‘Deool’ inviting attention at International fests
Afrer having received recognition from Rotterdam Festival for its unusual script, Abhijit Gholap’s Marathi film ‘Deool’ is now all set to participate at various international festivals during the month of October 2011. The film has already received invitations from MAMI, Pusan, Abu Dhabi and The South East Asian International Film festivals.
The world premiere of this film will be held during Pusan film festival in South Korea on the 8th of October 2011, while the Indian Premiere will be held during the forthcoming MAMI film festival in Mumbai.
“We have not made this film keeping in mind the international audience, but the universal theme of this film has invited the attention of the people across the world,” says Umesh Kulkarni, the director of this film. The film has raised hopes because of the involvement of two big artistes like Nana Patekar and Dilip Prabhavalkar playing opposite each other. Sonali Kulkarni and Girish Kulkarni also play important roles in this film. It looks like that the film will be officially released only after the World Premiere and Indian premiere next month.
TV serial ‘Pinjara’ bags maximum Zee Family awards
Rakesh Sarang and his Cams Club artistes celebrated their happiest moment on Friday late night, as most of their family members in the ongoing Marathi TV serial ‘Pinjara’ bagged maximum, i.e. 7 out of 22 awards presented at Zee Marathi’s ‘Utsav Natyacha’ (Festival of Relations) popular Viewer’s choice awards at Bhaidas auditorium, Vile Parle, Mumbai. ‘Guntata Hriday Hey’ with five and ‘Kunku’ with three were close to follow in the fiction format. In the non fiction format of reality shows, ‘Marathi Paul Padate Pudhe’ bagged three, ‘Sa Re Ga Ma’ shared two while Aadesh Bandekar bagged two awards for his ‘Home Minister’, for being the best anchor and presenting the best Non Fiction show.
There weren’t many surprises in the best actor /actresses and other character’s category, as they were judged on Viewer’s choice. This year the best family was the Killedar family, while the best serial was ‘Pinjara’. Nayana (Mrunal Deshpande) received the best Heroine award for her performance in ‘Guntata Hriday Hey’, while Veer ( Bhushan Pradhan) bagged the best Hero award for the first time. Priya Bapat received the Popular female anchor’s award for her presentation in ‘Sa Re Ga Ma’ show. Others who received the awards were the popular characters Janaki (female) in ‘Kunku’, and Mayak (Male) in ‘Guntata Hriday Hey’.
Mrunal Kulkarni went on to bag a double with her character of Naina being declared the best mother’s character, while her daughter in the serial- Devi received Special Child artiste award. Mrunmayee Deshpande also bagged a double when Janaki – Ganesh were declared as Best Sibblings. Bhushan too won a double when the popular couple of Veer and Anandi played by Sanskriti Bargude were declared the award. The other winners were Best father – Macchindra (Pinjara), Best Villain – tatya (Pinjara) and Best Vamp – Akka ( Pinjara). The best Supporting character awards went to Vishwasrao ( Guntata Hriday Hey) and Shalini ( Pinjara) in the male and female categories respectively. Ajay-Atul and Shrirang Godbole received the awards for Best Judge (Sa Re Ga Ma) and Best Lyricist (Marathi Paul Padate Pudhe) category. The best fresh face of the year went to – Anjali ( played by Tejaswini Pandit) in the serial ‘Ekach Ya Janmi Janu’ . Was that a move to accommodate a talented actress like her, in the awards category? Perhaps it was a special award given by the Sponsors ‘Waman Hari Pethe Jewelers’ as the chief of the company – Mr. Ulhas Pethe presented a special trophy.
