Year 2009: Beginning of A Marathi New Wave Cinema ?
Got this interesting blog on Marathi Cinema from
http://www.dearcinema.com/article/year-2009-beginning-new-wave-mara...
Nearly 50 years after Marathi film Shyamchi Aai won the national award for the Best Film for the first time,Sandeep Sawant’s Shwas repeated the feat in 2004. Shwas created a greater buzz across the country when it was nominated as the official Indian entry to the Academy Awards. The national spotlight was firmly on young Sandeep Sawant, a first time film-maker. And Marathi cinema hasn’t looked back since then.
A wave of young directors in their 30s have consistently brought a string of offbeat themes to a cinema that has been struggling to extricate itself from the morass of formulaic films under intense pressure from the dominant Big Brother – Hindi cinema. The change they have brought in Marathi cinema is tumultuous
So who are these young faces? Umesh Kulkarni and Sachin Kundalkar, whose new films Vihir (The Well) and Gandh (Smell) have made waves, are Film and Television Institute of India graduates. Ravi Jadhav is an ad film maker who has made his debut with Natarang. Paresh Mokashi,who has made Harishchandrachi Factory (Harishchandra’sFactory) which is Indian entry for the 2010 Oscars comes from the Marathi theatre background, while Satish Manwar, director of Gabhricha Paus(The Damned Rains) is a graduate from Pune University’s drama department. The foremost characteristic of these young film makers is the marked departure from the formulaic Marathi cinema of 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.The themes were dominated by comedies, family drama or rural drama centred around the folk art form tamasha with song, dances and other masala ingredients thrown in for box-office appeal.
Film-makers like Jabbar Patel who made ‘Saamna’ (The Confrontation, 1975),and Amol Palekar who made ‘Aakriet’ (1982), didn’t tread the beaten track, but they did it within the constraints of commercial cinema. They could not resist songs. Only exception perhaps was 'Shantata Court Chalu Aahe’ (1971) directed jointly by Satyadev Dubey and Govind Nihalani which was based on Vijay Tendulkar’s play of the same name. These films were more of exceptions than the norm, but these efforts could not be sustained as the audiences did not seem prepared for this kind of cinema.
The mainstream Marathi film industry continued making the formulaic films, and they did miserably at the box-office. The problems of distribution and exhibition of films worsened, and slowly the production of films slowed down considerably. In the 1990s, Maharashtra government exempted Marathi films from entertainment tax levies, and provided a subsidy of Rs 20 lakhs to each film to revive production of films. Film production had shrunk to just 15 films per year, and these measures provided a huge boost to film-making, and slowly the production climbed to 100 films per year. The number of films increased, but audience did not seem to be responding adequately. But the subsidies attracted a number of corporate companies to Marathi cinema. Subhash Ghai’s Mukta Arts,Reliance,Zee Talkies,and UTV began showing keen interest in financing and distributing Marathi films.
International films festival held in Mumbai, Pune and the International Film Festival of India in Goa consciously showcased Marathi films. Films like Dombivali Fast, Shwas, Tingya wonawards at international film festivals and these developments attracted youngsters to Marathi cinema. Young minds stepped forward to make films. These young directors rejected “Daddy’s Cinema” and dared to experiment with new off- beat themes. They did not depend on writers, but wrote their own screenplays, and cast actors suitable to the roles , and not the established stars of the Marathi industry.
Based on Anand Yadav’s novel, Ravi Jadhav’s ‘Natrang’ depicts the tragedy of a wrestler who acted in tamashas as ‘nachya’ (accompanying dancer.) Actor Atul Kulkarni has given a power packed performance in the film. Inspired by Dadasaheb Phalke’s vision and struggle to make the first ever Indian film in 1913,Paresh Mokashi made “Harishchandrachi Factory”on how he put together the first ever film.
Umesh Kulkarni chose the theme of adolecents in ‘Vihir’ (The Well),while Sachin Kundalkar has bound three different stories in Gandh (Smell) with common thread. This narrative format of three stories strung together by a common theme itself is an experiment in Marathi cinema. Satish Manwar tackled the contemporary subject of over5,000 farmer suicides in Vidarbha in Gabhricha Paus(The Damned Rains).
Can this be then termed a new wave cinema? Perhaps no. Unlike the conscious efforts of Satyajit Ray and Adoor Gopalakrishnan to create a new cinema movement or the French new wave, these are more like individual efforts. But, the youngsters are paving the way for classic Marathi cinema to come.
The audience in metro cities is slowly getting to know the young Marathi cinema, but there is still a dearth of audience response. Sandeep Sawant’s Shwas did good business due to the acclaim it received for its national award and the Oscar nomination. The production cost of Marathi films is increasing, but new streams of revenue are opening up. Television is the biggest source of revenue. Marathi cinema is now getting dedicated screenings at multiplex theatres along with Hindi blockbusters, and the content of the films is ensuring that they can hold their own. Marathi cinema is also slowly catching up with the overseas market. The horizons of Marathi cinema are expanding…
Sudhir Nandgaonkar is the President of India Chapter of the International Film Critics Federation (FIPRESCI), General Secretary of the Federation of Film Societies of India (FFSI) and Feestival Director of the Third Eye Asian Film Festival, Mumbai
http://www.dearcinema.com/article/year-2009-beginning-new-wave-mara...
