By virtue of being the intense audio-visual medium that cinema is, there are always certain emotions and situations that are bound to make some sort of a dent in your heart, no matter what the final cinematic outcome of it is. So, bitter feuds between best friends, unrequited love and the ilk will always have some effect during the few hours in which the only thing in your field of vision is the cinema screen.

Aditya Sarpotdar’s Satrangi Re is a film that has these moments in abundance, by virtue of which the film is never totally unwatchable. However, the film rarely manages to rise above the rather persistent mediocrity in its screenplay. That combined with a rather wishful but generic directorial effort mean that Satrangi Re settles into being just a lazy weekend watch on the telly, nothing more.

Set in Goa, Satrangi Re is essentially a rehash of Rock On. Rego, Yezdi, Nick and Jai form ‘Goonj’, a promising local band that aspires to make it big on the national scene. On the side, three of the four are also final year engineering students. Each of them has their own set of problems that stem from their respective social and financial backgrounds, apart from the obvious problems that aspiring musicians as well as engineering students would face.

With an unforgivable runtime of about two and three-quarters of an hour, the film is easily about 30 minutes too long for its own good. While Adinath Kothare as Rego is clearly the focal point of the story, each of the four lead characters actually gets ample footage, with a bit more detail into their backstory than the audience usually bargains for.

One must confess that there are a number of scenes in the film which audiences would be able to connect with. The frustration faced by parents when their son doesn’t appreciate the sacrifices made by them for his education, the plight of the son in turn, who isn’t able to impress upon his parents what his true calling in life is – these recur in the film in some form or the other for all of the lead characters. However, these scenes deserved to have been treated with far more precision, to be able to stay with the audience hours after the film is over.

Senior actors Vidyadhar Joshi and Uday Tikekar, who play Rego’s and Jai’s fathers respectively, are the picks of the cast. The four main leads themselves are fairly easy on the senses, if a little too typical in terms of their look and attitude. Amruta Khanvilkar as the vivacious RJ Alisha looks pretty as usual and for a change plays a character that suits her.

One of the biggest letdowns of the film is the music. As is the case with most Marathi films, the music is pleasant. But for a film where music is almost another character, the film deserved memorable music.

Satrangi Re has an energetic, youthful feel throughout because of the manner in which it is shot. Goa’s beauty is captured well, though it would have been so much better if some of Goa’s character and personality were captured as well.

Ultimately, Satrangi Re appeals only in spurts. When one walks away from the film, the feeling one gets is that director Aditya Sarpotdar obviously wants to be. But it will be at least a few more films before he actually is.

This review is by guest reviewer Pradeep Menon. Pradeep is a filmmaker and a dreamer. He loves books, rain, winters, tea and his parents. Cinema, however, is the only truth he believes in. He breathes and bleeds film, mostly in hues of saffron, white, green and blue. You can watch his short films at www.youtube.com/cyberpradeep.