Pushkar Shroti and Jitendra Joshi played the role of programme anchors with their gimmicks on the programme concept designed by Sachin Mote and Sanjay Mone. In the variety entertauiment section all the popular female artistes like Suhas Joshi, Mrunmayee Deshpande, Sukanya Kulkarni, Mrunal Dusanis, Baby Shruti paid tributes to veteran Marathi film makers, by performing on the old popular songs like ‘Ghanashyam Sundara..’, ‘Gori Gori Paan..’, Bai bai mann ..’, ‘Arey sansar Ra Sansaar..’, and ‘Dev Jari Maj Kadhi Bhetala,’. They received a standing ovation from the crowd. Others to perform were Renuka Shahane gave a surprise through an event in the form of a dance number on ‘Hawa havai…’ . She was suitably dressed up in Red clothes with a specially designed Red feathers as head gear.
The event that was stretched too long for about 40 minutes was that of Mika Singh singing all the Bollywood dance numbers. But, some celebrities in the crowd welcomed the same. Kranti Redkar, who was present on the occasion, even went up on the stage and twisted her legs. In comparison, the orchestra and songs ‘Break up ke Baad’ perfromed by Dadar Youth Club lead by Sachin Pathak and group was short and well presented. Actor Sachin Pilgaonkar also performed a dance from his forthcoming film ‘Ticha Baap Tyacha Baap’. He was full of engery and also received a standing ovation from the audience. Vaibhav Mangale, Anand Ingale and Bhalchandra Kadam performed comedy skits to entertain the audience.
Other celebrities present on the occasion and subsequent party were Mahesh Manjrekar, Rajiv Patil, Sunil Barve, Girija Oak, Aniket Vishwasrao, Umesh Kamat, Aditi Saragdhar Smita Tambe, Ashutosh Rana, Sulekha Talwalkar, Mohan Agashe, Chandrakant Kulkarni, Bharat Jadhav ,Sanjay Jadhav, Vinay Apte, Bhargavi Chirmule, Shweta Mehendale and Poorva Gokhale, Ankush Choudhary and Abhijeet Khandekar.
Grand Finale of ‘Fu Bai Fu’ full of variety
Zee Marathi’s popular Comedy reality show ‘Fu Bai Fu’ concluded its 3rd Phase in a style; with live performances in presence of invitees yesterday late evening, at Y.B. Chavan Centre, Cuffe Parade Mumbai. The Brook Bond Red label sponsored Grand Finale presented the last four pairs comprising of Kushal Badrike-Hemangi Kavi, Santosh Pawar- Kishori Ambiye, Satish Tare-Bhalchandra Kadam & Mangesh Desai- Bhargavi Chirmule in this order with two rounds played during this final.
Kushal and Hemangi presented a skit based on the transfer of a Hawaldar to a remote place, where not many complaints received. But, when the Hawaldar encounters a woman entering with the complaint of her husband, the situation creates lot of humour. In the second round the couple played small kids in a maternity ward of a hospital having lost their badges and looking for their real parents. More than the performance, it was their costumes in the second round that received a big applause from the judges and audience.
Satish Tare and Bhalchandra kadam played a skit of the King and his deputy, where the the deputy suggests to the king to hunt tigers to impress upon the Queen. In the second round they posed as Love Guru and his disciple respectively. It was Bhalchandra Kadam, with his perfect timing and superb Body language entertained the guests, while Satish Tare had to use double meaning dialogues to entertain selected audience with a liking for such flavor. It was okay in the beginning, but the repeated utterances spoiled the presentation and chances of the pair.
Mangesh Desai and Bhargavi Chirmule initially presented a girl approaching the owner of a Marriage Beareau and proposing him in an inarticulate style. Their second round was a Saas -Bahu confrontation, where Mangesh was dressed up as an old lady. Both their presentations carried variety. Bhargavi in particular had really worked hard for this event.
However, the couple which entertained the most was Santosh Pawar and Kishori Ambiye. While Kishori played a singer on the lines of Usha Utthup, Santosh was in the get up of Balgandharva and they tested each other’s ability. But, it was their performance in the second round that witnessed non-stop laughter with Santosh playing a Nepali watchman guarding a small village and confronting with a Tamasha artiste on the charges of trespassing. Their chemistry worked very well, with Santosh managing a the perfect timing for comedy. But, it was the non stop enthusiasm and energy of Kishori that enabled them to walk away with the Winner’s trophy and cash award of Rs. 1 lakh each with a 5 day trip to Bangkok and Pataya, sponsored by S.K. Tours. The other three pairs won Rs. 75,000/- each, besides a trophy and certificate.
