Small budget films with big budget item numbers

Makers of small budget Marathi films are playing it smart when it comes to marketing their films. To make up for the limited budgets of their projects, they are spending liberally on item songs to grab maximum number of eyeballs. Keeping in line with their agenda, these songs see the hottest item girls, most popular artists, well known singers, choreographers, music directors and stylists — both from the Marathi industry and outside — being roped in. We list for you a few such examples.

Film: Cappucino
Song: Alifiya Alifiya
Amount spent: Rs 8-10 lakh
Film’s budget: Approx Rs 1.5 crore
This Arabic styled composition sees Manasi Naik aping actresses like Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla, Nargis, Saira Banu etc in a bid to woo Sanjay Narvekar. “As Manasi is shown imitating various actresses, her costumes naturally had to be tailor-made to suit each avatar. Designer Sayali Deshpande created the costumes and even replicated Madhuri’s Ek, Do, Teen ensemble for Manasi,” informed director Shiv Kadam. Siddhesh Pai of Dance India Dance fame was roped in as the choreographer and the song was shot at a wada in Bhor district. Using necessary props, the wada was given an Arabic look and feel. Commenting on the trend, Kadam added, “A musical or emotional appeal works best to catch the audience’s attention. While it is good that Marathi directors are using this gimmick to their advantage but care needs to be taken to ensure that the song does not look patchy.”

Film: Misal Paav
Song: Misal Paav
Amount spent: Rs 10-12 lakh
Film’s budget: Approx Rs 1 crore
Directed and choreographed by popular Bollywood choreographer Chinni Prakash, this song stars actors Anshuman Vichare and Vijay Chavhan, the film’s lead actors playing the mama-bhanja duo. The song has eight international female dancers, dressed in nauvari saris, and 24 Indian dancers grooving with the lead actors. Director Vishwajit Masal said, “As we had an average budget for the film we decided to have one item song that would stand out instead of multiple songs. To ensure a rich look we roped in Prakash. Our song has the signature steps of Shah Rukh Khan’s Lungi dance. It might sound far-fetched but our song was shot before SRK’s. It was because of some issues that we could not release our film earlier.” The song’s music has been crafted by leading Marathi composer Amitraj and extra thought has been given to the costumes. “We have Viju mama (Chavhan) wearing a specially designed plastic costume in one of the sequences,” added Masal.

Film: Laxmi Tuzhyavina
Song: Paruchi Daru
Amount spent: Rs 6-7 lakh
Film’s total budget: Approx Rs 80 lakh
Shot at a lake near Nashik and picturised on Bhojpuri item girl Jyoti Mirke, this song has been composed by Jagdish Patil of the Rickshawallah number fame. To ensure a dramatic entry of the item girl, VFX were used, informed Vishnu Telang, producer of the film. He said, “We wanted to begin the song with Jyoti breaking a glass bottle and emerging from it and for this we had to use VFX. We also used around 100 artists to show the crowd in the backdrop, as the sequence is shown to take place at a busy dhaba.” Patil admits that gaining mass appeal for the film led to the scripting of this song. “Sometimes the recall value of a particular song is much stronger than that of the film and including an item song seemed to be the right choice as it is something that is enjoyed by both the rural as well as urban audiences. Not only did we release the song nine months before the film’s release but also conducted its live performances during festivals in various cities. It certainly helped the film get more publicity and worked in our favour.”

Film: Zentalman
Song: Mi Albeli Chanchal Chori
Amount spent: Rs 4-5 lakh
Film’s total budget: Approx Rs 80 lakh
Crooned by Bollywood singer Neha Kakkar, this song was choreographed by Phulwa Khamkar who gave Sonalee and Amruta Khanvilkar their signature dance steps in songs Apsara Ali and Wajale Ki Bara, respectively. Picturised on film and TV actress Sara Shrawan and eight other girls, all under the shower, the song is staking claim of being the first and only song where actors have shot continuously over 12 hours in running water. Elaborating on it director Asit Redij said, “We had a double-camera set up where mechanical showers kept running for straight 12 hours that were required for us to complete the song. Two water tankers were used and a special flooring was designed that allowed the water to drain out simultaneously.” He added, “Music is one thing that makes a huge impact and creates the first impression about your product. If one such song helps directors with tight budgets to grab more attention for their work, then I think it is extremely useful.”