Seven films have been selected for this year’s Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) Marathi competition. The films will be judged by an international jury, and the winning film will receive the Maharashtra government’s Sant Tukaram award for the best international Marathi film along with a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh.
On Monday at PIFF, the directors of the competing films came together for an interaction moderated by PIFF Deputy Director Vishal Shinde, where they spoke about their journeys in filmmaking and the creative processes behind their work.
Jeejivisha Kale, director of Tighee, said her journey began as an assistant in the film Vazandar. “After 12 years, my film is released as a director. No matter how strong your passion is, if you don’t have the right people with you, your journey does not progress. I have been lucky to meet good people at every stage. Being an only child, loneliness has always accompanied me, and that is what I have tried to express through my film. The women I have seen in my life will be reflected in my cinema,” she stated.
Mohit Takalkar, director of Toh, Ti Ani Fuji, traced back his journey to theatre. “I was already involved in theater, but the idea of making films was always in my mind. I grew up in the city and have had access to many things, however, urban life brings its own conflicts. The changes in relationships within city life are what I have tried to explore in this film,” he said.
Ravindra Manik Jadhav, who made Jeev, spoke about his work as a teacher in Dhule and his aspiration to make films. “I made my first documentary in 2013 using a handheld camera. I didn’t know anything about cinema back then. Later, my documentary Thaal Bhankasar won a prize of Rs 2 lakh, which motivated me to continue. In 2018, a memory shared by someone while I was writing led to the story of Jeev. My wife supported me financially and the film was completed,” he said.
Manoj Naik Satam, a former photographer who took wedding photographs, said watching videos attracted him towards cinema. His film Gaman is considered a strong contender. “One story stayed with me for years, which then became a novel published in 2015. That story eventually became my movie. I didn’t have the money to make it. It was crazy or drown, and I chose to drown,” he said.
Sameer Tewari, director of Bappya, said he wanted to make a Marathi film despite being from Uttar Pradesh. His wife is Marathi. “It took four years to find a producer. Finally, my wife raised the money. Girish Kulkarni, actor, producer and writer, supported me and the story I had in mind came to life. The film reflects what I have observed in the society,” he said.
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Ramesh More, who grew up in a Bombay poor neighborhood and has no formal training in filmmaking, talked about making Adhishesh. “I learned by making films. I looked for a producer for three and a half years. During the pandemic, the idea of what remains inside us stayed with me, and that became the core of the film,” he said.
Santosh Dawkhar, director of Gondhal, said he too had no experience in films. “I made my first short film in 2013. I studied scriptwriting, watched films and learned from them. I spoke to people from the Gondhali community, took a bank loan and completed the film,” he said.
The writer is an intern at The indian express