
“Sardaar tame hukam to karo, hoon ene maari naakhis,” used to threaten a skinny henchman with skinnier cane in his hands – is the faintest memory of Gujarati films I can recollect as a citizen of Gujarat. Hence, while driving towards multiplex to watch a Gujarati film meant battling the Shakespearean dilemma, ‘to watch or not to watch.’The moment we parked the car and paid for the parking ticket, the security guy curiously asked, ‘Gujarati film jovaa aavya chho ne?” (Have you come to watch Gujarati film), we nodded in acquiesce. The gleam of his eyes was perhaps the glimmer of hope that ‘Kevi rite jaish’ directed by Abhishek Jain offers to Gujarati cinema.Right from ‘Narsinh Mehta’ (1932), ‘Akhand Saubhagyavati (starring Asha Parekh), Sonbai...