Will Bollywood’s foray into Marathi cinema affect the latter?
I don’t think it’ll affect the quality of films but would definitely change the marketing and distribution. And that’ll be a welcome change. Till now, a Marathi film had to compete with Bollywood blockbusters for a release. Multiplexes wouldn’t touch a Marathi film. Anaahat was the first Marathi film to be released in a multiplex and everything else, including Shwaas, came later. But all this is changing now. It’s time Indian cinema stopped being synonymous with Bollywood. Tamil cinema is so much bigger than Hindi cinema. If we can portray Indian cinema in its entirety—with all its amazingly refreshing regional contributions—the world will be astounded with what we have to offer. I am trying to do my bit through Marathi cinema.

Have you deliberately kept away from typical Bollywood fare after Paheli?
I have always kept a distance from it. Even Paheli was not Bollywood in content, it just had Bollywood paraphernalia. I am proud that I could say and do what I did with Paheli despite giving it filmi trappings. And if the subject demands, I will do it again. See, there are two ways of making films—one, you take popular stars, a saleable music director, put in a story that concurs with the Bollywood formula and make a masala film. This is what most of Bollywood does. The second way is that you have this story you are obsessed with and you just have to share it with the world and that’s why you want to make a film on it. The second way is my way. Then, if the story demands a star, like Thoda Sa Roomani Ho Jayen demanded Nana Patekar or Anaahat needed someone like Sonali Bendre, I will make it that way. If the story demands fresh faces, I will not hesitate there too. I have no qualms with taking stars in my films.

... contd.