Dhondiba Balu Karande is a self-taught filmmaker from Satara who started making short films and documentaries after a stint in theatre in his college days. “I haven’t even been an assistant director on any feature film,” he tells The Hindu in a telephonic conversation. Now his debut feature film, Palashichi PT , is headed for Festival de Cannes aka the Cannes Film Festival as one of the three films to be showcased at the Marathi film booth at the festival’s Marche du Cinema (the Cannes Film Market).
Made with the artistic talent from rural Satara, the film has earlier played at the Pune International Film Festival and the Solapur International Film Festival. Cannes would be the first exposure to an international platform for both the director as well the film. The other two Cannes-bound Marathi films this year are Deepak Gawade’s Idak (Goat) and Manouj Kadaamh’s Kshitij (Horizon).
This is the third year in a row that Maharashtra will be setting up a stall at the Cannes Film Market, the business counterpart of the Cannes Film Festival and one of the largest film markets in the world. The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting organises the India Pavilion every year to represent Indian cinema at Cannes. However, Maharashtra is the only Indian state to have been pitching its films in the international market, a practice initiated in 2016 at the behest of Vinod Tawde, Minister for school education, higher and technical education, sports and youth welfare, Marathi language and cultural affairs.
Unique initiative
“It’s the one and only kind [of initiative] ever thought of by any state government in the country,” says film critic, journalist and writer Ashok Rane, who has also been the coordinator of the project. “Marathi Cinema has been doing quite well and has been expanding in every respect for more than a decade. The new generation that has stepped into the film industry has been dealing with unique subjects, in artistic manner, with universal appeal,” says Mr Tawde. The annual budget for this initiative averages ₹30 lakh.
The three films showcased in 2016 were Makarand Mane’s Ringan , Shivaji Lotan Patil’s Halal and Punarvasu Naik’s Vakratunda Mahakaya . Last year, the films taken to Cannes included Dashakriya directed by Sandeep Bhalachandra Patil; Prakash Kunte’s Cycle ; and Take Care Good Night, directed by Girish Joshi. “ Ringan, Halal, Vakratunda Mahakaya of the 2016 programme attracted buyers and Ringan was quite in demand as far as the Australian distributors were concerned. Halal is in the process of [getting] distribution in Spain and Portugal. In 2017, the film Dashakriya was screened at the market and was also invited by Berlin Asian Film Festival. Likewise, the film Cycle was invited for a couple of festivals,” says Mr Tawde.
This year a 10-member team will be going to Cannes. All the three films will have two industry screenings each at the Cannes Film Market.
There were about 67 Marathi films vying for the ticket to Cannes this year. The three were chosen through a two-tier jury system. The first jury of three members shortlisted 26 films. The second jury consisting of five members — filmmaker Raghuvir Kulkarni, script-writer Aruna Joglekar, critic-writer Rekha Deshpande, filmmaker Milind Lele and actor Prem Pawar — picked up the final three.
