Balak Palak (2013) User Reviews

An Efficient Work!

[nairtejas · 7/10 · 26 April 2013]

Honestly, I cannot recollect talking to my parents about my my first kiss or my.... Moreover I don't remember the root cause of its instigation. Being born in the 90s, I can so much relate to this great endeavor, BP!

Riteish Deshmukh has sealed his place in Marathi cinema with BP which boats off a wonderful cast, new story & an even amazing plot. All the realities based on how kids (aged 13 in the 80s & 11 in this YOLO gen) get so inquisitive to learn about sex, pleasure & porn. The detailing (with absolute perfection & no anachronism) of both the generations is very fine. The impulses, conversations, dialogs & monikers are so pure, no stone has been left unturned to create a movie worth watching and which deals with a sensitive topic like sex education. Also, keeping the obscenity at bay & driving straight to the point with no masochism, Ravi Jadhav has done a terrific job.

The child actors are great with special mention to Prathamesh Parab; Kishore Kadam is genuine; Sai Tamhankar is voluptuous & perfect as the neighborhood bombshell while the four lead artistes are true in their characters, besotted with reel-life chemistry & wonderful in their demeanor. Music is good (although some tunes were plagiarized). The screenplay is entertaining & I totally enjoyed it, not only as a cinema but also as a good message-sender.

BOTTOM LINE: Every child should watch this movie with both his/her parents. Parents should see this as a great & non-vulgar weapon to sex education. You cannot have such a beautiful guide. 9/10!

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

Language: Mediocre | Sex: No; Implications: Yes | Nudity: No; Cleavage, Erotica: Yes (Mild) | Porn: Mediocre (Only Innocuous Images & Sound) | Violence: No | Gore: No | Smoking, Alcohol or Drugs: NO

Abstract

[ritpul5 · 9/10 · 15 March 2013]

Excellent, ExtraOrdinary, Awesome, Fabulous, Full Entertainment. It deserves 5 Stars Rating, all characters in the movie are very catchy especially Vishu. The movie at the very beginning holds the grip and you just inculcate yourself with 5 awesome characters. Movie has many hidden morals which all parents should see and apply on their children's so that their children's should not go beyond limits and lose their most amazing age. Creators have really worked very hard to present such topic where a common man just run away or neglect such issue. Director's & Producers should come together again and should raise such issue and show it to world. A must watch movie.

A walk down Memory Lane

[vikasmayekar13 · 8/10 · 29 May 2014]

One of the best movies in Indian Cinema, and I would say a revelation in itself if one is following Marathi Cinema from 1980s or so.

The canvas of the movie which relates to every Maharashtrian lower middle class family. That Denying ignorant attitude of parents, in those days, where forget Sex, even Love was taboo is perfectly portrayed in the movie.

One cannot deny that the movie gets a bit overboard with the character living in the slums and could have been played in a more subtle way. But that would have removed the Fun part of the movie.

Favorite : That Background song Susangati Sada and the Sanpada Scene. The look and feel, and I am not just talking about the cinematography but the overall heart of the movie is in the right place.

Must watch.

A Superb Movie :-)

[aakashjan · 10/10 · 4 January 2013]

A superb movie with a superb story and dialogues. Dedicated to all teenagers but made specially for parents. Specially Chiu's(Bhagyashree Shankpal's) smile will make you die.

Balak Palak provides the space for adolescent adventures but has enough moral fibre to keep the adventures from going haywire. BP is a message movie about the importance of talking to children about the birds-and-bees business that doubles up as a nostalgia piece about a community-based way of life in which experimentation and edification share an address. The Director stays away from double entendre and keeps the movie firmly on a UA-rated course despite the boldness of the subject. The young actors perform their roles admirably, and betray no awkwardness about being avid consumers of adult material.

Awesome Movie

[sachinv-kamble · 10/10 · 8 January 2013]

Brilliant stuff Ravi Jadhav..Congratulations to the complete cast and crew of this movie. Thank You Ritesh D and Uttung Thakur for giving us a delightful, educational and wholesome entertainer. The direction is flawless as usual from Ravi Jadhav and the Music by Vishal Shekhar is awesome, specially Haravli Pakhre and Kalla very well pictured and choreographed. This is by far the best movie of the year so far and one of the best Marathi movies in the recent past. A must watch for each and every individual. Ritesh, please continue producing such good movies. I love the character Vishnu and Cheu they are simply the best. Would love to see this movie made in Hindi and other languages since this is a universal subject. All the best and god bless.

Fantastic movie ! One can watch with the whole family. Don't miss this one !

[kokanekaustubh · 10/10 · 10 January 2013]

Fantastic movie! One can watch with the whole family...1st half is full blown laughter and 'excitement' and second half is equally serious.

When we were school kids (which was just 7 years ago), schools used to arrange special shows of movies like 'Veer Savarkar' for us. I think time has come that BP be shown to school-kids at concessional rates.

But there's a flip side to this. Real 'innocent' kids (hard to find these days) will get idea of how to get 'things', which is not what the movie aims to show.

