New subjects in Marathi films will help the industry: Mahesh Manjrekar

A renowned  director ,actor , writer and  producer Mahesh Manjrekar is gifted  with a visionary excellence in portraying the very best of every character in his  films. By virtue of his talent and being a versatile actor himself  he   has carved a niche amongst the best the industry has seen.

Apart from directing films like Vaastav, Astitva and Viruddh, he has also acted in several Hindi and Marathi films, some being his own home productions. Vaastav, is considered to be  one of his bench mark directorial projects where  actor Sanjay Dutt’s acting potential  was creatively showcased.

Adgully caught up with him on the occasion of the music launch of  his upcoming film ‘Kokanastha’  and its association with leading Marathi GEC Star Pravah as the distribution and marketing partner for the film.

It’s a known fact that most of the Mahesh Manjrekar’s   films are based on societal issues faced by the common man . So when asked to share the plot of the  film   ‘Kokanastha’ he went on to explain, “It’s the story of a common man who fights for his rights after facing an extremely bad phase in life. ‘Kokanastha’ is a film which personifies the never say die spirit of every Maharashtrian.”

The film centres around a retired middle class character viz. Ramchandra Govind Gokhale, whose peaceful life is thrown into turmoil by unexpected turn of events and consequently his spirited fight for justice.  “The film delivers a strong message that their peaceful demeanours is because of their intellectual superiority and should not be mistaken for fear or cowardice,” said Manjrekar.

Speaking about his interest in film direction and his preference to direct Marathi films  he said , “I am not much into directing Hindi films because with time I felt that I am not fit for it although cinema is an art which has no language. I just believe in experimenting with subjects and feel Marathi films offer me that scope.”

He also believes that today the common man amongst us is  taking the initiative and that is what will ultimately help us  fight back issues that we are facing in the society . Today the common man has created his own space and is ready to face and  fight back  problems that plague him.

Continuing to talk about his film  ‘Konkanastha’ and what made him  direct it he said  , “ I really liked the idea and then I worked on the story, screenplay and direction. Keeping aside all my other projects I just concentrated on this because I personally felt that there was a need to work on this film.”

The film which was shot in Switzerland for nine days, has a first of its kind teaser campaign initiated by Star Pravah,  as part of promotion involving Bollywood superstars like Amitabh Bacchan and Salman Khan who speak  about the tagline of the film i.e. ‘Tath Kana, Haach Bana’.

When asked what makes Marathi films different from Bollywood films  today, he responded to say “Today audiences who like stories  based on similar subjects and characters have already shifted to Bollywood, and now it’s time for Marathi cinema to explore, experiment and offer a fresh content with new subject. It is only new and interesting subjects that can lead Marathi films to achieve new heights.”

For the first time in the history of Marathi films a 360 degree communication strategy is been implemented in the marketing of this film. With the innovative marketing strategy, they have strongly worked on digital communication strategy too by marketing it on Facebook, YouTube, Google Hangouts, Mobile Contests etc.  A dedicated website for the film ‘Kokanastha’ too would be active soon.

The film has noted actors like Sachin Khedekar, Sonali Kulkarni, Upendra Limaye including newcomers Vaidehi Parshurami and Rohan Talwalkar in the lead roles . Manjrekar’s eagerly awaited film ‘Kokanastha’ will hit theatres on May 10th 2013.

Entertainment
@adgully

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