Nilesh Sable was no doubt at his best as an anchor of the show, but it was the guest anchor for the finals – Vaibhav Mangale who stole the show. During the special stage act for the occasion he was supported well by Anand Ingale and Pushkar Shroti. The later was dressed up as a lady, to give a look of a popular tarrot card reader. The musicians led by Tushar Deval played an important role in every performance. In the variety entertainment during this grand finale, the pairs comprising of Kranti Redkar and Abhijit Kelkar, Urmila Kanetkar – Ananda Kanekar performed group dances.
The overall show was well organized and was attended by many celebrities from the Marathi entertainment industry. Some of the past participants of Fu Bai Fu, like Anand Abhyankar, Aarti Solanki, Sunil Tawde and others were also present. The team of writers lead by Sachin Mote, the director Sachin Goswami, the producer Rakesh Sarang, dress designer- Sangeeta Sarang, Choreographer- Deepali Vichare were also introduced to the audience. The hosts also thanked the efforts taken by the team of technicians behind the success of this show, namely Santosh Shinde and his team of Cameramen and Abhijit Chaugule for his editing work. Mr. Salil karulkar of S.K. Tours, who was the special guest on the occasion, presented the trophy to the winners. The judges – Renuka shahane & Nirmiti Sawant played their roles well. The finals will be telecast after four more episodes of this show, announced Nilesh Sable- the anchor, at the end of the show.
Urmila Matondkar in a Marathi film
Popular Bollywood actress Urmila Matondkar who after creating sensation in Hindi for more than a decade, has now made her entry into Marathi films through Amar Gupte’s film ‘Hridaynath’.
Recently, Urmila picturised an item number for a song in the film, which was picturised at Dream Zone studios, Jogeshwari, Mumbai. Sunidhi Chouhan has rendered her voice for this song. The film also stars other Bollywood artistes like Jackie Shroff and Aditya Pancholi, besides Marathi artistes like Swarangi Marathe, Chinmayee Sumeet and Amey Husnawadkar.
The film has total six songs and its music has been composed by A.R. Rehman’s music arranger- Santosh Muley. Jaishrikant Sawant is the creative producer and the film will be released by the end of this year.
Gautam Rajadhyaksha passes away
Popular Film Photographer Gautam Rajadhyaksha is no more. He passed away due to severe heart attack today morning at his Girgaon residence. He was 62. Gautam was instrumental in shaping the career of many film personalities. He began his career as a Fashion Photographer with Lintas and was later associated with Bollywood as a still photographer for many film magazines. He also did cinematography of few Bollywood films, besides writing scripts for two films.
Gautam was also involved in writing and published his own book ‘Faces’ comprising of photos of celebrities and information about them. He used to regularly write a column for Marathi film magazine ‘Chanderi’. Gautam had written the screenplay of Lata Narvekar’s film ‘Sakhee’ and had also done the still photography for publicity poster of Kedar Shinde’s film ‘Yanda Kartavya Aahe’ starring Ankush Choudhary and Smita Shewale.
Gautam was very encouraging to Marathi artistes and was a music lover. We have seen his presence in many Marathi awards function in the recent past. Last year, during the release of Song album of Rock star Mangesh Borgaonkar he was the chief guest, when he praised Marathi artistes for their talent in music field. Many prominent celebrities paid tributes to him after hearing his untimely death. Lata Mangeshkar called him a multitalented person while his sister Shoba Dey said that it was a big loss to her family as he was not only her beloved brother but a good friend to her children. Kedar Shinde recalled the moments while engaging him as a photographer for his publicity banners and called him as the most modest and talented person.
