Quality content, tech give ray of hope to Dhollywood

Even in the company of Bollywood biggies like Salman Khan starrer Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, Deepika-Ranbir starrer Tamasha and Spectre, the latest James Bond release, Chhelo Divas saw crowds in Ahmedabad multiplexes.

One of the reasons is its strong connect with Ahmedabad, like Beyy Yaar which had shots of the Sabarmati riverfront.
And one of the lead actors of this film, Yash Soni is an alumnus of St.Xavier’s College, Ahmedabad while other actors Malhar Thakar, Arjav Trivedi, Janki Bodiwala, Kinjal Rajpriya, Mitra Gadhvi, Netri Trivedi are theatre actors. The film revolves around a group of eight friends and their college life, love life, being with each other through thick and thin.

Tapan Prajapati, a student of MG Science College says, “Chhello Divas is one of the best movies made so far in Gujarati. It is a full package of laughter. The director (Krishnadev Yagnik) has chosen actors who could fit in the character and live them up. So I cannot say what was the best part.”

Rohan Patel (18), a first year student of same college says, “Kevi Ritey Jaish was the first mile stone of urban Gujarati cinema. After the film had received great response, other urban movies have started expanding. In near future, it is also possible that Gujarati movies can beat the storyline of Bollywood cinema. From laughter to cries, canteen to classrooms, days celebrated in the college everything is covered in the movie.”

From the days when Gujarati films revolved around religion, and portrayed the lead actors dressed in the traditional kediyu-choyni and chania-choli, which was removed from real-life Gujarat, today’s film makers have put the real people on the reel.
Harendra Singh, an MPhil student of Hindi, from Gujarat University, does not watch Gujarati films, not just because he does not understand the language but because, “Gujarati film concepts and stories are religion-based and narrower. Stories and concepts are decided keeping Gujarati people in mind. So a non-Gujarati cannot relate to the film, even if dubbed.”
First year student of HL Commerce Institute Shreeraj Bhalani says, “Chhello Divas has attracted a lot of youth attention. College students like us can associate their life and their friends with the film. The movie is grabbing attention because it has strong characters and all are given equal importance. Definitely a treat for three hours.”

Third year BSC students of St. Xavier’s College Jigar Soneji and Rahul Thakkar say, “Gujarati films thrive on comedy, because it is the only genre done justice to by Gujarati characters. Romance and thrillers are cliched and may not appeal to all. Movies like Chhello Divas, Kevi Rite Jaish, Gujjubhai The Great, Beyy Yaar are appreciated by everyone because the characters are real, funny and audience is able to relate it with their day-to-day life.”

Abhishek Jain director of Kevi Rite Jaish and Beyy Yaar which set a milestone in Gujarati cinema says, “There is no formula that makes Gujarati films click today. But yes, digital marketing helps a lot to for the publicity and popularity. The changing trend alarms the need. Digital marketing play an important role in clicking Gujarati movies these days. Selection of the concepts depends on maker to maker. It depends on the trend and the genre on which director wants to work on. It also mostly depends on the audience which genre they like to watch.”

Krishna Dev Yagnik who directed Chhello Divas, says the film was meant to have the audience relive their college days. He says, “People come to watch movie in theatres to get relaxed, to have fun so my genre will not change till I get a good story in any other genre. I like to make commercial movies and I will stick to it. We also have upcoming projects for January-February 2016 and 2017 on which work is in progress.”