land-grabbing Land grabbing is the contentious issue of large-scale land acquisitions: the buying or leasing of large pieces of land by domestic and transnational companies, governments, and individuals. While used broadly throughout history, land grabbing as ...

conglomerates is a good attempt at magical realism but lacks the finishing touch that could have truly made it magical." ''Marathi Stars'' praised the acting performances of

and Rujuta Deshpande, direction as well as the technical aspects of the film but criticized the conclusion given to the story. The critic said that, "A better screenplay & a more original ‘fantasy’ world would have made wonders to this film. But still as a director Dnyanesh Zoting makes his presence felt." and gave the film a rating of 2.5 out of 5. Shubhra Gupta of ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

'' praised the concept of the film and the acting performances. The critic gave the film a rating of 2.5 out of 5 and said that, "The melding of the myth and the real is not as effective, though, and the film becomes repetitive in places. But overall, ‘Raakshas’ holds, and is a welcome step in the direction of making non-Hindi contemporary, inventive cinema accessible to all."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Raakshas 2018 films 2010s fantasy thriller films 2010s Marathi-language films Indian fantasy thriller films Films set in jungles