For the first time ever, Goa Marathi Film Festival 2015,
organised by Vinsan World, is going to see the world premiere of three Marathi
films. ‘Highway’, directed by Umesh Kulkarni, ‘Panhala’, directed by Nagesh
Bhonsle, and ‘Nilkanth Master’, directed by Gajendra Ahire, are going to be
played on Goan screens while the rest of the world awaits the theatrical
release of the films. Sanjay Shetye, Director of Vinsan World, says, “It gives
me great pleasure to see that the festival has grown by leaps and bounds over
the last eight years. This year, we are hosting the world premiere of three
Marathi films. Not many people know that we were approached by the makers of 8
films in total, requesting to premiere their films at the festival this year.
This is testimony to the fact that the Marathi film fraternity has been looking
at the Goa Marathi Film Festival in a very serious way.” While commenting on
the selection of the three films to be premiered, Sanjay says, “There were no
criteria as such for the selection of these films. The makers of ‘Highway’,
‘Panhala’ and ‘Nilkanth Master’ had approached us well in advance and we had
promised them about the premiere. Also, ‘Highway’ is a big budget film
featuring a few Hindi actors such as Huma Qureshi, Tisca Chopra, etc. So we
really wanted to have the world premiere of ‘Highway’ at GMFF.”
Umesh Kulkarni, Director of film ‘Highway’, says, “I’m happy
that ‘Highway’ is going to be premiered at the Goa Marathi Film Festival. I
personally like GMFF a lot and I make it a point to come here every year. The
audience of Goa is cultured and genuinely interested in art. Their tolerance
levels and reception towards an artiste trying something different is very high
and there is a lot of positivity. More than being a film festival, over the
past few years, GMFF has now become a get-together for Marathi filmmakers where
ideas are shared and conversations happen, thereby giving way to new
productions.”
Speaking about ‘Highway’, Kulkarni says, “My previous films
like ‘Valu’ and ‘Vihir’ were premiered at film festivals in Rotterdam and
Berlin respectively. So I thought this time around, why not premiere it in Goa?
We are still working on the film but we were also keen on screening it at GMFF.
‘Highway’ is a road story that unravels on the Pune-Mumbai highway and looks at
situations in a different perspective, showcasing life in the two metros. The
tagline of the film is ‘Ek Selfie aar paar’ which literally means ‘A selfie
which can see through’. The film speaks about what’s inside a human being and
the society of today. It is about trying to see the paradoxes and the thrill
and joy of travelling.”
After directing films like ‘Post Card’, ‘Anwatt’ and ‘Swami
Public Limited’ this year, writer-director Gajendra Ahire will be presenting
his directorial venture, ‘Nilkanth Master’ at GMFF. The period film, which has
a backdrop of pre independence struggle of India, features the National song
‘Vande Mataram’ in a composition by Ajay-Atul. The film stars Adinath Kothare
in an important role along with Vikram Gokhale, Kishore Kadam, Neha Mahajan and
others. Gajendra Ahire was unavailable for comments.
Nagesh Bhonsle who has had three films of his premiered at
GMFF, is quite elated about his fourth film being premiered this year. Bhonsle
says, “I’m not sure if you can call it coincidence if it happens four times in
a row but for some reasons, the timing of GMFF always tends to coincide with
the release of my film.” Speaking about the film, Bhonsle says, “‘Panhala’,
apart from being a hill station, is a place of historic significance near
Kolhapur. I wanted to toy with the concept of how our history holds important
lessons that we can learn to shape our future. The film is about two married
couples who, in order to forget their troubled pasts, come to Panhala and while
learning about the history of the place that relates to their individual
problems, decode their future.”
