Gone are the days when distributors and theatre-owners used to shy away from screening Marathi films. In the past six months, four Marathi movies have done exceptionally well at the box office — Tingya, Saade Madde Teen, Valu and De Dhakka — and have earned unexpected profits. De Dhakka, for instance, has crossed all previous records. In its first week, it recorded a collection of Rs 78 lakh and in its third week, it recorded an earning of Rs 4 crore. “Now, theatres are approaching us for De Dhakka’s prints,” says Nitin Vaidya, director of Zee Regional, the distributor.

Similarly, Valu has recorded a collection of Rs 3 crore. In its 20th week, 12 shows of Valu are still being screened in Pune theatres.

After winning accolades at festivals, Tingya has also recorded a good collection. The film is the story of a boy’s relationship with his ailing bull in the backdrop of farmers’ suicides, and was screened at the Cannes. It also won the Best Film award at the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image film festival. Similarly, Valu is the opening film at Bollywood and Beyond Film Festival, to be held in Germany.

While Ashok Saraf, Laxmikant Berde dominated the 80’s and the 90’s, it was directors like Jabbar Patel and Amol Palekar who won accolades for Marathi cinema abroad. Dada Kondke’s movies, too, hit the jackpot during this period. “Though some very good Marathi movies were being made during this period, lack of distributors was a major problem,” says film critic Shrikant Bojewar.

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