Film on diamond polisher shines at box office

Producer Atul Patel has his reasons for selecting such an unconventional topic. “I am a distributor for Hindi movies and own a theatre in Varachha,the biggest hub of diamond polishers in Surat. No wonder I am emotionally connected with the diamond industry and its people. When I saw the slowdown,I realised, this is the subject for a Gujarati movie,” he explains.

And his calculations have not failed him. Even the IPL failed to make a dent in the collections,with revenues crossing Rs 25 lakh in central and south Gujarat alone. The movie is scheduled to release in Saurashtra on June 26.

“The movie wouldn’t have been such a hit had it been released any later,” says Patel,explaining why he made sure the entire production was completed in three months,that too on a shoestring budget of just Rs 25 lakh.

Patel knew he had a winner from the very start. And the fact that director Arun as well as writer Harshad Gadhvi had seen the industry from close quarters only helped. “People have come to see what they have experienced and seen around them in the last few months,” adds Patel,who made sure the latest developments in the industry were incorporated in the script.

The story line is simple. The newly married protagonist Karshan (played by Himanshu Turi),migrates to Surat from his village in Bhavnagar so that he can work as a diamond polisher and pay off his debt.

But the slowdown hits the industry and his dreams.

Karshan sees his colleagues committing suicide and diamond unit owners losing their wealth overnight. Circumstances force him to return to his village a pauper.