Ashi Hi Banwa Banwi
DVD cover
Marathi	अशी ही बनवाबनवी
Directed by	Sachin Pilgaonkar
Written by	Vasant Sabnis
Based on	Biwi Aur Makan (1966) by Hrishikesh Mukherjee
Produced by	Kiran Shantaram
Starring	Ashok Saraf Sachin Pilgaonkar Laxmikant Berde Siddharth Ray Ashwini Bhave Supriya Pilgaonkar Priya Arun Nivedita Joshi Nayantara Viju Khote Sudhir Joshi
Cinematography	Ram Allam[1]
Edited by	Avinash Thakur Chintu Dhavale
Music by	Arun Paudwal
Production company	V. Shantaram Productions
Release date	23 September 1988 (Maharashtra)
Running time	156 minutes
Country	India
Language	Marathi
Box office	₹3 crore[2]

Ashi Hi Banwa Banwi (transl. This Is Being Street–Smart) is a 1988 Indian Marathi-language comedy buddy film directed by Sachin Pilgaonkar and produced by Kiran Shantaram under the production banner of V. Shantaram Productions. Released in Maharashtra on 23 September 1988 and now considered to be a cult film in Marathi cinema, the film stars an ensemble cast of Ashok Saraf, Sachin Pilgaonkar, Laxmikant Berde, Siddharth Ray, Ashwini Bhave, Supriya Pilgaonkar, Priya Arun, Nivedita Joshi, Nayantara, Viju Khote and Sudhir Joshi.^[3] The film borrows the basic plot from the Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Biwi Aur Makan (1966) which was based on the Bengali film Joy Maa Kali Boarding, and was remade in Kannada as Olu Saar Bari Olu (2003), in Hindi as Paying Guests (2009), in Punjabi as Mr & Mrs 420 (2014) and in Bengali as Jio Pagla (2017). The film was also an inspiration for the 1991 Telugu film Chitram Bhalare Vichitram, which was remade in Kannada as Bombat Hendthi (1992) and in Tamil as Aanazhagan (1995). ^[4][5][6]

Plot

Dhananjay Mane (Ashok Saraf) is a street-smart salesman in a cosmetics store in Pune and is secretly in love with his employer named Madhuri (Ashwini Bhave). He is the sole tenant of a stingy landlord named Mr. Vishwasrao Sarpotdar (Sudhir Joshi) and his wife named Mrs. Sarpotdar (Lata Thatte). Dhananjay is soon joined in Pune by his younger brother named Shantanu (Siddharth Ray), who is a medical student from Miraj, and though prohibited by Mr. Sarpotdar, Dhananjay and Shantanu allow their childhood friends named Sudhir (Sachin Pilgaonkar) and Parshuram (Laxmikant Berde), who is also known as Parshya, to secretly live with them since they have both come to Pune from Kolhapur in search of jobs. Sudhir has been miserably disowned by his old abusive uncle (Suhas Bhalekar) for his negligence towards job and income and participation in the typical village dance programs out of interest. Meanwhile, Parshya worked as a domestic worker for Chhaburao (Jairam Kulkarni), a theatre contractor, who fired him from his job after he discovered that Parshya is in love with his daughter named Kamli (Priya Arun). One midnight, Dhananjay, Sudhir and Parshya insult Mr. and Mrs. Sarpotdar in a drunken state and are taken away from his house by Shantanu who arrives at the scene a little late. Enraged by the harassment and deceit, Mr. Sarpotdar angrily storms into the room of the four friends the next day and orders them all to vacate the place within four days.

