Ek Unaad Divas is a simple Marathi movie showing the events occurring in the life of the protagonist played by Ashok Saraf. The way he turns truant (unaad) for a day and its impact forms the essence of the story.

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The Plot

The movie opens with a fresh morning. Its Vishwas Dabholkar’s (Ashok Saraf’s) birthday. He is a workaholic and highly disciplined person. A stickler of manners and etiquette, he expects others (mainly his family) to follow his line. His wife (Ila Bhate) and college going son Manoj (Omkar Karve) greet him and accompany him for breakfast. His wife has arranged a birthday party in the evening. She asks him if Manoj can go to college a bit late today. But Vishwas gives a lecture on why the college needs to be bunked on his birthday. Manoj then gives him the birthday gift – a colorful shirt which Vishwas rejects immediately. He only wears light colored shirts and admonishes his wife and Manoj for their choice.

His wife mentions an article in Time magazine which says that spending your day differently by breaking the routine can increase your life by 5 years. But Vishwas is in no mood to listen. For him work is worship and he gets ready to leave for office. He is further incensed when the driver arrives 10 minutes late. He reprimands the driver and asks him to stay home for the day. An angry Vishwas gets into the driver’s seat and drives to the office himself. Thus begins his birthday on a not so cheerful note.

He arrives in the office and is kept waiting by his client Mohanlal (Viju Khote) from Delhi. A corrupt and pleasure loving Mohanlal finally arrives and after some irritable actions (in Vishwas’s view), confirms the deal of Rs. 5 crores with the company. Mr Dinesh Agarwal (Vishwas’s senior) joins and congratulates them on the deal. Vishwas decides to accompany Mohanlal for lunch. Mohanlal is satisfied with the lunch and asks Vishwas if he can keep his car for the day. While Vishwas may not like the man, he has to keep in mind the Rs 5 crore deal. Vishwas reluctantly agrees and Mohanlal is impressed with the favour.

A happy Mohanlal departs with the car and Vishwas searches for a taxi to take him back to the office. But there is no taxi on the road as the taxi union has announced a strike from 1.00 p.m. Vishwas feels helpless and tries to get on a bus. But he is not used to public transport and handling the crowd of commuters. He has no option but to keep walking and decide how to face this unexpected turn of events. He even manages to lose his mobile.

And thus begins his off the routine “journey.” During the next few hours he meets some known and unknown characters. One of them is his school classmate Govinda Khadap. Govinda earns much lesser than Vishwas. He cannot afford to call his wife and children to stay with him. But he is contented with his achievements. Vishwas listens to him and contemplates if one can be happy in the smaller joys and successes that life offers.

Meanwhile his bad luck continues. Circumstances make him change his spoiled white “routine” shirt and wear a colorful shirt (which he totally despises). But this also helps to change his outlook and become more accepting for the rest of the day. He decides to just let go and face things as they come.

This leads to some funny interactions with the people he meets. Some masks come off too enabling Vishwas to view some harsh realities.

Of course, he manages to return home on time for the party. But his close ones are surprised to see the apparent change not only in his attire but his attitude towards life.

The Music

There is only one song which appears naturally in the flow of the story. Vishwas comes across an old singer Miss Chandrika (Faiyyaz). He is her fan. She had sung a few songs and disappeared from the profession due to rivalry, politics etc. He requests her to sing his favorite song and she fulfils his request wholeheartedly. The song is Hur hur asate tich uri, sung by Shubha Joshi and lyrics by Saumitra. Salil Kulkarni is the composer of this beautiful number.

My Thoughts

The film’s story is offbeat and does not have the regular hero, heroine, villain pattern. Credit to actor Vijay Patkar who makes his debut with a different genre. While evidently low budget in places, the casting and the acting cover up the shortcomings.

Ashok Saraf plays the middle aged protagonist who wants to stick to his principles at all costs. The unpredictability of the day brings out the transition in his character. He becomes mild, accepting, and someone enjoying the situation. While his sudden change may seem a fantasy, he tries to make the character and the situation believable. His interaction with various characters are effective. And he keeps receiving some form of wisdom from the  people he meets with. Most of the supporting actors are veterans and seasoned performers who pitch in perfectly.