No release of Marathi films on box office for last two Fridays
We have witnessed Marathi film makers releasing four to five films together in the past on a friday. But, sometimes we find not a single Marathi film released on a particular Friday. And this has happened for the last two Fridays. Marathi films were disappointed that after ‘Pushpak Viman’ disappointed them two weeks ago, no Marathi film maker dared to release his film on two subsequent Fridays.
Over the years, we have noticed that whenever any big banner Hindi film announces its release, no Marathi film maker dares to release his film on that particular Friday. This Friday we saw simultaneous release of two big banner Hindi films, namely ‘Gold’ and ‘Satyamev Jayate’ and this kept Marathi film producers and their distributors away from the race. And now don’t be surprised to find 3 to 4 Marathi films releasing together before the arrival Ganapati festival. Perhaps, that suits them the most.
Today, Marathi films have established their own identity on the basis of good subjects. So, why not compete with big banner commercial Hindi films?
‘Second Inning’ wins Best Film award in England
Mohan Parab’s sensational Marathi film ‘Second Inning’ could not achieve much commercial success in Maharashtra, but the film has been receiving good response at various film festivals abroad. In the heart of England International Film festival that concluded recently, ‘Second Inning’ has won the Best feature Film award. Madhav Abhyankar, who played the lead role of a retired judge in this film, was more than happy to share this news with MMW on this occasion. “This award is the biggest appreciation for a Marathi cinema, which dealt with combined fight of senior citizens against injustice in the society.”
In fact, ‘Second Inning’ was a perfect film for multiplex audience, but the step motherly treatment offered by many Multiplexes in Maharashtra only deprived sensible audience from watching this film, when it was released few months ago. The film was a clear message to the society and also to the present system.
One fails to understand why these Marathi film producers don’t opt for other options like ‘Showcase’ on Tata Sky or similar others by other satellite TV operators ? It would certainly help them to earn some revenue on sharing basis with operators , in this Home Theatre scheme, where many latest Hindi films are presently shown few weeks after they are out from theatres . Films like ‘Mission Possible’, ‘Pratisaad’ and ‘Second Inning’ should try this experiment.
Marathi Producers join hands with IMPPA
The Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association ( IMPPA) which is the parent body of the Hindi film producers, have invited Marathi film Producers to join their association to strengthen their unity. In a recently held function, many producers from Marathi film industry attended the meet. Sushma Shiromani, Vijay Kondke and Macchindra Chate took the lead to invite maximum Marathi film producers and convinced them to become members of IMPPA.
IMPPA membership would help Marathi film producers in a big way, as it would sort out their problem to find distributors besides getting costly equipments against reasonable charges. At the same time, advanced editing and dubbing facilities would also be available to them at concession.
Incidentally, elections for the post of President and other members of IMPPA are scheduled for 27th September 2010 and for that purpose, under the leadership of Sushma Shiromani a group of producers have already formed a panel comprising of popular names like Sawan Kumar, Ketan Desai, Vinod Chhabra, Kukku Kohli and Naresh Malhotra are part of it. They have suitably named their panel ‘We for You’