Category Archives: Movies

‘Satarangi Re’ and ‘Golaberij’ releasing today

10 feb releasing

Marathi film lovers will have a feast to celebrate Valentine’s day with two films with different subjects. Both these films have invited attention for different reasons. ‘Satrangi Re’ is a film based on Youth and their love for music, which is likely to attract the larger section of youths. But, film maker Aditya Sarpotdar claims that it is also the film for parents of today’s youth, to understand the dreams of their children towards completion of their teenage. The film stars popular artistes from Marathi film industry.

On the other hand, we have a different type of offering coming from Kshitij Zarapkar in the form of ‘Golaberij’, which is a tribute to the great writer P.L. Deshpande. Through this film, Kshitij has tried to bring alive some important people in the life of Pu.La., as he was popularly called, including his wife Sunitatai. He has also knitted the sequences involving some characters from his popular stories. Some of the old songs composed by Pu La have also been revived in this film. The film presents a big team of popular young and veteran artistes from Marathi film industry, playing different characters.

‘Gol Gol Dabyatla’ to release on 20th January

Ya Gol Gol dabyat

Riddhi Entertainment’s new Marathi film ‘Gol Gol Dabyatla’ is all set to release on 20th January 2012. Writer Director Asit Reddyz addressed a Press Conference to this effect in Mumbai to officially announce the release date and brief about his new film. Ashok Saraf, who plays the central character in this film, was present on the occasion.

The film revolves around the relationship father and son. Being a poor man Bajaba earns for his family by showing moving pictures to children through his Bioscope, moving from one village to other. But he educates his son. When his son grows up, there are differences arising between father and son, due to generation gap. The film throws light on this sensitive relationship.

Speaking on the occasion Ashok Saraf said that after hearing the concept of this film, he immediately agreed to play this role. “The film has a strong subject and has interesting end,” he added. Writer-Director Asit Reddyz said that he could not think of anyone else than Ashok Saraf for this role. “I even made him sing the title song, since it was well suited to his character in this film,” he indicated.

Smita Talwalkar, Santosh Juvekar and Smita Shewale could not make it to this function but Cinematographer Samir Athlye, music director Satish Chandra, Child actor Pappan Patil and Singer Hrishikesh kamerkar were present.

The other star cast of the film comprises of Ashalata Wabgaonkar, Bal Dhuri, Vijay Chavan, Madhav Abhyankar, Shailesh Datar, Aakansha thakur, Prafull samant, Pratibha Goregaonkar, Iravati Lagoo, Rashmi Yesgude and Alansha Jagdale.

Usha Nadkarni in ‘What an idea Mai’

Usha

Time has changed and so is the lifestyle of people. Gone are the days, when people used to live happily in joint family system. Now, with mushrooming of nuclear families, we find more more disputes arising between husbands and wives. Therefore, those who believe in the traditional joint family system, have their own advantages. This seems to be the message from the forthcoming Marathi film ‘What an Idea Mai’ produced by Madhavan Bhatt and directed by Praveen Shetye.

In this film ‘Mai’ the main character of this film (played by versatile actress Usha Nadkarni) is opposed to an idea of her son to separate by selling the present house and buying two separate houses elsewhere. After the arrival of her Grand-daughter, she plans an idea. The film’s story written by Anil Pawar, is all about the crisis the common man has to face in new lifestyle.

Produced by Madhavan Bhatt and Minakshi Bhatt the film is directed by Praveen Shetye. Young Twisha Bhatt makes her debut through this film. The other artistes of the film comprise of Mohan Joshi, Vijay Chavan, Abhijit Chavan & Mangesh Desai. Music by Yug Bhusal, Camera by Rajaram Patil and editing by Subodh Narkar are the other credits.

Ashi Fasli Nanachi Tang’ music released

Nanachi

Producer Anand Gaekwad and director Deepak Savakhande are offering an entertaining film with a funny title ‘Ashi Fasli Nanachi Tang’, which is based on an happenning during a reality show on television. The head of the family – Nana (Mohan Joshi) is a retired professor happily living with his wife Nani (Priya Berde), son -Kedar (Mangesh Desai), daughter-in-law-Kasturi (Nisha Parulekar) and daughter- Mau (Krushika Deshpande). With the backing of the family, Nana participates in a TV reality show. His interaction with the channel star -Yash (Aniket Kelkar), executive head of the channel-Poonam (Smita Gondkar) and channel CEO (Ashok Shinde) results in a new twist to the story of the film.

Bollywood actress Himani Shivpuri plays an important role in this film. Her entry gives a new twist to the script of this film, which is based on music and comedy. Shrirang Aras has composed the music of this filmon his own lyrics with the support of Rangnath Gajre. Top singers like Kunal Ganjawala, Avadhoot Gupte, Vaishali Samant, Swapnil Bandodkar and veteran singer Uttara Kelkar have lend their voices for three songs in this film.

