2012: A year of recovery & grandeur

Film personalities give us an analysis of the how and what of Marathi cinema in the New Year
It’s a brand new year and like the rest of us, film personalities are looking forward with hope and positivity as well. Like most businesses, Marathi cinema too has seen its share of ups and downs in the year gone by. But there are plans and of course New Year resolutions.Here’s what they say…
The fewer, the better “In the year 2011, there has not been a single Marathi film producer who has recovered his money. This is because the number of films being made here have increased to such an extent that there are not as many takers as there would be if there were fewer releases,” points out actor-director Sachin Pilgaonkar. “Earlier, we had only about two or three films hitting the screens in a month. These days, with so much alternative entertainment avenues, it is impossible to expect people to do justice to the four to five Marathi films that get released per week,” he explains.
On the national scene Actor and filmmaker Ananth Mahadevan points out, “During the 60s and 70s, Marathi cinema could brag of being home to some of the stalwarts in the movie industry. But somewhere along the way, the industry lost that charm. It probably had to do with the fact that Marathi cinema became more or less like its bigger counterparts in the state — Bollywood, so much so that we did not have Marathi cinema anymore. Instead, we saw a spate of Hindi cinema in Marathi. Such a trend is bound to take a while to phase out, but I believe that Shwaas may have initiated the process of recovery of Marathi films. Sure, the film was made on a shoe string budget and so may have been tacky compared to international productions. But even though it was not nominated finally, the fact that it was considered for being India’s official entry at the Oscars itself was a feather in the cap. But the point here was the return of Marathi films at the national or international level which was more or less taken over by films made in Bengali or Malayalam. Even my film Mee Sindhutai Sapkal, India’s first biopic on a living legend, helped place Marathi cinema get back on the national map, what with it winning four national awards. It became a huge point of discussion all over the world.”
Young actor Sonali Kulkarni is positive of the way things will shape up for Marathi cinema this year. “Marathi cinema has already achieved a global appeal for its rich content. But this year, people can expect to see a lot of crazy stuff in Marathi unlike before. Along with the regular entertainers and item songs that will continue to pull crowds, there will be equal number of off-beat releases,” she says.
Budget control The makers also point out that the budgets for Marathi films also have shot through the roof. “While most films stuck to a ` 25 to 45 lakh budget earlier, we now have films like Bal Gandharva wrapping up for as much as ` 5 crore. This year, most films are aiming to be made for anywhere between ` 2 to 3 crore,” says Ananth. “A producer spends almost as much money making a film, to promote it,” adds Sachin. However, the light at the end of the tunnel may have something to do with corporate biggies getting involved with production. “Big companies getting into production will surely help expand the budgets here,” says Sonali.
The way forward Sachin puts things in perspective when he says, “It would make sense for all of us to be a bit more cautions, think rationally, with a firm head on the shoulders and figure out ways to reduce the number of films that are being made here.” Ananth feels that the need of the moment is to ensure there is an adequate plan of recovery. “Not all regional films have the advantage of a universal appeal. At the end of the day, a regional film is a regional film. What could work in its favour is if the films were released along with subtitles. That would automatically increase the market for our films,” he concludes.