Ketaki Mategaonkar and Prathamesh Parab in Time Pass Ketaki Mategaonkar and Prathamesh Parab in Time Pass

It is a momentous phase for Marathi cinema. Starting last year, film-makers have been courageously testing new waters — experimenting with themes, styles and techniques — and even ruling it with aplomb. A closer look also shows them spreading their wings across the language barrier, and picking titles in Hindi and English over traditionally-used Marathi names.

So we have films such as Gajendra Ahire’s Touring Talkies, Amol Palekar and Sandhya Gokhale’s We are on – Houn Jau Dya, Vijay Rane’s Power, Sameer Vidwans’ Time Please, Ratnakar Matkari’s Investment and Swapnil Jaykar’s Tendulkar Out. January has added two more names to the list — Timepass and A Rainy Day. The reasons offered are many, from gaining a wider audience, to the common parlance becoming a mix of various languages, to even the urban nature of these films.

Sanjay Jadhav, director of Duniyadaari, says that the bottom line is that every film-maker wants to make a good film. “We don’t start with thinking that we want to make a film that has a good title. Of course, the title is very important because it is the first thing that attracts the audience, so we pick what is relevant,” he says.

Explaining his own thought process, Jadhav, whose upcoming film is called Pyar Wali Love Story, says, “The youth does not think only in the vernacular. The makers’ thought process too is not exclusively Marathi anymore; we are acquainted with Hollywood and Bollywood and think similarly. I also want my audience to connect with my film. If I were to name it Pyar Wali Prem Kahani, the young audience would lose interest.”

Vidwans, who has directed Time Please, says that the diminishing gap between urban and rural classes has changed the canvas of films and therefore, the kind of names too. “Earlier, most films had rural settings and stories. These days, Marathi films tell urban stories revolving around urban characters,” says Vidwans, adding that it was a conscious decision to call his film Time Please because it talks about an urban couple taking some time off when their relationship goes through a rough patch.

But director Rajendra Talak, whose film A Rainy Day took on its own name because it was entirely shot in the rain, differs in his opinion. “A film’s content is more important than its title. People will not come to watch a film just because your film has an English or Hindi title,” he says.

Whatever be the motivations, film critic and Executive President of the Federation of Film Society of India’s Maharashtra Chapter, Virendra Chitrav, says it is a good trend. “Over the last decade, Marathi cinema has taken on a global tone; this is its golden era. Now, there is a wider audience and evidently, even non-Marathi filmgoers are watching Marathi films. In view of all the changes, it is only right for the titles to take on an universal touch.”

Adah Sharma in Puri Jagannath’s next with Mahesh Babu

Adah Sharma’s Telugu film Heart Attack has been received very well in the South since its release in January. In fact the film, also starring Nithin, is running in its fifth week. Now Sharma is all set to do another Telugu film. Apparently she has been finalised for Puri Jagannath’s next film which will have Mahesh Babu as her leading man. The actress, it is heard, is also in talks for a Tamil film.

Gopinath Munde launches Marathi film

Seen at the launch of RDX Cinema Company’s Marathi film Ticha Umbartha are producer-action master Ravi Dewan, chief guest Gopinath Munde and Suniel Shetty in Mumbai. Directed by Pradeep Ghonsikar and written by Jayant Pawar, the film stars Chinmay Mandlekar, Tejaswini Pandit, Jyoti Chandekar, Suyash Tilak and Harsha Khandeparkar

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