Maruti Mera Dosst
Cast: Ritika Shrivastava, Erik A Nanda, Suhmita Mukherji, Chandrachur Singh, Murli Sharma
Direction: Manikya Raju
Rating: 1/2 *
This one’s so outdated that it takes you back decades, so regressive that you wonder how such a storyline got written for young minds, and so amateurish that even the kids might protest.
So you have a cloyingly sweet young boy Maruti (Erik A Nanda), who spouts Sanskrit aphorisms. A lonely little girl Rameshwari (Ritika Shrivastava), who’s lost her mother and is a die-hard Hanuman bhakt. A wicked old witch Kokoi (Sushmita Mukherjee in overdrive) who snarls, growls, screeches and plots to bump off both kids. A tantrik called Bhakshu (Murli Sharma) who conjures up hairy beasts and demons. And a rich, kind and loving father Kunwar Raghavendra Singh (Chandrachur Singh) who leaves Rameshwari, his only child, unattended and to her own devices all day.
She is so neglected, in fact, that Hanuman decides to come down to earth as wonder-boy Maruti to protect her. Many fight-scenes, miracles, howling demons and much tacky animation later, the evil forces are vanquished, of course.