Critital mentions-

Excellent handling by the director and outstanding cinematography. It's only the second movie after Vicky Donor that has lived up to the standard expected when you're handling such sensitive subjects

Enjoyable, thoroughly! Don't miss this one

Awesome...MUST WATCH Movie

[esudip · 10/10 · 11 January 2013]

The movies is too good..the Acting,Dialauge,camera and Music is excellent. All actors done fantastic job but the actor who plays Character of 'Vishu' is fantastic. Vishal-Shekhar rocks the Stage. Overall Thanks Ravi and all team for this wonderful experience It is Loads of laughter.....a good story....awesome cinematography.... A complete entertainer....awesome acting by all young actors.... nice direction by ravi and good production values by ritesh deshmukh......hats off to team BP..... going to be blockbuster....... The music played from Vishal-Shekhar is Awesome. They even didn't speak Marathi but they sing Marathi songs very well, the Music you definitely Love.

childhood discovery of sex through adult paperback novels

[mayoorshetty · 27 February 2013]

Ravi Jadhav'sd Marathi BP or BALAK PALAK (the long title is a sort of slang, and BP stands for Blueprints, i.e. dirty movies) is to the contrary fairly understated, about a childhood discovery of sex through adult paperback novels and 'A' or more-rated films. The five children involved are not clones of one another, and it turns out that their 'uncle' knows more about teaching them sex education than do their parents. A charming comedy of the MURMUR OF THE HEART variety, but including girls, it begins and ends with one of the couples grownup and trying to figure out how to deal with the sex education of their son: the temptations today are greater -- not just videotapes and illustrated paperbacks, but the internet and beyond.

Every child and parent must peep into this one

[anand-rb · 7/10 · 11 January 2015]

Congratulations on venturing into such a tricky topic of child growth which bothers every child and their parents alike and handling it with such grace and beauty.

Being in my early 30's the period used in your film seems almost close to my time of adolescence and I feel my life would have been different if i had a support system to help me through that phase of my life.

I had developed a complex based upon my exposure and excessive curiosity at that age and i believe it had changed my way of being. i still don't yet have the answers to the questions that a child faces, that i had faced at that point.

Unfortunately i feel that the end left me unsatisfied and that it should have had dealt with the dilemma of this condition in a little more depth.

Yet i thoroughly enjoyed the film and will take away quite a few pointers for parenting as the film is full of sensitively handled scenes.

I am going to watch it a several times not just as the parent but also as the child.

Must watch

[anreview123 · 10/10 · 23 January 2013]

Marathi movies racing new, uncharted territory, but no film has been involved in of Balak PALAK territory, and no film to deal with this problem so delicately, a touch of humor.

Ravi Jadhav, who Natarang vibrant and rich, but a profound impression Balagandharva into a new style with BP and success. It is not easy to extract great performances of the child actors in this bold and serious issue, to make a humorous film. Actor, they are talented.

In fact, the kids watch BP (blue image), Susangati: the Sada Ghado (a poem often sung prayer at school assemblies), is a stroke of brilliance and summarize the seriousness of parents said their children.

Take a bow, team BP. You have to do the artist, to leave the audience a strong message. Expected first Marathi movie of the year has already become established in 2013.

The Balak PALAK (Marathi) - one must watch to parents

Awesome !!!

[sourish-561987 · 9/10 · 9 April 2020]

This movie is literally a revolution in our film industry, no one has dared to take such topic on screen and run for an hour and half. I don't know about anyone but this movie has definitely made me think on approaching towards our kids on such sensitive topic.

Do not watch the movie with kids, there is nothing to learn from it about parenting young kids!

[shree-citizen · 5/10 · 6 January 2014]

With a lot of high expectation (because of all the promotions and hype) me and my wife waited for this movie and watched it on TV at home. But, it was a total disaster! The movie shows all the wrong acts all through the movie, and just one shot about "correct" way to understand a few aspects that teenagers need to know. Alas, if the duration was reversed for the two parts, the movie would have been at least good!! It amazes me that the kids in the movie learn all the wrong things, in front of their parents. There is no "good and mature" person that they can turn to for proper information. All the wrong activities are promoted like watching a bad film, lying, renting a video player, misuse of friend's place, reading dirty books….none of this suitable at this age, contrary to the preaching by the movie makers. We felt relieved that we did not watch it with our 14 year old son! It would be a shame to watch the movie with kids….if they don't know about some bad things, they will get to know and it will raise their curiosity! So don't even mention this movie to your kids, just ignore this movie please.

Curiosity of kids; patience of parents

[gaurav-manojpatel · 8/10 · 22 April 2013]

Nicely portrayed the delicate issue of advising today's parent handle issues related to sex education in a more transparent way in order to help their children distinguish between Lust and Love. This is a must watch movie for all parents.

The dram entangles typical middle class families of India who are busy in achieving the comfort for their children; but at the same time they are not able to spend time with them. Kids who have many question related to life (read SEX) falls prey to company that will lead them to an unguided path. All four kids portrayed their character beautifully. Their innocence and curiosity to know what their elder sister (neighbor) has done so as to bring disgrace to their family. Their path to find the answer and some awkward situation with their parents when asked very sensitive question are fun filled. A must watch for all....

A story of four teenagers dealing with the adulthood!

[akshay_bhargava · 8/10 · 24 June 2013]

It's a story of four teenagers, a Chandal Choukadi, who are innocent and enjoy their day to day life. Everything is fine until a girl was thrown out of her house for a 'misdeed'. Then their search begins what was her misdeed and why it is a misdeed.

During this journey they take help of a guy who is well known for having the knowledge of such misdeeds. This guy becomes their teacher. He tells them about the misdeeds and with that the background of it. Right from the beginning!

This movie forces us to think about the current situation of sex education in India, where teenagers hardly get pure sex education and the curiosity of it forces them to watch porn movies where this purity gets adulterated.

Though it is said the movie can be seen with the parents, it's not true. There will always be some kind of awkwardness if teenagers watch this movie with their parents. I will suggests the parents and teenagers should watch this movie not together but separately. This will give them a space to think about where they find themselves in this movie. Otherwise this space will be taken by the awkwardness.

A nice movie to watch. Totally worth!