On a day in the village of Mangrul, Keshav is going around searching for a cow which was out grazing. This could be a regular village activity, but on this hot day, while resting under a tree on the mound, Lord Dattatrey (Datta) makes a visit in his dreams. Keshav is woken from his sleep and makes a dash to announce this revelation to his village folk. He announces this to everyone he crosses on his way till he visits Bhau, a local politician and his mother’s home.
Later in the night Keshav goes to see Anna, a respectable person from the village, to share this same revelation. Anna, unlike the others is not surprised by the news, but is happy for Keshav and very calmly advises him not to discuss this news with others as this was a matter of faith. But it was already too late. Bhau & Anna, who had been working on a plan to build a hospital in the village had no idea on what the people of Mangrul were inviting their way.
The regional journalist, who had not been getting any news has made a stop in the village and gets briefed by his friends, a bunch of lazy local men who work for Bhau, about Keshav seeing Datta. The news gets published in the newspaper without the permission of Bhau and from there began cheap politics and aspirations of these boys to grow bigger than their leader. Overnight, the revelation of the innocent Keshav had been turned into a demand to have a temple at the spot of the tree on the mound. Then began fund-raising, committe formations and aspirations to setup shops around the temple. In all this two people were merely left as observers, Anna watching the village hospital project getting side-lined and Keshav, who started seeing how superficial faith could mean to his people.
From the start of the film with the opening credits till the very end, you are treated to a craftly made film. Mangrul and its landscape is very well shot and the background score with the hymns just complete it. The film has a huge star-cast – Girish Kulkarni, Nana Patekar, Sonali Kulkarni, Dilip Prabhawalkar, Mohan Agashe and many more, and everyone equally contributes to the film and does justice to their roles.
Though development was the need of the village, in terms of water, roads and a hospital; it got its economy running through faith. The story has several sub-plots covering blind faith, potency of mass mentality, people manipulation, consumerism; all beautifully woven together into a light-hearted, humourous & believable film.
Mehta Kya Kehta? 