The Marathi film industry, with its focus on content and storytelling, produced some quality cinema this year.
The Marathi film industry, with its focus on content and storytelling, produced some quality cinema this year. The most successful and critically acclaimed of the lot was was director Chaitanya Tamhane's debut effort Court, which went on to become India’s official entry to the 88th Academy Awards. Some of the other films that were well-received were Killa, Katyar Kaljat Ghusali, Highway, Mumbai Pune Mumbai 2 and Double Seat.
While Court was a scathing critique of the legal system through the tale of an ageing folk singer, Avinash Arun’s Killa was a warm, mesmerising journey about a 11-year old boy who has a difficult time coping with the death of his father. Killa bagged the National Award for best feature film in Marathi. Interestingly, Avinash was also the cinematographer of Masaan, another film which did wonders at international film festivals, including winning two awards at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. Both Court and Killa were slightly on the artistic side, but that’s not to say that mainstream Marathi cinema didn’t have its fair share of successes. Another debutante director, Subodh Bhave, gave perhaps one of the biggest blockbusters of Marathi cinema, Katyar Kaljat Ghusali. The Diwali-release, starred Sachin Pilgaonkar and marked the acting debut of popular musician Shankar Mahadevan. Katyar Kaljat Ghusali, based on a 1967 play of the same name, enthralled the audience with the performance and music (by Shankar Ehsaan Loy).