The Grand music release of this film was held at Hotel Kohinoor on Tuesday 2nd August, in the presence of most of the members of film’s unit and the representatives of Press. Speaking on the occasion, the Producer Anand Gaikwad and director Deepak Savakhande thanked all the artistes for their finest co-operation but also went on to thank the music team. “In our film, we have given prominence to music, because of which Marathi films attain success,” they said.

Nisha Parulekar, who plays the daughter-in-law of the family, said that she plays a glamorous role, as the character belongs to a well to do family. Smita Gondkar thanked the film makers for offering her a character of an executive head of a TV channel, which she said, was a challenging role. Himani Shivpuri, who is playing an important character in the film, thanked the film makers for giving so much of importance to senior artistes. ” We hardly notice the photos of senior artistes in a film’s poster in Bollywood film; but, in this Marathi film, the photos of senior artistes are prominently displayed on posters, which clearly indicates, how much this industry and this film cares for senior artistes,” she said. Singer Vaishali Samant praised the producers for giving importance to music and actor Aniket Kelkar said that he was expecting the film to become a hit.

Mohan Joshi and Mangesh Desai were absent for the function, as they were shooting, while Priya Berde arrived almost after the function was over. But, Mr. Yogesh Bahl, Mayor of Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, came all the way to attend this function, as he was playing the role of a chief minister in this film. The film is due for release on 12th August all over Maharashtra.

Babu Band Bajaa’ scores at Sahyadri Awards

Mitalee

After achieving success at the National Awards, Marathi film ‘Babu Band Bajaa’ went on to win as many as four awards at the 2nd Cine awards presented by Doordarshan’s Sahyadri Channel. The awards were presented at the Ravindra Natya Mandir recently. The awards won by this film were for the best story-Shataram Rode, Best actress- Mitalee Jagtap-Varadkar, Best Direction-Rajesh Pinjani and also for the best film. ‘Mee Sindhutai Sapkal’ followed with 2 awards in the category- Best Editing and Best Screenplay, while Ravindra Mankani bagged the best actor’s award for his role in ‘Mani Mangalsutra’.

The other awards presented were as follows:

Best Dialogues: Parag Kulkarni (Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai)
Best Lyricist: Babasaheb Saudagar (Antardaah)
Best Music: Avadhoot Gupte (Mani Mangalsutra)
Best singer ( Male): Swapnil Bandodkar (Ved Laagi Jeeva)
Best Singer ( Female): Madhavi Karmarkar (Platform)
Best Background Music: Sameer Phataphekar (Ringa Ringa)
Best Art Direction: Prashant Rane (Lalbaug Paral)
Best Cinematography: Sanjay Jadhav (Ringa Ringa)
Best Sound: Abhijit Kende (Tee Ratra)
Best Debut: Vaidehi Parshuram (Ved Laagi Jeeva)

The awards presentation ceremony will be telecast on Doordarshan’s Sahyadri channel on 23rd July from 3.30 pm onwards.

Rasika Joshi’s brave fight comes to an end

Rasika

Rasika Joshi, one of the finest actresses of Marathi entertainment industry, passed away on Thursday. She was 39. Rasika who who was recently active with her memorable roles in sensational Marathi play ‘White Lily aani Night Rider’ and the role of Motiben in Imagine’s TV serial ‘Bandini’ was fighting a personal battle against cancer, for quite sometime. She was suffering from Blood Cancer and was required to undergo the process of blood transfusions at regular intervals.

She was in the second stage of cancer and her condition had worsened which forced her to take a break from the shows she was performing. In the past, she bounced back after treatment and even went on to bag awards for her performance in the popular Marathi drama ‘White Lily aani Night Rider’, which was also adjudged the best play during many popular awards. Rasika also performed in many Hindi films. She was offered prominent roles by Ram Gopal Verma. She will be remembered for her meorable roles in Bollywood as Mrs.Singh in ‘Gayab’ as Rukma in ‘Vaastu Shastra’ .Some of her other movies were ‘Bhoot Uncle’ , ‘Ek Hasina Thi’, ‘Darna Zaroori Hai’, ‘Malamaal Weekly’, ‘Billu Barber’ and ‘Johnny Gaddaar’.

Rasika was also a writer for one of the Marathi movies called ‘Yanda Kartavya Aahe’. With her passing away, the entertainment industry has suffered a big loss.

‘Platform’ addresses issues beyond female foeticide

Platform

‘Platform’ addresses issues beyond female foeticide

Writer-producer-director Veena Lokur was all smiles today to see a big turnout of media persons for the press conference to announce the release date of her forthcoming Marathi film ‘Platform’. The film will be released initially at Mumbai and Pune on 15th July 2011. Having already won the State Government’s award for best film and best direction, the film was also shown at Asian International Film festival and MAMI film festival and was well received.

