Hollywood of the East

Logically explaining the reasons behind the development of Pune as the hub for Marathi cinema,Sarpotdar adds,“Today,Hollywood is the hub for English cinema because they have consciously developed that culture. Similarly,Pune was always the cultural capital of Maharashtra. We had two big studios like the Prabhat studio and the other one owned by my grandfather that helped inculcating cinema culture in the city. Besides,theatre,Ganeshotsav,Sawai Gandharva,Vasant Vyakhyan Mala are some of the events that have consciously helped in upgrading the understanding of audience in Pune.”

Contrary to the common perception that Mumbai is the tinsel town,many filmmakers prefer to work from Pune. Santosh Kolhe,producer,director of film- Made in China reasons cites the primary reasons behind setting up his production studio- Elixir Logical Thinkers Movies Private Limited saying,“Locations in Mumbai are exploited and thus filmmakers find Pune locations different.”

Pulling the audience out of their houses for watching a film is one of the most important aspect and statistics reveal that while a year-and-a-half ago,one theatre was running houseful in Pune,today there are seven theatres that are houseful. This has also been the first city to introduce Marathi audience to multiplex culture with City Pride,Kothrud being the pioneer in setting the trend. In fact,releasing a film in Pune has become a trend amongst filmmakers. Sunanda Kaluskar,PR professional who has been associated with the promotion of Marathi films for a long period explains the reason saying,“Over 80 percent of Marathi films are premiered in Pune simply for the fact that once accepted in Pune,the producers are sure that they’ll do good business outside as well. PR has become an important aspect of Marathi cinema off late.”

Though shot and promoted in Pune,many filmmakers prefer to approach Mumbai for the post-production aspect of a film. Says Nitin Vaidya,founder,Shivaranjani studios that have been in the field for the past 13 years,“Pune certainly has the basic infrastructure in place. What we do not have is the processing of Dolby Digital sound for which Pune filmmakers go to Mumbai. But we do have the pre Dolby setup in place.”

Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukhthankar who have made some of the most memorable films such as- Gho mala asla hawa,Devrai, Doghi,Vastupurush,Nital and so on are amongst few filmmakers who prefer Pune as the base for their operation. According to Sukhthankar,“We used to go to Mumbai for almost all post production related work,but since Devrai that was released in 2002,we have been doing all the editing at our own studio. Digitalisation has made things easy. Non linear editing set up has eased out things for us.”

Though happy with the overall scenario of the Marathi film industry,Sarpotdar feels that it is high time Pune needs a studio. “This is the only city to display varied locations like the urban landscapes that change at a distance of every five minutes and hills and picturesque natural landscapes like Saswad,Mulshi around. I do not understand why we can’t have a studio of our own? If Hyderabad can have one,why not Pune? The FTII is here. Legends like Ram Gabale,Dada Kondke,C Ramachandra belonged to this place. We are in talks with one of the builders in the city and a plan of a well-equipped studio ahead of Hadapsar is under development,” smiles Sarpotdar.