First look of ‘Teecha Baap Tyacha Baap’
Dar Motion Pictures’ forthcoming Marathi film ‘Teecha Baap Tyacha Baap’ is all set for Dasera release. This multi starrer film directed by Atul Kale will be a comedy with romantic touch. The film will present two newcomers- Mrumayee Godbole and Abhishek Sethia in the company of Shruti Marathe, Abhijit Kelkar and stalwarts like Sachin, Arun Nalawade, Makarand Anaspure, Anand Ingale, Jaywant Wadkar, Uma Sardeshmukh, Mrunal Deshpande and Kishor Pradhan.
The first look of this film was revealed today at Cinemax, Andheri, when the music CD of the film was officially released. Present on the occasion were main artistes of the film besides technical team members. Guru Thakur who has written screenplay and dialogues of the film besides Lyrics, was also present besides music director Ajit of Ajit- Samir duo.
Chief guest- Sachin Pilgaonkar was the first to arrive in time at 11 am and had to wait for long till the actual function began. He spent his time in the company of Cinemax DGM Girish Wankhede and Nanubhai of Video Palace. Co-producer Om Raut stated that the delay was due to late arrival of some stars including Makarand Anaspure and some media persons belonging to popular publications. But, finally they had to begin the function with the first look and music release in their absence, as the hall was to be vacated for the next show of the film. Co- producer Om Raut anchored the show.
While speaking on the occasion, Evergreen Sachin who released the album, said that observing time schedule of the programme was very important for all the invitees. He appealed to all his friends to co-operate in future and take serious note of his appeal. “I am working with this new team of actors for the first time, except Jaywant Wad; and I really enjoyed their company. They are all talented actors,” he added. Atul Kale, the director of the film said that Cinema had always fascinated him since his childhood. ” This film which is a simple but humour filled comedy, is a tribute to my favourite film maker Hrishida,” he said.
There are four tracks of songs in this film penned by Guru Thakur alongwith Vidyadhar Bhave, Vaibhav Joshi and Mandar Cholkar. Music by Ajit -Samir , cinematography by Shailesh Awasthi and editing by Sarvesh Parab are the other credits.
‘Arjun’ will inspire Marathi youth – F.M. Ilyas
When it comes to business, Marathi youth has always stayed behind. Whether in Mumbai or in other parts of Maharashtra, the Marathi youth has only dared to set up small businesses like Vada Paav or fast food. It is high time that they should enter big business including stock market. This seems to be the theme of forthcoming Marathi film ‘Arjun’ directed by F. M. Ilyas, who has not only written and directed this film, but also produced the same alongwith Majid Bourondkar.
Ilyas, himself has struggled in his life, while initially setting up small businesses, before entering this profession. ‘Arjun’ seems to be his own tale of struggle before achieving success. “My film will certainly inspire Marathi youth and help remove their frustration due to non availability of jobs. When people coming from different parts of the country could dare to enter businesses, why not our Marathi youth?” questioned Mr. Ilyas, while addessing the media during the Press meet held on Saturday in Kohinoor Hall, Prabhadevi.
Mr. Bourandkar and Mr. Ilyas who addresed the press gathering, made it very clear about their intentions to produce this film. “We didn’t want to make a film within that limited budget of Rs.70 lakhs or so and then look forward for quick recovery; instead, we focussed on our target auduience comprising of youngsters in Maharashtra, who are feeling insecured today. About 5 to 7 lakh younsters are unemployed here and we just felt that we should send across a strong message to inspire them to take up business.” they added.
The lead pair of ‘Arjun’ – Sachit Patil and Amruta Khanvilkar were present on the occasion alongwith Vidyadhar Joshi, who plays the main villain. “We selected the artistes purely on the requirement of our characters. Both Sachit and Amruta, perfectly fitted in that young generation, while in Vidyadhar Joshi we found our Amrish Puri. Our hero Arjun Pawar is a protagonist, who comes from a middle class family; but makes up his mind to set up a big business here in Mumbai. He gets good support from his better half Anushka, who is the daughter of a businessman. We selected Stock market as a backdrop of the film, because we wanted to show that in every business, there is a lobby. But, inspite of these hurdles, how to be successful, is all that our film will speak.” concluded the director.
