Only Marathi and Malayalam films are giving good content these days, says Mahesh Manjrekar

Kaleidoscope Cinema and Picture Production and SR Enterprises announced an upcoming slate of seven Marathi films under their banners last evening at a grand launch event in Mumbai. 

One of the films announced was Mahesh Manjrekar’s Niravadhi which finds veteran filmmaker team up with Subodh Bhave for the first time. The movie, which is a love story, will also star Gauri Ingawale. 

During the launch of the film, Manjrekar spoke about the current situation in Marathi cinema and what it needs to do be recognized all over India by giving the examples of Prashanth Neel’s period saga KGF: Chapter 1 (2018) and KGF: Chapter 2 (2022) starring south star Yash.

“We have to shout from the rooftops saying our films are good,” he said. “Some years ago, the situation of Kannada film industry was such that it could have shut down any moment. But there was one person [Prashanth] who believed that we should make a film and spend a lot on it. He did a film called KGF and achieved history.” 

Manjrekar is particularly pleased to see that Prashanth didn’t shy away from making the film in his language. “What I was happy to see was that he didn’t make either KGF Chapter 1 or 2 in Hindi. He made them in Kannada, dubbed in Hindi and threw it on you,” he stated. 

Manjrekar believes that making big spectacle films is the need of the hour for the Marathi film industry. “There is no dearth of talent for us [Marathi cinema],” he added. “So why are we lagging? We need people who believe in this. It is important for us to make big films. For that we need to show confidence. I envy these guys [Kaleidoscope and SR Enterprises]. I would have liked doing it but someone did it and it’s superb.” 

The filmmaker has no doubt about Marathi cinema’s content currently. “Content wise we are on top,” he said. “Only Marathi and Malayalam are giving good content in real sense. Just that we need [the] audience to keep coming. But for that we need someone to show the belief and spend money like they did in KGF. KGF [Chapter] 2 did Rs1000 crore!”