Bali 2021 Marathi Movie Review

**Spoilers

If there is one thing that we are all preoccupied with these last three years, it is the concerns of health and integrity of the medical field. While we extended our salutes to frontline workers, our doctors and nurses, we have wondered how all of this meant a large profit for the pharma industry. This is the premise of the Marathi movie Bali starring the versatile actor Swapnil Joshi, Pooja Sawant, and a young talent, Samarth Jadhav. The movie is directed by Vishal Furia. 

A recently widowed, Shrikant, is living a life  of simplicity and nostalgia with his son, Mandar. Their life comes to a pause when a healthy, cricket-playing Mandar is detected with Cancer.

The movie takes place in a modern hospital which is juxtaposed against a stately colonial hospital building which is no longer in use. The small, dimly lit hospital room where Mandar is admitted manages to capture the sense of claustrophobia that we all felt so deeply during the Corona pandemic. The older stone building is a representation of the nobler (older?) side of the medical profession which values patient's health and well being over profit.

The people who crowd this world are the doctors and the hospital staff who speak with professional friendliness that we have come to expect in urban settings. They also express their philanthropic side in wanting to fund the expenses for the treatments of their patients. However, just like everyone else Shrikant seems lost in the unknown language of medical jargon that is thrown at him by people in white coats and stoic faces. It is a struggle we all know too well when we try to understand in a cryptic language what our bodies might be going through. 

In all this, he feels that his son is being drawn to death when he speaks to his dead friend,  Bhaskar, and some nurse called Elizabeth. While the hospital denies any conspiracy calling their visions "Shared Psychosis," Shrikant decides to follow his instinct and get to the root of the matter. Elizabeth helps them discover a pattern of mis-diagnosis and fake treatments that the doctors have been running for a long time. Even the crowdfunding money is pocketed by them. 

If you are wondering who the "bali" or the sacrifice, is in all this, it is the countless people who have suffered a loss like this, people who lost their kin and many who probably are not even aware of the injustice they have suffered. Although Elizabeth's haunting does not last long, the question the movie raises, do. This is an apt time to discuss these universal issues the movie puts a spotlight on, the need for transparency in the field of medicine, right from giving us a clear understanding of how the prescribed medicines affect us in the long term, and ultimately on how to maintain a holistic approach towards health. 

Swapnil has been a much appreciated actor whose evolution we have all watched and applauded, right from his popular romantic movies like Mumbai Pune Mumbai, to the youthful Duniyadari, amongst many. It is great to see him take on darker roles in Samantar, and here in Bali. It is perhaps the sign of the times that we live in when we seek solace in horror and violence. Pooja Sawant's Radhika plays her grey shades with ease. Samarth Jadhav as Mandar is a natural actor, also praise to the kid who plays Bhaskar. A quick paced, haunting movie with a social message, worth a watch and more!