Ganging up

Makarand Deshpande with Neha Joshi in a still from Saturday-Sunday

By Aashay Khandekar

After studying the minutiae of Indian gangsters in movies such as Satya (1998), Sarfarosh (1999) and Company (2002), wherein he worked as an actor, Makarand Deshpande has now turned to direction in Marathi cinema with a gangster film called Saturday-Sunday, which releases on August 8.
Writing and direction is no rookie business for Deshpande since he has already scripted 40 scripts for a range of plays. However, the film Saturday-Sunday, he says, can be a breakthrough for him as a director in Marathi cinema. “It’s a ‘gangster’ film. Gangs never die; even though you might not see their influence as profoundly as it was seen in the ’90s, they do exist. As long as there is suppression, poverty and black money in the market, gangsters will never go out of context,” says Deshpande, adding that this is the first time he is experimenting without a bound script. “There are less limits and more scope for the film to flow on its own. I have tried it for the first time and I am hopeful it will work,” he says.
Saturday-Sunday is a story that takes place on a weekend and shows the kind of things that can happen in just two days, he says. “Eight deadly gangsters are ousted from their respective gangs. And they appear on the death list of the cops. Later, the secretary of the state’s home ministry calls these gangsters for a secret meeting on a Saturday morning. What ensues in the next 48 hours is the crux of the film,” says Deshpande.
Talking about his experience of direction, he says, “Selecting the characters was a challenge. But once it was done, the process was pretty smooth. I briefed them about the habits, styles and language of the gangs. It was almost like a teaching session. And when they were ‘eligible’ for the role, I told them to carry the same bearing in front of the camera.”
In addition to Deshpande, the film’s cast includes Murli Sharma, Nagesh Bhosale, Neha Joshi, Amruta Subhash, Amruta Sant, Aseem Hattangadi, Sandesh Upsham, Umesh Jagtap, Muzammil Qureshi and Imran Sheikh. While Anik Varma is the director of photography, Rajendra Patil has done the art direction.

 

Poster Perfect

For the premiere of his maiden Marathi production Poshter Boyz, actor-producer Shreyas Talpade and the entire cast and crew of the film were present at Cinepolis, Seasons Mall, Magarpatta, in Pune on August 1. Poshter Boyz is a comedy about three individuals who land in a sticky situation after they are featured in posters promoting sterilisation, without their consent, and their posters are all over the city. The movie features veteran actor Dilip Prabhavalkar along with Hrishikesh Joshi and Aniket Vishwasrao in lead roles.