After watching the success of Sai Paranjape in Hindi films and Marathi theatre right from 70s, many women in Maharashtra were inspired to move into direction. And the two prominent names were Aruna Raje and Sushma Shiromani. Aruna successfully shouldered the responsibility of directing the Hindi films like ‘Rihaee’ starring big stars like Hema Malini, Vinod Khanna, Naseeruddin Shah & Reema Lagoo and ‘Bhairavi‘, Sushma offered commercial Marathi films like ‘Fatakdi‘, ‘Bhingari‘ & ‘Kadaklakshmi‘. Recently, Aruna Raje made her comeback through a Marathi film ‘Firebrand‘ starring Sachin Khedekar, Usha Jadhav & Girish Kulkarni, which was released on Netflix last month.

Then we saw the rise of women film makers like Shrabani Deodhar through award-winning films like ‘Lapandaav‘ & ‘Sarkarnama‘ and Kanchan Adhikari through a sensible film like ‘Manini‘ which was the first Marathi film shot in Dubai. Kanchan had already become popular on television, when she directed a mega serial ‘Damini‘. Actress turned director late Smita Talwalkar also offered some good sensible films, besides directing her debut film ‘Savat Majhi Laadki‘.

During the past few years, some more women directors have entered Marathi film industry and prominent among them are, Samruddhi Porey, Swapna Waghmare Joshi, Mrinal Kulkarni, Kranti Redkar, Manva Naik & Pratima Joshi, who have offered good subjects with nice presentations and much more is expected from them. We had also heard about Mrunmayee Deshpande making an announcement about her entry into direction. On the occasion of Women’s day, we wish all these new women film makers all the best.