Mihir Bhanage, TNN, Mar 24, 2018, 02.17 PM ISTCritic's Rating: 1.5Plot: Four well-qualified youngsters reach Mumbai to find employment. Despite repeated attempts, they face failure until one day, when a chance experience changes their lives forever.
Review: In the fast-paced world of today where everyone is busy with work, relationships have taken a backseat. But have we become so careless about our families that we wouldn’t attend a funeral, with the excuse of work? Well, at least this film’s makers think so.
As mentioned earlier, Jaga Vegli Antyatra begins with four youngsters (Kadam, Purohit, Gore and Bhabal) reaching Mumbai in search of jobs. However, they go bankrupt due to unemployment. Just when they are contemplating going back to their respective towns, Dinu Kaka (Bhau Kadam), who runs a canteen and is the youngsters’ go-to person in case of problems, asks them if they would double up as fake relatives at a funeral. Hoping they would at least get paid here, the four agree. Their fortunes do a turn around when the family pays them Rs 10 lakh. Also, this gives them an idea (one that changes their lives). They decide to start an online portal called Antayatra.com which is like a one-stop solution for all funeral needs.
The makers’ aim perhaps was to draw attention to the fading relations, through a comedy. However, they fail to achieve that because Jaga Vegli Antyatra turns out to be a desperate attempt and a pathetic comedy. First of all, the focus is unclear. Is the film about parental pressure and expectations, one’s ambitions, love or just a moral lesson about family values? Well, it’s a mishmash of all these things and more. There’s even a goon involved who one of the four guys gets into a tussle with and this adds another angle to the story.
The film is not great in terms of performances either. Seasoned actors like Abhyankar, Kadam and Rajan Bhise are wasted while the newcomers need to take acting lessons.
All in all, for a weekend watch, there are better films than this one.