Eka Peksha Ek

Eka Peksha Ek एका पेक्षा एक
Directed by	Sachin Pilgaonkar
Produced by	Satish Kulkarni
Written by	Sachin Pilgaonkar Vasant Sabnis
Starring	Ashok Saraf Sachin Pilgaonkar Laxmikant Berde Archana Joglekar Sukanya Kulkarni Mone Kuldeep Pawar Ajit Vachani Ashok Shinde Nishigandha Wad Madhukar Toradmal Ashalata Wabgaonkar
Music by	Arun Paudwal
Production company	Shree Tulsi Productions
Release date	1990
Country	India
Language	Marathi

Eka Peksha Ek (Devanagari: एका पेक्षा एक; translation: One Is Better Than The Other) is a 1990 Indian Marathi-language action comedy thriller film written and directed by Sachin Pilgaonkar, co-written by Vasant Sabnis and produced by Satish Kulkarni under the production banner of Shree Tulsi Productions. The film stars an ensemble cast of Ashok Saraf, Sachin Pilgaonkar, Laxmikant Berde, Archana Joglekar, Sukanya Kulkarni Mone, Kuldeep Pawar, Ajit Vachani, Ashok Shinde, Nishigandha Wad, Madhukar Toradmal and Ashalata Wabgaonkar. The music is composed by Arun Paudwal. The film is adapted from Arthur Hiller's 1989 American comedy film See No Evil, Hear No Evil which was also the inspiration for Hindi films Hum Hain Kamaal Ke (1993) and Pyare Mohan (2006), Tamil film Andipatti Arasampatti (2002) and Kannada films Akka Pakka (2013) and Baduku Jataka Bandi (1997).

Plot

Bhanudas Mahimkar (Sachin Pilgaonkar), a blind man, and Kalyan Nashikkar (Laxmikant Berde), a deaf man, meet when Bhanudas applies for a job in Kalyan's footwear shop. Kalyan is skilled in lip reading despite his hearing impairment, and is in a relationship with Manda (Sukanya Kulkarni Mone), who eventually turns out to be Bhanudas' younger sister. After a brief period of confusion and antagonism, Bhanudas and Kalyan become good friends at a local bar when Bhanudas defeats an aggressive bully in a fistfight with assistance from Kalyan, who uses clock-face directions to tell Bhanudas where his opponent is. Subsequently, Bhanudas agrees to give Manda's hand in marriage to Kalyan, who then hires Bhanudas at his shop as his assistant.

One morning, as Bhanudas leaves his shoes inside the shop and waits outside for a delivery, he bumps into a beautiful, young girl named Sona (Archana Joglekar) and gets the smell of her perfume. Meanwhile, a mysterious man named Vijaykumar (Ashok Shinde) walks into the shop and quickly wears Bhanudas' shoes when he is approached by Sona and her accomplice named Pandhari (Kuldeep Pawar). Pandhari mysteriously ends up shooting Vijaykumar in the stomach fatally and escapes from the shop, while Kalyan is busy searching for various types of shoes with his back turned. Kalyan does not witness the murder but notices Sona's legs as she walks out of the shop with the shoes worn by Vijaykumar. Bhanudas, who heard the gunshot, walks into the shop and trips over Vijaykumar's dead body. Kalyan then rushes to help Bhanudas and picks up the gun which Pandhari had left behind. When the police arrive at the crime scene, they discover Bhanudas and Kalyan next to Vijaykumar's dead body with Kalyan holding the gun and believe them both to have committed the murder, resulting in the duo being arrested by the police after Bhanudas inadvertently wears Vijaykumar's shoes.

At the police station, Bhanudas and Kalyan are interrogated by Inspector Sarjerao Shinde (Ashok Saraf), a local police officer, who takes an instant dislike to them both and makes them his prime suspects due to their relative uselessness as witnesses. Meanwhile, Sona and Pandhari disguise themselves as lawyers and visit Bhanudas and Kalyan at the police station in hopes of recovering the shoes. Bhanudas identifies the smell of Sona's perfume while Kalyan identifies her legs, but Sarjerao ignores them both when they insist that Sona and Pandhari are the real killers. In an attempt to avoid the criminals, Bhanudas and Kalyan manage to escape from the police station in the crowd of a public protest, but are soon discovered by Sona and Pandhari on the streets. When Pandhari attempts to kill them, the duo uses the fistfighting method they had learned in the bar to knock him unconscious. Bhanudas and Kalyan then steal Sarjerao's unattended police jeep on a street and are pursued by Sarjerao, Sona and Pandhari. Working together to guide the police jeep, the duo successfully evades both the police and the criminals and accidentally has the jeep overturned in the middle of the street.

