‘Sukhaant’ talks about Mercy Killing !
Acclaimed filmmaker Sanjay Surkar’s latest film ‘Sukhaant’ deals with the controversial subject of mercy killing. It discusses the right of people with no hope of living to die honorably. Atul Kulkarni plays the protagonist, whose mother is afflicted with a grave ailment. She asks her son to give her the right to die with her own choice. Having made up her mind, the mother forces her son to seek court approval for her self-willed death.
The film raises the ultimate question as a suffering mother demands justice and her lawyer son struggles between his love for mother and doing the right thing.
When fiercely independent and a self-made mother Sitabai meets with an accident that deems her quadriplegic, her life changes forever. Her son Pratap, who is a successful lawyer, takes care of his bed-ridden mother. Even as her dear ones surround her with much love and attention, Sitabai is unable to live at other’s mercy. Everyday she pleads to her son to relieve her from the sufferings with mercy killing . Pratap is unwilling to grant her this peculiar wish. With the passage of time adamant Sitabai gives up food and her condition deteriorates further. When he can no longer bear to watch his helpless mother suffer, Pratap decides to move the court to grant his mother ‘her wish’ to end her life.
The film has tried to send a timely message to the society and hence would certainly invite the attention of one and all. The other cast comprises of Kavita Lad Medhekar, Jyoti Chandekar and Tushar Dalvi. The film is written by Kiran Yadnopavit and is produced by Anuya Mhaiskar. The film is all set for an early release.
‘Nave Valan’ Film festival in Mumbai
Akhil Bharatiya Chitrpat Mahamandal, Mumbai has organized a film festival ‘Nave Valan’ which will showcase selected Marathi films, including ‘Harischandrachi Factory‘ , which is India’s entry for Oscars. The festival will be held between November 16- 20, 2009, at Godrej’s NCPA. With restricted entry for the viewers, the hosts have requested the film lovers to register their names for entry passes before 11 th November 2009, at the Ravindra Natya Mandir, Prabhadevi and Yashvantrao Chavan Auditorium, Nariman Point, between 9 am to 12 noon and 4 pm to 7 pm.
The entry for a particular movie for those registered, will however be confirmed only by 13th November 2009. The schedule of the films to be screened during the festival will be as follows :
| DATE | MOVIE |
| 16th Nov 2009, Monday | Harischandrachi factory |
| 17h Nov 2009, Tuesday | Gandha |
| 18h Nov 2009, Wensday | Gho Mala Asalach Hawa |
| 19h Nov 2009, Thursday | Jogwa |
| 20h Nov 2009, Friday | Gabhricha Paus |
‘Swatantryachi aishi taishi’ to release on 13th Nov.
Four aces productions ‘Swatantryachi aishi taishi’ Produced by Dr. Nandkumar Tasgavkar and Mrs.Vandana Tasgavkar and directed by Ramesh More(Olakh, Mahasatta fame) will release all over Maharashtra on Nov 13. The film is about the present generation’s apathy towards their parents and talks about three such old men, who are in intensive turmoil due to the insensitive attitude of their children towards them.
The film speaks about the mad rush for money by today’s generation in the globalization era and the decadence of Indian values and culture. The film stars Arun Nalawde, Amita Khopkar, Uday Sabnis, Sushant Shelar, Shailesh Datar, Jayant Savarkar, Avinash Narkar, Aishwarya Narkar, Sulabha Deshpande, Ajinkya Joshi, Milind Joshi and others.. The film is cinematographed by Aniket Khandagle, music by Ashok Patki, lyrics by Yashashri More, editing by Vasant Kubal, art by Appa Tambe and sound by Appa Tarkar are the other credits.
Thrilling Climax for “Ek Duja Sathi”
Thrilling Climax of the film “Ek Duja Sathi” was shot at Basera Studios (Kandivali-East). ‘Ek Duja Sathi’ is a Shri Gauri Shankar Productions film, produced by Sunita Mascarens. The climax was shot with star cast like Niranjan Joshi, Dilip Pansare, Varad Chauhan, Priya Gamre, Kuldeep Pawar & Priya Berde.