After several unsuccessful attempts in finding rented accommodation, Dhananjay and Shantanu finally reach the bungalow of a rich, old, kind and cataractic widow named Leelabai Kalbhor (Nayantara), who lives with her shrewd domestic worker named Tanu (Gulab Korgaonkar), and is often harassed for her property by her estranged nephew named Bali (Viju Khote). She is willing to rent some rooms in her bungalow provided that her tenants are married couples. In an attempt to comply with Leelabai's condition, Dhananjay and Shantanu have no other option but to force Sudhir and Parshya to dress as women and thus begins the comedy of errors. Parshya shaves off his moustache and transforms himself into "Parvati", Dhananjay's wife, while Sudhir transforms himself into "Sudha", Shantanu's wife. Shortly after the arrival of the four friends at Leelabai's bungalow as "married couples", Leelabai's niece named Manisha (Supriya Pilgaonkar) and her childhood friend named Sushma (Nivedita Joshi), who is coincidentally Shantanu's girlfriend from Miraj, also arrive to stay with Leelabai for some months.

Sudhir, now a successful singer and music educator, falls in love with Manisha and courts her in his original form, stating that he is the twin brother of Sudha and that he had disapproved of her marriage with Shantanu and is thus not on talking terms with them both. On the other hand, Shantanu, having passed to become a successful doctor, narrates a fake story of the deadly stomach cancer of Sudha in front of Sushma since she is deeply upset at his betrayal with her and his marriage with Sudha. Elsewhere, Parshya reunites with Kamli when she comes to Pune with Chhaburao's theatre troupe and also shares the news of Parshya having become a successful playwright back in Kolhapur. Meanwhile, Madhuri is heartbroken to see Dhananjay married with Parvati during her visit at Leelabai's bungalow, but Dhananjay confides the truth in Madhuri through a letter and the two confess their love for each other. While the four friends develop a bond of motherly love with Leelabai, Tanu reveals Parvati and Sudha's identities to Bali after she notices Parshya's wig and Sudhir wearing earrings while jumping out from the bungalow window in his original form and the two plan to teach the four friends a lesson.

Eventually, the four friends decide to leave Leelabai's bungalow after finding a new accommodation with the help of Madhuri and stage a drama in front of Leelabai for their way out. However, in the process, the four friends are unfortunately attacked and exposed by Bali and his henchmen in front of Leelabai, Manisha and Sushma, and are handed over to the police brought in by Tanu. However, at the police station, Leelabai surprisingly disowns Bali as her nephew and absolves the four friends of their deceit instead since she feels from the bottom of her heart that they cheated on her out of their desperate need for a roof over their heads. She also accepts the truth that their intention was not to steal from her or take advantage of her cataract and only treated her like their own mother. Hence, Leelabai decides to take the four friends in as her own sons with the collective marriage of Dhananjay and Madhuri, Sudhir and Manisha, Parshya and Kamli, and Shantanu and Sushma. The film ends with the all four newlywed couples taking a family photograph along with Leelabai.

Cast

• Ashok Saraf as Dhananjay Mane
• Sachin Pilgaonkar as Sudhir / Sudha Mane (fake)
• Laxmikant Berde as Parshuram (a.k.a. Parshya) / Parvati Mane (fake)
• Siddharth Ray as Shantanu Mane
• Ashwini Bhave as Madhuri
• Supriya Pilgaonkar as Manisha
• Priya Arun as Kamli
• Nivedita Joshi as Sushma
• Nayantara as Leelabai Kalbhor (landlady)
• Viju Khote as Bali Kalbhor (Leelabai's estranged nephew)
• Sudhir Joshi as Mr. Vishwasrao Sarpotdar (landlord)
• Lata Thatte as Mrs. Sarpotdar (Mr. Sarpotdar's wife)
• Gulab Korgaonkar as Tanu (Leelabai's shrewd domestic worker)
• Jairam Kulkarni as Chhaburao (Kamli's father)

Production

Soundtrack

The lyrics were penned by Shantaram Nandgaonkar and Sudhir Moghe. The song Hridayi Vasant Phultana was sung by Anuradha Paudwal, Suresh Wadkar, Sudesh Bhosale, Uttara Kelkar, Shailendra Singh, Amit Kumar, Suhasini, Aparna Mayekar and Sachin Pilgaonkar.^[10]

References

External links

• Ashi Hi Banwa Banwi at IMDb