Urmila Kanitkar-Kothare to play Vithabai Narayangaonkar
There was a time when Tamasha Empress Vithabai Narayangaonkar ruled over the hearts of tamasha lovers in Maharashtra. Vithabai was responsible in getting government and public recognition for ‘Tamasha‘ the folk art of Maharashtra, thereby becoming the first female artist to win the president’s award for this art. However, in spite of earning immense popularity, prestige, honour and money, she had only faced disappointments during the last stages of her life.
Now, to bring the extraordinary life of the Vithabai Narayangaonkar, to the general public, a film ‘Vitha‘ based on her life, will soon hit the screens. Namrata Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, in collaboration with another film production company Aapla Picture has produced this film. Recently, the film’s shooting was completed and now the technical and post production work is in progress. The film ‘Vitha‘ is directed by Pundalik Dhumal.
Popular talented actress Urmila Kanitkar-Kothare, plays the title role of Vithabai Narayangaonkar, while Upendra Limaye will be playing a very important role. The screenplay and dialogues of ‘Vitha‘ are written by Pundalik Dhumal and Shantanu Rode. Sanjay Jadhav and Devendra Golatkar are the cinematographers, while art director is Mahesh Salgaonkar and music is by Ajit Parab, Sameer Mhatre and Rohit Nagbhide. The film will be released during the coming new year.
Subodh Bhave has two films lined up for release
After attaining success through films like ‘Lokmanya’ and ‘Katyar Kaljaat Ghusali’ in 2015, Subodh Bhave was not in news, though two of his films, ‘Bandh Nylonche’ and ‘Kiran Kulkarni v/s Kiran Kulkarni’ were released during 2016. Both these films didn’t do well. But now, Subodh has two successive releases in the form of ‘Fugay‘ opposite Swwapnil Joshi for the first time and ‘Karaar‘ opposite Urmila Kanetkar Kothare and Kranti Redkar. Interestingly, both these films have different subjects.
Recently, during the music launch of his film, ‘Karaar’ Subodh made it very clear that he enjoyed working with his co stars who give their 100%. Interestingly, Subodh has also been signed by Bollywood dress designer Vikram Phadnis for his debut Marathi film ‘Hrudayantar’ and that too opposite Mukta Barve, which itself is a big news. During the muhurat of this film held recently, Bollywood superstar had come to give the clap. Having won best actor awards in the past, these forthcoming three films are considered to be most important for Subodh.
Viju Khote celebrates 75th birthday
Veteran Hindi and Marathi film actor Viju Khote celebrated his 75th birthday with his family members. Born on 17th December 1941, Viju Khote has worked as character actor in more than 300 films in his acting career, which began with a Marathi film ‘Ya Malak’ in 1964. Since then, he has been performing character roles non stop for the past 52 years.
Younger brother of popular veteran actress Shubha Khote and son of stage actor Nandu Khote, Viju Khote became popular after the release of super hit film ‘Sholay’ in which he played Kalia, the close associate of villain Gabbar played Amjad Khan. Recently, we saw him in the Marathi film ‘Ventilator’. With his helpful nature Viju Khote has many admirers. He was also chief guest of Marathi Movie World award function last year. Wishing him a very happy birthday.
Farah Khan to appear in Marathi KBC on 28th December
Marathi KBC Quiz programme on Colors channel has so far presented many Marathi celebrities, who have contributed their winning amount to the charities. Now, on 28th December 2016 the home viewers of this channel will witness renowned Bollywood film maker and choreographer Farah Khan. Farah Khan was more than happy to be part of this Marathi KBC, having already participated in the previous sessions presented by Mr. Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan respectively on Sony Channel.
In the Marathi KBC programme Farah Khan will donate the amount won by her to Jai Vakil Foundation. In this special episode the viewers will witness Farah Khan enjoying every moment in the company of Swwapnil Joshi, besides teaching him few dance steps, while fulfilling his wish of dancing with her. She also shared some emotion filled moments in her life. Being a food lover, she also admitted that she loves to carry food for others on the sets, while shooting.
Third Eye Asian Film festival begins in Mumbai
The 15th Third Eye Asian Film festival was opened on Thursday 15th December, with the opening ceremony at the hands of Mr. Ram Naik, Governor of U.P. On this inaugural day, well known film maker Govind Nihalani was felicitated with the prestigious Film Culture Award, which was presented to him by chief guest Mr. Ram Naik. Speaking on this occasion, Mr. Govind Nihalani stressed the need of producing films connected with Indian soil. ” We should be proud of our own culture and see to it that our films go worldwide,” he said.
Chief guest Mr. Ram Naik praised the hard work put in by Mr. Sudheer Nandgaonkar for organizing this festival every year. Present on this occasion were Mr. Kiran Shantaram, president of the organizing committee, Jury member of short film section Ramesh Talwar and others. This seven day festival will be held upto 22nd December, when films from countries like Iran, Nepal, Bangladesh, Korea, Vietnam, Lebanon will be screened. There is a separate section for Marathi films in this festival, besides competition for short films.
Hindi TV actress Ulka Gupta to make her debut in Marathi films
After Bollywood actresses like Sonali Bendre, Urmila Matondkar, Tisca Chopra, Gurleen Chopra, Huma Khan made their debut in Marathi, few Hindi television actresses like Navni Parihar, Sulagna Panigrahi, also performed in Marathi films. Now, one more Hindi television actress Ulka Gupta, who played little Laxmibai in the serial ‘Jhansi Ki Rani’, will be making her debut in Marathi films. Along with her newcomer Ganesh Tovar will also be making his debut in Marathi.
