Journalism of Courage
Dont like this Marathi film? Give its makers an earful
Even as political parties continue to fight over credit for compelling multiplexes to show Marathi movies during evening hours,Kishore Belekar,the director of Marathi movie Sa….Sasucha,has resorted to an innovative way to attract audiences. The director has distributed over two lakh pamphlets in Mumbai and Pune,appealing to people to watch the movie in a theatre,and if they dislike it,they can call him and give an earful.
Released on August 27,Sa…Sasucha,a horror film,is currently playing in some of the city theatres. Belekar says,I have received over 2500 calls. After the first hello,my second line is – ‘you can start abusing if you’ve watched the film.’ Thankfully no one has really abused me,but just made a few suggestions about the name,storyline and so on.
The director has also been getting appreciation calls for the strategy of distributing pamphlets,however he denies that the stunt is a marketing gimmick. If it were a marketing gimmick,I would not have distributed my number to two lakh people. It is a genuine initiative to make people step out of their homes to watch Marathi films. Unlike many politicians who grab the limelight without watching many films themselves,this is a humble request to Marathi viewers to at least step out of their homes to watch these films and give a critical evaluation to the director rather than rejecting it outright, he adds,without mentioning Raj or Uddhav Thackeray. Raj Thackeray had released the music video and inaugurated the movies website.
Starring Sonali Kulkarni,Sunil Barve and Vinay Apte among others,the total budget of the movie is Rs 1.5 crore. Belekar says,When we showed the movie at one of the theatres in Mumbai,there were hardly any takers. So,the theatres decided to show movies at a prime time slot,but even then there was no audience. The movie had to be pulled out of some theatres after a week, he adds.
Its a fact that not all Marathi movies have an audience and giving them prime time slots is not profitable, says a manager of a theatre in central Mumbai. Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe says,As a political party,we can fight if theatre owners do not give slots to Marathi films. But,we can do little if the audience doesnt come to theatres. Nevertheless,good movies are being watched by the people and Natarang is a classic example.
MNS spokesperson and party MLA Nitin Sardesai adds,He (Raj Thackeray) has appealed to people to watch Marathi movies in theatres. Even the industry should make quality Marathi movies. He cannot pick any odd film and ask people to watch it.