This is the first venture in the Marathi film industry for producer Sunita Mascarens. She has already produced one Hindi film ‘Yeh pal ho na ho’ prior to this Marathi film. ‘Ek Duja Sathi’ is directed by Amol Surve with story & screenplay by Kaustabh Surve. The five enchanting songs of the film are written by Shrikant Prabhu & Music is composed by John Meddy. Melodious voices are lent by Famous singers like Swapnil Bandodkar, Amey date, Madan Shukla, Neha Dube, & John Meddy for these enchanting songs.
This film is based on a Love Story. It revolves around two couples deeply in love with each other & in spite of opposition from the parents, their love for each other flourishes and wins over the opposition from the parents. This film has been shot extensively in Mahableshwar, Dhahanu & Mumbai.
Sad demise of Sumati Gupte
Popular film actress of yesteryears Sumati Joglekar ( nee Sumati Gupte) passed away on 31st October 2009 in the early morning hours. She was 90. She is survived by her daughter Meera, a former actress and her son in law Achut Vaze, who is a stage producer. Ms. Sumati was born in Vai, Maharashtra but spent most of her time in Baroda, where she took the lessons of acting. After graduating debut first film.
With exceptional talent,Sumati bagged roles in films like ‘Navardeo’, ‘Chimukla Sansar’ and ‘Sunbai’ which was a hit. She played the most memorable role in Bhalji Pendharkar’s historical film ‘Thoratanchi Kamla’ in which she played Sambhaji’s fiancé.
During the making of ‘Chimukla Sansar’ she came closer to film maker Vasant Joglekar and later married him. Subsequently, the husband and wife under the banner of Mera Pictures produced hit films like ‘Shevatcha Malusara’, ‘Janaki’ and ‘Ha Khel Savalyancha’. She was the receipient of most of the prestigious awards like Rasarang’s Dadasaheb Phalke award, V. Shantaram award and the ‘Chitrabhushan’ Jeevan Gaurav Award.
Besides Marathi films Sumati had also performed in many stage plays like ‘Sanshaykallol’, ‘Udyacha Sansar’, ‘Sanyasta Khadag’, ‘Lagnachi Bedi’ and ‘Vikarvilasit’. She also acted in Hindi films like ‘Mausi’, ‘Urvashi’, ‘Hamara Sansar’, ‘Waqt’, ‘Ek Manzil Do Rahein’. The husband and wife duo launched their daughter Meera in lead role opposite Joy Mukherjee by producing Hindi film ‘Ek Kali Muskayee’. MMW joins her family and friends to condole her death.
‘Harishchandrachi Factory’ esteemed at Paris Festival
Marathi film festival was recently held at the prestigious Guimet Museum of Asian Arts, Paris. The highlight of the festival was screening of ‘Harishchandrachi Factory‘ on the concluding day i.e. 31st October, when this film was highly appreciated by elite audience from Paris. The ceremony was attended by dignitaries like
Mr. Ranjan Mathai, the Indian Ambassador,
Ms. Namrata Kumar, First Secretary , Press Information & Culture, Embassy of India,
Mr. Ramesh Muley, Representative of Indian Confederation of Industry in France,
Mr. S. Bhramara, Director, Indian Tourist Office, Paris and Mr. Vaiju Naravane representing the newspaper The Hindu.
After the screening was over all the 300 people present in the audience stood up and applauded the film putting their hands together. This comes as a good news for ‘Harischandrachi Factory’, as the film has been India’s entry for the forthcoming Oscar awards. The film has also raised the standard of Marathi film giving the best example of unlimited creativity. With this appreciation coming from Europe, the film certainly stands a chance to win Oscars.
‘Raja Shivchatrapati’ concludes with spectacular crowning ceremony
With the picturisation of the historical crowning ceremony of the great warrior- Shivaji Maharaj , Nitin Chandrakant Desai‘s mega-serial ‘Raja Shivchatrapat’ has come to an end on Friday 30th October 2009. Known for its magnificent set designs, rich costumes , ideal locations, perfect make-up and above all wonderful performances by all the artistes, this offering from Star Pravah will be remembered for a long time.