Nearly 50 years after Marathi film Shyamchi Aai won the national award for the Best Film for the first time,Sandeep Sawant’s Shwas repeated the feat in 2004. Shwas created a greater buzz across the country when it was nominated as the official Indian entry to the Academy Awards. The national spotlight was firmly on young Sandeep Sawant, a first time film-maker. And Marathi cinema hasn’t looked back since then.
A wave of young directors in their 30s have consistently brought a string of offbeat themes to a cinema that has been struggling to extricate itself from the morass of formulaic films under intense pressure from the dominant Big Brother – Hindi cinema. The change they have brought in Marathi cinema is tumultuous
So who are these young faces? Umesh Kulkarni and Sachin Kundalkar, whose new films Vihir (The Well) and Gandh (Smell) have made waves, are Film and Television Institute of India graduates. Ravi Jadhav is an ad film maker who has made his debut with Natarang. Paresh Mokashi,who has made Harishchandrachi Factory (Harishchandra’sFactory) which is Indian entry for the 2010 Oscars comes from the Marathi theatre background, while Satish Manwar, director of Gabhricha Paus(The Damned Rains) is a graduate from Pune University’s drama department. The foremost characteristic of these young film makers is the marked departure from the formulaic Marathi cinema of 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.The themes were dominated by comedies, family drama or rural drama centred around the folk art form tamasha with song, dances and other masala ingredients thrown in for box-office appeal.
Film-makers like Jabbar Patel who made ‘Saamna’ (The Confrontation, 1975),and Amol Palekar who made ‘Aakriet’ (1982), didn’t tread the beaten track, but they did it within the constraints of commercial cinema. They could not resist songs. Only exception perhaps was 'Shantata Court Chalu Aahe’ (1971) directed jointly by Satyadev Dubey and Govind Nihalani which was based on Vijay Tendulkar’s play of the same name. These films were more of exceptions than the norm, but these efforts could not be sustained as the audiences did not seem prepared for this kind of cinema.
The mainstream Marathi film industry continued making the formulaic films, and they did miserably at the box-office. The problems of distribution and exhibition of films worsened, and slowly the production of films slowed down considerably. In the 1990s, Maharashtra government exempted Marathi films from entertainment tax levies, and provided a subsidy of Rs 20 lakhs to each film to revive production of films. Film production had shrunk to just 15 films per year, and these measures provided a huge boost to film-making, and slowly the production climbed to 100 films per year. The number of films increased, but audience did not seem to be responding adequately. But the subsidies attracted a number of corporate companies to Marathi cinema. Subhash Ghai’s Mukta Arts,Reliance,Zee Talkies,and UTV began showing keen interest in financing and distributing Marathi films.
International films festival held in Mumbai, Pune and the International Film Festival of India in Goa consciously showcased Marathi films. Films like Dombivali Fast, Shwas, Tingya wonawards at international film festivals and these developments attracted youngsters to Marathi cinema. Young minds stepped forward to make films. These young directors rejected “Daddy’s Cinema” and dared to experiment with new off- beat themes. They did not depend on writers, but wrote their own screenplays, and cast actors suitable to the roles , and not the established stars of the Marathi industry.
Based on Anand Yadav’s novel, Ravi Jadhav’s ‘Natrang’ depicts the tragedy of a wrestler who acted in tamashas as ‘nachya’ (accompanying dancer.) Actor Atul Kulkarni has given a power packed performance in the film. Inspired by Dadasaheb Phalke’s vision and struggle to make the first ever Indian film in 1913,Paresh Mokashi made “Harishchandrachi Factory”on how he put together the first ever film.
Umesh Kulkarni chose the theme of adolecents in ‘Vihir’ (The Well),while Sachin Kundalkar has bound three different stories in Gandh (Smell) with common thread. This narrative format of three stories strung together by a common theme itself is an experiment in Marathi cinema. Satish Manwar tackled the contemporary subject of over5,000 farmer suicides in Vidarbha in Gabhricha Paus(The Damned Rains).
Can this be then termed a new wave cinema? Perhaps no. Unlike the conscious efforts of Satyajit Ray and Adoor Gopalakrishnan to create a new cinema movement or the French new wave, these are more like individual efforts. But, the youngsters are paving the way for classic Marathi cinema to come.
The audience in metro cities is slowly getting to know the young Marathi cinema, but there is still a dearth of audience response. Sandeep Sawant’s Shwas did good business due to the acclaim it received for its national award and the Oscar nomination. The production cost of Marathi films is increasing, but new streams of revenue are opening up. Television is the biggest source of revenue. Marathi cinema is now getting dedicated screenings at multiplex theatres along with Hindi blockbusters, and the content of the films is ensuring that they can hold their own. Marathi cinema is also slowly catching up with the overseas market. The horizons of Marathi cinema are expanding…
Sudhir Nandgaonkar is the President of India Chapter of the International Film Critics Federation (FIPRESCI), General Secretary of the Federation of Film Societies of India (FFSI) and Feestival Director of the Third Eye Asian Film Festival, Mumbai
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