Laalo: Krishna Sada Sahaayate

Laalo: Krishna Sada Sahaayate Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Reeva Rachh, Karan Joshi, Shruhad Goswami, Mishty Kadecha

Director: Ankit Sakhiya

What’s Good: The core concept and caring execution, and above all, the message that is so vital

What’s Bad: A few loose areas in the narration

Loo Break: Never!

Watch or Not?: Of course, to be one with oneself—a.k.a. the God who is within us all!

Language: Hindi

Available On: Theatrical release

Runtime: 135 Minutes

User Rating:

The story (originally a Gujarati film, now dubbed) is set in Junagadh in Gujarat. Lalji Dhansukh Parmar (Karan Joshi), affectionately addressed as “Laalo,” plies a rickshaw and has married Tulsi (Reeva Rachh), and they have a daughter, Khushi (Mishty Kadecha). They have married against the wishes of their parents, who have cut off all ties with them. When Khushi has an accident and is seriously injured, Lalji takes a huge loan of five lakh rupees for her treatment. When the film begins, an alcohol-addicted Laalo does not have enough money to pay his creditors, including simple expenses like having tea at a stall.

A passenger named Laalo (Shruhad Goswami) once hires him to take a tour of Junagadh. Happy with him, he pays him what Lalji asked for and a bonus. An ecstatic Lalji splurges the money, and that night, he has an altercation with his wife, who is watching him slide consistently from the ideal lover and husband he has been.

When a passenger speaks on his phone about having a lot of money on him and soon alights, Lalji pursues him and finds that he has left the bag in a lonely farmhouse. He follows the man into the farmhouse, and when the man leaves, Lalji finds that he is trapped inside, as it has only one electronically operated door. Days pass without food and even water. Back home, Tulsi feels guilty and files a missing person report with the police. Meanwhile, Lalji suddenly gets a surprise visitor, Laalo, at the farmhouse. And Laalo tells him that he is God.

Laalo: Krishna Sada Sahaayate Movie Review: Script Analysis

Krushansh Vaja, Vicky Poornima, and Ankit Sakhiya pen a script that emanates more from the heart than from a pen or keyboard. The situations between Lalji, Tulsi, and Khushi, with Lalji’s “friends” who encourage him to drink and also be a “mard” (man) and dominate his wife; between the couple and the warm maasi (aunt) who treats the couple like her own; and the interactions between Lalji and Laalo are so fine-tuned that we identify instantly with the lines and the situations.

When Laalo tells Lalji (who continues to be trapped even as they converse with Laalo standing outside the farmhouse!) that he can only be released once he improves his karma (deeds), our heart goes out to Lalji as a man imprisoned and pinned down by his own, very human, helplessness. Lalji is there, and Tulsi is back at home; both rewind to the golden days of their romance, their halcyon early days of marriage, and the birth of the apple of their eyes, Khushi.

There are many more sequences that tug at your heart. Lalji even yearns to go back to their village, Ravni, echoing his desire to reunite with his disapproving father. Tulsi, in turn, implores her estranged parents to help out as Lalji is missing. Through all this, the couple touchingly do not abandon their faith in the Supreme Power. Sadly, we do not come to know who has penned the Hindi dialogues.

Laalo: Krishna Sada Sahaayate Movie Review: Star Performance

Karan Joshi as Lalji is simply outstanding and possesses a magnetic charisma that showcases his potential to be a huge star and a histrionic force. This is his debut film, and his expressions and various moods as shown in diverse sequences (both before he is trapped and during his “incarceration”) show an outstandingly mature artist. He is exceptional in the sequence when he finally gets out of the farmhouse to freedom after days.

Reeva Rachh as Tulsi is excellent, even if a shade melodramatic, but then, that must be the demand of the script as well as the director (who has also co-written the film). Shruhad Goswami, as Laalo, is another asset, though as per his character’s demands, his acting prowess is largely limited to beatific smiles and loving expressions, which he aces. From the rest of the cast, I liked maasi and the cop at the police station. Of course, everyone does their work well, including Lalji’s “friends,” while Anshu Joshi, as Dhansukh Parmar, Lalji’s father, makes a special mark.