Ulka is playing lead role in forthcoming Marathi film ‘Odh’- The Attraction’ produced by S.R.Tovar and directed by Dinesh Thakur. The story of this film revolves around strong friendship existing between a boy and a girl of same age. At present the shooting of this film is going on at Latur, Tuzapur and Takviki in Maharashtra. Ulka who has also worked in south Indian films, is well conversant with Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and English languages. Now, she is taking lessons in Marathi, for acquiring proficiency of this language too.
The film’s story and screenplay is by director Dinesh Thakur, while music is by Pravin Kunvar and cinematography by Ravikant Reddy. The other artistes of this film are Mohan Joshi( who plays Ulka’s father in this film), Bhau kadam, Bharat Ganeshpure, Shashikant ketkar and Jaywant Bhalekar.
Marathi film ‘Copy’ is being shot in a village to give a realistic look
Now days, new Marathi film makers are preferring to shoot their films at real locations. And, this is helping to take Marathi cinema to the world level. Forthcoming Marathi film ‘Copy‘ produced by Ganesh Ramchandra Patil and directed by Hemant Dhabade & Dayasagar Wankhede is presently being shot in Kasu village in Pen, which is close to Mumbai but is a typical village. Having completed the first schedule of shooting, the makers are now busy completing the second schedule.
However, the story of this film is set on the backdrop of corrupt practices existing in education system, at such places. According to the makers of this film, the village shown in the film, represents all such schools spread across India at village level. Popular comedian Anshuman Vichare is playing the role of a bearded teacher with high moral standards in this film, for a change. Another character actor (‘Lakshya‘ Serial fame) Jagannath Nivangune, who has been typecast as a police officer, also gets an opportunity to play the role of a school teacher.
Besides Anshuman Vichare and Jagannath Nivangune, the other co artistes of this film are, Kamlesh Sawant, Milind Shinde, Vipul Salunkhe, Anil Nagarkar, Rahul Belapurkar, Ashutosh Wadkar, Poonam Rane, Saurabh Surtar, Pravin Kapde, Ravi Virkar, Shraddha Sawant and others. Camera by Santeneo Trazio and music by Rohan-Rohan are the other credits of the film.
Shahrukh Khan gives clap for Vikram Phadnis Marathi film ‘Hrudayantar’
Renowned Bollywood dress designer Vikram Phadnis is now turning into a Producer. Recently, in association with Purvesh Sarnaik, he launched his own Marathi film ‘Hrudayantar‘ in presence of Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan, who as a chief guest, gave the clap during the launch of this film. The film stars Subodh Bhave, Mukta Barve and Sonali Anand Khare in lead roles.
Besides Shahrukh Khan the other celebrities present during this event were, director Duo Abbas Mastan, Vipul Shah, Sanjay Gupta, Sohail Khan, Athiya Shetty, Ritesh Sidhwani, Sanjay Kapoor, Baba Siddique, Kiyara Advani, Neel Nitin Mukesh, Shweta Bachchan Nanda, & Anu Diwan.
Speaking on the occasion, Shahrukh Khan wished a grand success for this first production of Vikram Phadnis and added that he was capable of producing even a Hindi film.
Vikram Phadnis while speaking about this film said that being a Maharashtrian , he felt that it was more convenient for him to produce a Marathi film first. “Luckily, I had a good script, which was most suited to artistes like Subodh Bhave and Mukta Barve“.
Big ‘B’ launches Ganesh Acharya’s Marathi film ‘Bhikari’
His mere presence during the launch of a film, inspires the artistes and crew members. Amitabh Bachchan still tops the popularity chart in the film industry. On Wednesday evening he was chief guest during the launch of forthcoming Marathi film ‘Bhikari’ to be directed by well known Bollywood choreographer Ganesh Acharya. Produced by Sharad Shelar, the film stars Marathi super star Swwapnil Joshi and Rucha Inamdar, who is making her debut in Marathi. This film is a remake of a popular Tamil film ‘Pichaikkaran’, which has also dubbed in Telugu.
Mr. Amitabh Bachchan who is always punctual ,arrived at the scheduled time, showing the way to Marathi film industry, to start such functions in time. Tiger Shroff, who was also one of the guests of honour, was also invited to the dais to join the ceremony, in which Mr. Bachchan gave the muhurat clap. All those dignitaries present on the dais made short speeches wishing the makers a grand success. Popular Marathi actress Pooja Sawant anchored the show.
Also present for the function were other important artistes of this film, Sayaji Shinde, Manoj Joshi, Milind Shinde, Guru Thakur, Kirti Adarkar, Sunil Pal & Pradeep kabra. Among those who attended this function to wish the makers of this film were film makers Ajay Phansekar, Milind Kavde and others. Ganesh Acharya who is making his debut as a director in Marathi through this film, was seen in a new look, losing about 30 to 40 kgs of extra weight on his body.
Rohini Hattangadi returns to Colors Marathi after 3 years
Popular veteran actress Rohini Hattangadi always gave preference to Marathi TV serials, despite her assignments with Bollywood films. Trough her award winning performances, she has not only won awards in Bollywood, but also Richard Attenborough’s international film ‘Gandhi‘. But, how can we forget her mega serial ‘Char Divas Sasuche‘, which had created record run on Colors Marathi channel. Through this serial she had reached the hearts of many Maharashtrian households.
Now, after a gap of three years Rohini Hattangadi will be returning to Colors channel through forthcoming Marathi serial ‘Sakhya Re‘. Through this serial another young TV star Suyash Tilak will also be returning to small screen along with newcomer Dnyanada Ramtirthkar. In this serial Rohini Hattangadi plays a well suited powerful character of Maa Saheb from a princely family. We are hopeful that the home viewers will welcome their favourite actress in this new role.