Don’t like this Marathi film? Give its makers an earful

Sa….Sasucha is horror movie – a rare genre in Marathi film industry. It released on August 27 and stars noted Marathi actors Sonali Kulkarni,Sunil Barve and Vinay Apte among others. The total budget of the movie is Rs 1.5 crore is being shown in over 140 theaters,but it would take around a week’s time to recover the money,Belekar said.

“When we showed the movie at Central Plaza in Girgaum (a traditional Maharashtrian belt) in the morning,there were hardly any takers. So,the theatres decided to show movies on a prime time slot,but even then there was no audience,” he said. The movie had to be pulled out of some theatres after a week. “It’s a fact that not all Marathi movies have audience and giving them time slots is not profitable. We can do little,” said a manager of a theatre in Central Mumbai.

Though the MNS,Sena and the state have been taking credit for getting theatre owners to show Marathi movies during prime time,the audience have still not been coming to theatres the way they come to watch Hindi or English movies.

“Political parties fought over the issue,but none of these political leaders appealed people to watch Marathi movies. Had they watched the movie,it would have created a different impact,” Belekar said without mentioning Raj or Uddhav Thackeray. Raj Thackeray had released the music video and inaugurated his movie’s website.

Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe said,“As a political party we can fight if theatre owners do not give slots to Marathi films. We can do little if audience don’t come to theaters. Nevertheless,good movies are being watched by the people and ‘Natrang’ is a classic example.”

“He (Raj Thackeray) has appealed to people to watch Marathi movies in theaters… even the industry should make quality Marathi movies. He can not pick any odd film and ask people to watch it,” said MNS spokesperson and party MLA Nitin Sardesai.