'Ajinkya', hopes to break new ground by being the first Marathi movie with a plot that revolves around a sport basketball The canvas may not be as grand or large as an Invictus or even a Chak De! India,but for the Marathi movie 'Ajinkya' the very idea of using a sport as its central theme is not just unique one,but also a first for the industry that has long lived in the shadow of its Mumbai counterpart. Slated to release by October end,the film has been made by debutant director Tejas Deoskar,who describes the movie as a story that had always been there in the back of his mind. The film,which deals with the struggles of a successful basketball coach,has Sandeep Kulkarni playing the lead role. Kulkarni,who had earlier acted in critically acclaimed movies like 'Shwaas' and 'Dombivili Fast' describes the role as a challenging one given that he had never played the game itself. I had to surrender myself to Tejas (Deoskar) who is a brilliant player. There was this very different angle of looking at relationships from the point of view of a sportsman. Deoskar,who has also penned the dialogues for the film says that translating the idea into an entertaining film was not easy There were a lot of thoughts that went through my mind when we were brainstorming on it. In fact I had seen this happen to my own basketball coach so I knew the story well. Just making it more interesting took time. The film was shot in December last year in Pune and Nagpur. However Deoskar says that the post production took time because they wanted to make sure that the cuts were in sync with the story and that the plot remained gripping till the end. The movie traces the life of Kulkarni,a successful basketball coach,who begins to falter both professionally and personally when success goes to go to his head. His wife portrayed by Kadam,understands his mentality but eventually cracks begin developing in their relationship and this reflects on his work too. Kadam says,Working with Sandeep was a different experience given that it was my first film with him. Even the chemistry between our unusual pairing was a very brave decision on the part of the director. My character is a very well-educated,financially independent,girl. And even though she is very simple at heart she has her priorities in place as far as her personal and professional lives are concerned. Unlike her husband she doesn't get carried away by the moment. She is very balanced as an individual. Deoskar says that basketball,admittedly,was a difficult sport to work on. I oscillated between choosing a sport that is more popular like cricket or something that was in my mind when the basic idea was being conceived. But I realised that the emotion associated with the sport was the same no matter which one I choose and decided that I wanted to portray a story about a sport that was close to my heart.I had not played the game but when my 10-year-old son saw the rough cut of the film he was awestruck. We knew that it would strike a chord with people. It is about life and never giving up, he says.
