The wake up call

And what made you opt for a Marathi film?

The script was very interesting. In fact, it was a spur-of -the moment decision. One day I was having coffee at a cafe with my friend, director Rajesh Ransinghe and we decided to make the film. After directing Rok in 2009, Ransinghe had worked on some serials. He is known for thrillers like Adalat and CID.
As for starting out with Marathi films, basically with the kind of budget that I had on hand, I thought it was easier to make a regional film which is not as expensive as a Hindi film. And the script is very interesting and caters to the sensibilities of the Marathi audience. It is just right for the resources that I have, and when I manage to make more money, I shall get into Bollywood.

Wasn’t the language a hindrance for you?

A little bit, but I have been living in Mumbai for seven years. I am basically from Agra but I did my MBA from Mumbai. I have been working in serials for the last six and a half years and have Saas Bina Sasural, Chanchan, to my credit. I have also been a VJ with MTV besides doing over 65-70 commercials as the main model.

Being an actor yourself, will you be acting in this film as well?

I am not very fluent in Marathi. Besides, I want to focus only on production.

What is the film all about?

A new concept has been introduced in Marathi cinema, and for the first time we would be showing a rock band. The film has good music and is youth oriented, based on a social cause with a message attached to it. It’s not the conventional kind of film. It is quite different.

Janiva is quite an unusual title.

It means awakening. And that is what the film is all about.

The film has young and new faces in the cast.

Yes, there are five teenagers including Satya, Mahesh Manjrekar’s son. Sanket Agarwal is India’s ace beat boxer who can also produce sound and beautiful music through his mouth. There are two girls; Anuradha Mukherjee, a Bengali girl from Kolkata who attended a two-month diction class to learn Marathi. She has put in a lot of effort. Vaibhavi Shandilya is a Maharashtrian from Mumbai. Besides these debutants, the film has Renuka Shahane, Kiran Karmarkar, Indira Krishnan, Atul Parchure, Devdutt Dani, Kishore Kadam and Usha Nadkarni in the cast.
The music is by Harshvardhan Dixit who has been assisting Pritam for a long time before branching out. Daler Mehndi has lent his voice for Marathi for the first time. Now that the film is complete, we are looking to release it on August 15.