Marathi's mysterious posters of 2015

The Marathi industry, apart from stressing on content-driven films, is swiftly identifying the need of making a powerful first impression on the audience. And in doing so, a lot of attention is being paid to coming up with intriguing first look posters of the films. Not only have these posters been successful in creating a buzz about the films but due to the mystery being kept intact, the amount of curiosity among viewers is high as well. Here are some of the recently released first looks and the idea behind them.

TP2
A lot of time has passed and Dagdu and Prajakta are now grown ups in love. But which actors play the grown up lovers is still a secret, thanks to director Ravi Jadhav’s clever poster which has the actors’ faces covered. “We wanted to retain that secret to create curiosity,” said Jadhav. Commenting on the rise of such posters in the Marathi cinema, he added, “Nowadays filmmakers prefer using content-oriented posters rather than actor-oriented ones. But in the end it depends on what your film’s subject is. Featuring the cast on the poster in case of multi-starrer comedy films might work well but otherwise the drift is more towards using elements from the film on the poster to create a buzz. Also colours play an important role. We used lot of bright colours in the 'TP2' poster as the film is about youth and love.”

Shutter
In case of 'Shutter', the Marathi remake of a Malayalam film by the same name, the poster does not relate to the plot of the film, admits director VK Prakash. Shutter’s first look has lead actor Sonalee’s back facing the camera as she sensuously lies down in a side pose. Prakash confesses that the poster is just a publicity gimmick. He said, “The poster has nothing to do with the storyline, which is a situational drama. We wanted to take people into a world of fantasies with the poster in order to urge them to go and watch the film. To give the poster an aesthetic touch we used a painting-like texture in it.” The film has Sonalee essaying the role of a prostitute and also features Sachin Khedekar and Amey Wagh in important roles.

Maya
The poster of 'Maya' is again a rear shot of an actress wearing a gown and posing with a model-like stance. The tagline of the thriller reads ‘Her countdown has begun for a Bloody New Year’ and goes in sync with the bold red gown of the actress on the poster. Director of the film, Prasad Tarkar, said, “My film is a murder mystery weaved around the life of a supermodel. So the poster design had to have a mystic touch. We have decided to let out more details about the lead actress with every new poster of the film to increase the curiosity among the audience. Her identity will only be revealed during the release of the film in May.” The next poster of the film will come out on January 26.

Ek Hota Kau (Bioscope)
Viju Mane’s film is among the four films that make Bioscope. 'Ek Hota Kau’s' poster has a photo of actor Kushal Badrike watching the sea as rain lashes on his umbrella and has been clicked from behind the actor. According to Mane, the poster happened by chance. “The photo was clicked randomly when Kushal rushed to watch the sea and it suddenly started raining on the sets. It came out so well that director Ravi (Jadhav, who is one of the directors of Bioscope), decided to use this as the poster,” informed Mane. He added, “Earlier filmmakers would use actors’ pictures on their posters to reveal the starcast. Now, with changing storylines the posters are also changing and I support this trend. Another advantage of these posters is that they keep ego clashes among actors at bay.”

Classmates
The first look of director Aditya Sarpotdar’s 'Classmates', which is the remake of a Tamil film, showed a rear view of a group of friends wearing colourful attires and sitting on benches. Aditya said, “We brainstormed on how we should reveal the first look and Ravi (Jadhav), who is the publicity designer, suggested that we simply use a lot of bright colours as the film is about youth and college life. We also highlighted the complete set of actors rather than individuals as the storyline revolves around a group of college students. With a global audience, it is better to keep it simple than making the poster look cluttered.” Aditya added that they also considered the release date of the while making the poster as three heroic films – 'Lokmanya', 'Balkadu' and 'Baji' – release around the same time and the makers wanted their “design to stand out”.

Balkadu
When making a film about the ideologies of someone as popular as Balasaheb Thackeray, one just needs a hint to know about the subject. That is precisely what 'Balkadu' director Atul Kale did. The first poster of the film has a silhouette of Thackeray and rudraksh beads. “My film is based on Balasaheb’s ideologies and due to his larger-than-life image, using his picture along with the other cast members would have looked out of place on the poster. Also the rudraksh beads are significant to Balasaheb’s personality,” said Kale. He added, “We have an intelligent audience watching our movies today, unlike earlier. So directors are giving an extra thought while creating their first posters. We have seen it happening in Bollywood. Watching this happen in the Marathi industry is a welcome change.”

Lokmanya - Ek Yugpurush
Much like 'Balkadu', which had Bal Thackeray’s silhouette and the trademark rudraksh beads on it, director Om Raut too went for Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s trademark Puneri pagdi, moustache and walking stick for the first poster. The first release of the year, 'Lokmanya – Ek Yugpurush', created a lot of flutter among cinema-goers with its poster.“When you think of Tilak, there are some objects that come to the mind which are significant to his image and this is the case with many other historical figures. We decided to use the pagdi, stick and moustache in the poster as our intent was to make the audience aware of the nuances of his personality rather than simply garnering attention.” Raut added that the need of catering to a younger audience was also one of the inspirations behind the poster. “Due to the seriousness of the subject we were concerned about its reach among the audience. But after we released the poster online, it went viral and took the film on a different level altogether.”