Mangesh Joshi recalls his own resistance to digitalisation when he directed his debut feature — He… (Bhojpuri, 2011) produced by NFDC. He had to give in but nonetheless he grappled with the unease of the digital image over film for a long time. Writer-director Joshi spent his childhood in the old quarter of Pune at a wada (traditional residence in Maharashtra), where his film buff father would encourage them to watch films.
Weekend afternoons were reserved for watching films. Joshi saw a plethora of Indian films on Doordarshan. He also got trained as a Chemical Engineer but quit his job soon. Perhaps filmmaking was always his calling.
Joshi was introduced to world cinema while assisting filmmakers such as Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar. Mangesh then plunged himself into making a series of short films and documentaries. In many of these, Avinash Arun, director of Killa and noted cinematographer, worked with him. He began researching for Lathe Joshi in early 2015. Shooting began in September followed by a few months of post-production work. Entirely shot in Pune and neighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad areas, which house many workshops, the film also configures the landscape of the changing city.