Later, Bhanudas and Kalyan telephone Manda for help and secretly return to Bhanudas' residence. Sarjerao and the police follow Manda and search Bhanudas' residence, but Bhanudas, Kalyan and Manda avoid detection, and escape to a refuge house after Sarjerao and the police drive away. Meanwhile, Pandhari's employer, Jhunjaar (Ajit Vachani), who is a powerful crime lord, orders Pandhari to kill Sona due to her unsuccessful attempt in recovering the shoes and the fear of her betrayal towards them in future. Acting upon Jhunjaar's orders, Pandhari takes Sona to a secluded place and attempts to kill her in the middle of the night, but Bhanudas and Kalyan inadvertently rescue Sona from Pandhari and bring her to their refuge house safely on humanitarian grounds. As a result, a remorseful Sona apologises to Bhanudas and Kalyan for her misdeeds and becomes friends with them, with the resolve to abandon her life in the underworld and help them prove their innocence. In the parallel plot, Sarjerao is married to Anuradha (Nishigandha Wad) against the wishes of ACP Vishwas Sarpotdar (Madhukar Toradmal), his father-in-law and senior officer, although his mother-in-law (Ashalata Wabgaonkar) is on talking terms with him and Anuradha, who soon becomes pregnant with his child.

However, things take a drastic turn when Sarjerao spots Kalyan in a movie theatre with Manda and pursues him until Kalyan hides in a local hospital. Bhanudas and Sona, searching for Kalyan, reunite with him in the hospital but the commotion leads Pandhari to target the trio. Although Manda cleverly saves the trio from Pandhari's clutches, Jhunjaar retaliates by arranging Pandhari to kidnap Manda and imprison her at his mansion. To make matters worse, the trio is tracked down and arrested by Sarjerao, but they plead him to release them so that Manda's life can be saved. On humanitarian grounds, Sarjerao temporarily releases Bhanudas and Kalyan on condition that Sona will be held hostage at the police station by the time of their return. Bhanudas and Kalyan then place their rescue plan into action at Pandhari's mansion, with the result that Manda escapes but the duo is captured by Pandhari and brought in front of Jhunjaar at his mansion.

Jhunjaar, who also turns out to be blind, confesses at this point that the shoes worn by Bhanudas contain a photographic film of the secret plan of the Government of India, which was stolen by Vijaykumar in a deal struck with Jhunjaar. However, Vijaykumar refused to hand over the film to Jhunjaar on being offered a very less sum of money in exchange, causing Jhunjaar to have Pandhari kill Vijaykumar to obtain the film from his shoes. Following this revelation, Pandhari gains the possession of Bhanudas' shoes and searches for the film, only to be shocked to discover the shoes empty. With the help of Sona, Sarjerao arrives at Jhunjaar's mansion and tricks him into believing that Pandhari has betrayed him. After a showdown between the heroes and the villains, Sarjerao reveals that Sona had already handed over the film from Vijaykumar's shoes to him, and was therefore declared as an official informant by the government with a reward. Finally, Sarjerao arrests Jhunjaar and Pandhari for their crimes and clears Bhanudas, Kalyan and Sona of all charges. The film ends with Sarjerao and his wife being blessed with a baby girl I the presence of Sarjerao's mother-in-law, and his father-in-law taking her away from the hospital by stating "तू माझी मुलगी पळवलीस, आता मी तुझी मुलगी पळवतो!" ("You took away my daughter, so now I am taking away yours!")

Cast

• Ashok Saraf as Inspector Sarjerao Shinde
• Sachin Pilgaonkar as Bhanudas Mahimkar
• Laxmikant Berde as Kalyan Nashikkar
• Archana Joglekar as Sona
• Sukanya Kulkarni Mone as Manda Mahimkar
• Kuldeep Pawar as Pandhari (Sona's former accomplice)
• Ajit Vachani as Jhunjaar (Pandhari's employer)
• Ashok Shinde as Vijaykumar (Jhunjaar's former rival)
• Nishigandha Wad as Anuradha Sarpotdar Shinde (Sarjerao's wife)
• Madhukar Toradmal as ACP Vishwas Sarpotdar (Anuradha's father and Sarjerao's father-in-law)
• Ashalata Wabgaonkar as Mrs. Sarpotdar (Anuradha's mother and Sarjerao's mother-in-law)
• Jairam Kulkarni as Commissioner Ramdas Phutane
• Ajay Wadhavkar as Constable Shivram
• Bipin Varti as Photographer (Cameo Appearance)
• Madhu Apte as Bar Owner (Cameo Appearance)