Having been associated with Marathi Theatre in Belgaum for the past 30 years, ‘Platform’ is her second Marathi film as a producer. The first being ‘Mission Champion’ which won 14 awards. Through this film she makes her debut as a director. Through this film Veena is also launching her daughter Sai Lokur and therefore she was looking for a powerful script which she found after witnessing an incident while travelling in a train.

The film deals with the sensational subject of female foeticide indicating gross violation of women’s rights. As a film maker, Veena has gone beyond this subject to send across a strong message to the world. “When I thought that it was the right time
to launch my daughter, I was looking for a strong subject. I was well aware of her abilities, as she had worked with me in theatre for the past few years. When I finalised this script, we began work on it and successfully completed it with a good team work,” she said.

Present on the occasion were Sharad Ponkshe, Sai Lokur, Astad Kale, Prashant Patil, Lyricist Ashwini Shende, Music director Nilesh Moharir and Cinematographer Suresh Deshmane. Promo of the film was also shown, giving a clear hint that through the film, she wanted to send across a message. The film does have some moments of love, sacrifice and commitment to the society. There are total four songs in the film to meet the requirement of music for its commercial success too.

When Actor Sharad Ponkshe, was poked by a media person, asking him as to how he managed working in different areas at the same time, the straightforward and frank actor replied, stating that he was not Aamir Khan to act in one project at a time. “I am not that big to make a choice. I take whatever roles that come to me, whether it is television or films. May be some roles are bad, but I can’t help. Actually, I feel, this system of offering subsidy to all Marathi film makers should be stopped. It is for this reason, there is no quality. Anyone, who can raise Rs.30-35 lakhs, makes a film and recovers the same by selling different rights and claims the subsidy to recover the cost. Personally, I am of the opinion that there should be less number but quality Marathi films produced instead of 70-80 ordinary films a year,” he reacted spontaneously.

While speaking to MMW, after the press meet, Ms. Veena Lokur stated that she was confident about what she was offering and looked forward to media support. “I have decided my release date, which will not be changed, even if any big banner Bollywood movie is released around that time,” she added.

Ajay- Atul to hunt for young talent

Ajay atul

E-TV Marathi has launched a new concept through their popular programme ‘Gaurav Maharashtracha’ which will go in search of talent with melodious voice. Popular music director duo Ajay -Atul will be in charge of this mission, which begins on 13th March 2011 with preliminary trials in Nagpur. This will be followed by trials in Kolhapur on 19th March, Solapur on 27th March, Nashik on 3rd April, Pune on 9th April and Thane on 10th April. The final selections will be made in Mumbai on 12th April 2011.

Produced by Gajendra Singh under the banner of Saibaba films, this new reality show will be open to youngsters in the age group of 16-25 years. It is for the first time Ajay-Atul will play judges for such a reality show.

Davpech’ to release on 25th February

Makrand

Murli Manohar Creations Pvt. Ltd., Marathi film ‘Daavpech’ is releasing on 25th Fberuary 2011 all over Maharashtra. With a star cast comprising of Bharat Jadhav, Makrand Anaspure, Lokesh Gupte, Hemangi Kavi, Priyal Patil, Vaibhav Mangle and others, ‘Daavpech’ is directed by Sachin Vartak & Bhimrao Mude.

It’s the story of a colorful village Phoolgao. Gulabrao Kaate is one of the prestigious persons of this village and he is into flower business. This village is not only known for its flowers but also for a unique game called…..’Punya Theft’. Almost all the villages come over to Phoolgaon to participate in this game. On a particular day and at a particular time, this game is played throughout night, i.e. from sunset to sunrise. And every year, the winner of this game becomes the Sarpanch of Phoolgaon.

Since this game is very competitive, there are so many Dav Pech (tricks) applied to win the game. Daadu is the boy who lives outside the forest. He brings in thieves from outside the village. These two best friends Vyankat and Nilkanth are very well experienced in the art of theft. And they take part in the game. What happens thereafter is nothing but ‘Daavpech’.

Bandh Reshmanche’ soon on Star Pravah.

Bandh

The journey of love that starts from hatred…That’s the catchline of Star Pravah’s new serial ‘Bandh Reshmanche’. This serial portrays the adoring love story of Nandini Bramhapurikar (played by Suparna Kharde) and Shekharraj Daulatrao (played by Akshar Kothare). Premiering from February 21st every Monday to Saturday @ 8.30pm, ‘Bandh Reshmanche’ is a tale of intrigue, romance, and a social tug-of-war set in the interior of Maharashtra.

This new serial will replace ‘Zhunjh’ that ends on February 19, 2011. ‘Bandha Reshmache’ is being directed by Vaibhav Chinchalkar, and produced by Balaji Telefilms.