While both Sachit and Amruta spoke well about the making and presentation of the film, Mr. Vidyadhar Joshi was all praise for the producers, for being very prompt while making the payments.”For me doing this project has been a great experience, as an actor.” said Sachit,while Amruta thanked the makers for making this timely film, focussed especially on today’s youth.
‘Arjun’ will be released all over Maharashtra on 16th September and the main members of the team had a tour of different places in Maharashtra to promote the film during Ganapati festival. There are four songs beautifully picturised in the film, with all leading singers rendering their voice, while Bollywood Music director Lalit Sen makes his debut in Marathi, through this film. The supporting cast of the film comprises of Varsha Usgaonkar, Vinay Apte, Arun Nalawade, Uday Tikekar, Snigdha Sabnis, Kamalesh Sawant, Uday Sabnis and Anant Jog. The film also presents Gujarathi actress Mamata Soni in a special apperance during a song sequence. ‘Arjun’ is an action packed thriller; that’s what the first look indicated.
Mi Marathi serials score two centuries
Mi Marathi serial ‘Kanyadaan’ will soon score a century of episodes while their other popular serial ‘Krupasindhu’ will be marching ahead with a double century.
While ‘Kanyadaan’ presents the struggle in the life of an Indian woman and the challenges she faces at every situation, ‘Krupasindhu’ is based on the teachings of Swami Samarth Maharaj and highlight the experiences of the devotees.
CD on ‘Ashtavinayak Mantra’ released
On the occasion of Ganesh Festival, Gipsy Music Company are offering a CD ‘Ashtavinayak Mantra’ to the devotees of Ganapati, which recites 108 mantras of Ashtavinayak.
The CD was officially released by Bhajan Samrat Anup Jalota at Reliance Times Store, Bandra. Present on the occasion were Gurudev Shri Anna Guruji, Nashik Math, Shethiya Audio Video’s Shashikant Chedda and Gautam Supariwala, Music Composer Sanjayraj Gaurinandan and mantra -Lyricist- Hemant Sansare.
Marathi stars take a break for Ganapati celebrations
No Marathi movie was released last Friday and not many shows of Marathi Dramas are held during the week, as Marathi celebrities are busy attending the Ganapati celebrations either at their homes or at community celebrations. There has been great demand for Marathi stars at Ganapati celebrations at various mandals, as we witnessed in recently released film ‘Moraya’. Many stars prefer to go to their respective old residential colonies to meet their old neighbors and friends on this occasion. In all it’s time to rejoice, besides taking the blessings of the God. We have also witnessed their presence at the famous ‘Lalbaugcha Rajaa’ in Mumbai.
The common observation was that these celebrities were busy performing pooja at a joint family functions. RBI Colony Mumbai Central Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal, which is celebrating 56th year, invited all the past residents and it was a reunion for them after 30 years. The present artistes welcomed the past residents associated with Marathi dramas and TV serials and it was a grand occasion for all of them. For former Drama director Arwind Bhanu, Pramod Limaye (Kunal Limaye’s father) Dhananjay Mungale, Suresh Sahasrabudhe, Pratibha Sawant (Now, Rakhee Dey), Nitin Guruji and actor Mohan Khambete, it was a memorable moment. Besides these artistes, the colony had offered platform to many well known stage artistes like Nana Shinde, Ravi Patwardhan, Ajit Rege, Dr. & Ms. Benkar, Sanad Kothare, Viju Pawar, Viraj Raje, Kunal Limaye and others. Those present, were welcomed by present TV artiste Monty, a resident of the colony and members of the Ganeshotsav Mandal lead by Satish Bhosale.