Aata Vel Zaali

Aata Vel Zaali is a 2024 Marathi-language psychological drama film written and directed by Ananth Mahadevan and produced by Dinesh Bansal, G. K. Agrawal, and Ananth Mahadevan under Imagine Entertainment and Media, and Ananth Mahadevan Films. The film stars Dilip Prabhavalkar and Rohini Hattangadi in the lead roles. The story of the film is inspired by real-life characters and a true incident, which explores the controversial topic of active euthanasia.

Aata Vel Zaali screened at the Dallas International Film Festival, the Pune International Film Festival, the Rajasthan International Film Festival, the Jagran Film Festival, the 15th Indian Film Festival of Ireland and the LIFE AFTER OIL International Film Festival. The film had its theatrically released on 23 February 2024, along with English subtitles.

Plot
A true story of existential crisis in the life of an elderly couple who feel that they are leading unproductive and obsolete lives and hence seek active euthanasia as an unusual remedy. Shashidhar, a gentleman who has lived happily ever after with his wife Ranjana Lele, wishes to make a dignified, painless exit before two likely calamities could befall them...either be reduced to a vegetative state or live a life deprived of the company of the spouse who might leave first. The film raises several queries that vacillate in the minds of humanity these days. The decision to own one's life and, subsequently, death is quirky and even harbours several moments of dark humour as Shashidhar and Ranjana attempt to convince a disbelieving world of their unorthodox outlook towards life and its reality. Until the universe itself conspires for an unexpected closure.

Cast

 * Dilip Prabhavalkar as Shashidhar Lele
 * Rohini Hattangadi as Ranjana Lele
 * Bhagyashree Limaye as young Ranjana Lele
 * Shivraj Waichal as young Shashidhar Lele
 * Jaywant Wadkar as neighbour
 * Bharat Dabholkar as newspaper editor
 * Abhinav Patekar
 * Guru Thakur as advocate
 * Smita Tambe

Production
National Award winner Ananth Mahadevan has written, directed, co-produced and co-edited the film. Mahadevan wrote the Story and screenplay, and Mahendra Patil is dialogue writer.

The principal photography took place in 2021. The same month, it was confirmed by the director that actor Shivraj Waichal and actress Bhagyashree Limaye will be playing young characters to that of Prabhavalkar and Hattangadi, respectively.

Release and reception
The film was shortlisted among 14 other Indian films to be submitted to the 94th Academy Awards under the category of Best International Film category. However, it was not selected, and the Tamil film Koozhangal, which was selected as the official entry to the award ceremony, was also not nominated. The film had its screenings at the Dallas International Film Festival, the Pune International Film Festival, the Rajasthan International Film Festival, the Jagran Film Festival, the 15th Indian Film Festival of Ireland, the LIFE AFTER OIL International Film Festival and the Indian Film Festival of Houston.

The film was expected to release in theaters in December 2023, but it was postponed to 23 February 2024. The official poster of the film was released on 1 February featuring Prabhavalkar and Hattangadi with an hour glass seen in the title and the passing of the time, along with the tagline, "If you want a happy ending, you must know where to end the story" Subsequently, the 1 minute and 20 second trailer was released on 9 February 2024, captioned, "Why can't we die with dignity?", which attracted audiences. After the trailer launch, dream girl Hema Malini highlighted the importance of this film through a video and wished the team, and also actors Nana Patekar, Suchitra Pillai, Suhasini Mulay, Adil Hussain, Tannishtha Chatterjee and director Abbas-Mustan had also wished the film and appealed viewers to watch the film.

Critical reception
Kalpeshraj Kubal of The Times of India praised for its performance by protagonists, simple and realistic approach, and concluded "Aata Vel Zaali makes you think hard though, not just on the topic it addresses, but also on the life of elderly people in general. For that, the treatment of the film and for the performances, this one is worth a watch" with rating of 3 out of 5 stars. In Maharashtra Times, critic gave 3 stars out of 5 and described the film as "cinema is technologically superior even with limited economic-technical facilities. Due to the fact that there is no over-emotional feeling on the screen, the movie has become like ours" and highlighted the performance, direction, cinematography, background music and the recordist for capturing the subtle sounds of the surroundings. He praised the duo's performances where there is no dialogue in their mouths but, they have achieved exactly the desired result.