College Diaries

The film,by the same name as the novel and having released on July 19,is currently in its sixth week and running to packed houses in Mumbai,Pune,Nashik,Nagpur,Aurangabad,Indore,Goa and parts of Gujarat. After opening in 125 theatres,Duniyadari,in its third week,was running across 400 theatres,and in the fourth week,the number went up to 700.

In fact,when there was a possibility of Chennai Express replacing Duniyadari in screens across Mumbai upon the former’s release on August 9,Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray stepped in on behalf of the Marathi film. He got Disney UTV,the producers of the Hindi movie,to allow Duniyadari a free run wherever it was already playing. It has since been playing to packed houses.

Talking about the issue,Jadhav pointed out that Bollywood films are competition for Marathi films since their home state is the same. “I am an ardent Shah Rukh Khan fan who watches his film first day,first show. But we merely wanted some space in the market. What has transpired shows there is hope for all kinds of good content,be it Chennai Express,Duniyadari or Ship of Theseus,which also released on July 19 and is still playing in theatres. I am also glad that theatre owners stood by us in our hour of need,” points out Jadhav.

The film,which is set in the ’70s,as indicated by the bell-bottomed trousers,bouffants and polka-dotted outfits,stays true to the book for the most part. To play the key characters of Shreyas and Digya,Jadhav cast the sweet-faced Swapnil Joshi and rugged-looking Ankush Chaudhary respectively,while Sai Tamhankar and Urmila Kanetkar as Shireen and Meenu along with Shreyas,form the love triangle.

Although the story is relevant even today,Jadhav didn’t wish to contemporise it since that would take away from the old-world romance of the original. “The intensity of love comes through when one watches the hero stand below a window waiting to get a glimpse of his beloved. That charm would be lost if love was blossoming over Whatsapp and Facebook,” he asserts. About the production value,which some critics felt could have been better,Jadhav says that the film was made with the best available resources within a budget,adding that the producers should get equal credit for backing and promoting the film.

A cinematographer by choice with successful films like Jogwa and Pak Pak Pakaak to his credit,Jadhav made his directorial debut with Checkmate in 2008. But direction isn’t his first love. “I wanted to be a cinematographer but my mother,then a teacher,wanted me to be an engineer or doctor. So I earned a degree as a chemical engineer and then started assisting camerapersons,” recounts Jadhav,who has been in the industry for over 15 years now. “Cinematography is part of my existence,but I turn to direction whenever I feel there’s a story waiting to be told and no one else is doing it.