The maker of the serial Nitin C. Desai thanked one and all for the overwhelming response to his creation. He said that even one person from a family gets inspired by the teachings of the great warrior, he would consider it a big achievement. Indeed, Mr. Desai had put in lot of efforts to recreate the scenes to match the happenings in history. The dialogues were really inspiring. His perfect choice of locations and most suited selection of artistes was the main reason behind the popularity of this serial.
There must have been a lot of research to verify the facts before presentation and Mr. Desai has done his job well. Incidentally, the swearing in and crowning ceremony of Maharashtra’s elected leaders almost coincides with the conclusion of this historical serial based on the life and teachings of the Great king. As rightly pointed out by the maker, it is high time that our would be ministers take a cue from Shivchatrapati’s ideology, while taking the oath. Can we expect a clean, non corrupt and committed administration to serve this motherland of the famous king ?
‘Geli Ekvis Varsha’ comes with a strong message
All eyes are set on 8th November, when Natak Company will present their timely sensational play , ‘Geli Ekvis Varsha…’ (In The Last 21 years…). The inaugural show is scheduled on this day in Pune’s Bharat Natya Mandir at 9.30 pm. The play with its stimulating theme talks about the thoughts occurring in the minds of today’s 21 year olds, who are subjected to various types of pressures and challenges, in the existing conditions in our so called independent India.
‘Geli Ekvis Varsha’ has presented the story of a youngster, who finally goes to a reality show which is there to create an extremist, terrorist young force… The play would make the audience think seriously about the prevailing situation and its impact on the young minds. It would raise the following issues:
What exactly happened to those young parents, involved in liberil, leitist, socialist movements during and after the 1975 Emergency? What happened to the concept of a free, secular, liberal and ideal nation ? Where are the values and ethics which are to be carried forward from previous generation of freedom fighters? What exactly went wrong during this period of 21 years ? This is what the play has to convey through its forceful theme.
‘Geli Ekvis Varsha’ is written by Dharmakirti Sumant and directed by Aalok Rajwade. The background music is provided by Gandhaar Sangoram, while the sets and lights are designed by Hrishikesh Nagaonkar and Suresh Bhadkamkar respectively. The cast of the film comprises of Amey Wagh, Siddharth Menon, Sayalee Phatak, Manali Bibikar, Vishwajeet Kadam, Ruturaj Shinde, Gautam Reddi, Vikram Sane, Amol Gokhale and Shardul Kadam. The production of this play is managed by Saurabh Daftardar.
Chhote Champions set to offer big Entertainment
Vodafone ‘Eka-peksha Ek – Chhote Champions’ are all set to entertain in a big way on Zee Marathi from 30 October 2009. This dance competition for children will be telecast every Friday and Saturday at 9.30 pm. You may call it a Dhamaka after Diwali. This is the fourth series of competition, which will have 25 children in the age group of 6-14 years presenting variety of dances ranging from classical to western. The best choreographers have been selected for the job to extract the best out of these talented children.
Popular actor- director Sachin Pilgaonkar will be judging their performances in the capacity of the Chief Judge, while every episode will have a guest judge to assess the performance of the participants. For the inaugural show, popular actor Mr. Ashok Saraf will be the special guest.
‘Zee Talkies’ ‘Natarang’ to be screened at MAMI.
It is a great news for ‘Zee Talkies’, as their most awaited film ‘Natarang’ will be screened at this year’s MAMI- International Film Festival. The 11th edition of the Mumbai Film Festival (MFF)begins today with 200 films from 56 countries, who have found their entry in this international film festival. This year five Marathi films will be screened at MAMI, and ‘Natarang’ is one of them.
‘Natarang’ is the story of GUNA, a farm worker from backward community, who is an amateur wrestler who dreams of playing the King in the traditional Marathi folk art- Tamasha. Atul Kulkarni -the national award winning actor, is portraying Guna in ‘Natarang’. This film is directed by debutant director Ravi Jadhav and music of this film is composed by Ajay- Atul, the top most musician duo from Marathi film industry.