Mangalorean SUDHEER ATTAVAR’s Milestone Marathi Film.
6 min read
Kannada Filmmaker Sudheer Attavar is soon to make a foray into Marathi Film Industry with a movie that’s sure to make everyone sit back and take notice of his genius vision. Yet untitled, this film is going to be a milestone for Marathi cinema for it will one the first film with just two characters and it is in post-production work.
Finding a producer can also not be easy and Sudheer swears by it . My school friend Dr Sushant, who’s a leading Nephrologist in Mangalore, showed faith in the subject. He with one more childhood friend Vidyadhar Shetty of “Success Films”. They both studied along with me at Mangalore . Meanwhile Hemangini, who has acted in my earlier film in South, also shown interest investing in this film subject.
Talking about his directorial debut in Marathi, Sudheer says, “I’ve done Kannada movies but the subject I had for this film, I felt it could only be made in Marathi. I’ve been an avid Marathi film buff and would never miss a Marathi film in filmfests. I realised here, story is the star and script is the hero! The Marathi film audience is very receptive to experimental cinema and I couldn’t see a better industry to make my film!”
But when you have an entire film with just two actors, casting plays a major key. So, wasn’t roping in newbies a risky shot? Ask Sudheer the same and he says, “Yes, casting was very challenging. The female lead roll demanding Kathak, I sent my actor to Bangalore to get trained under Kathak Exponent- Nandini Mehta, who also choreographed Kathak portion for this film. The male lead was a hard find, as I was looking from theatre background with cinema experience. Finally, I got an actor from Nagpur who will play the lead role .
Sudheer says, he migrated to Mumbai with two dreams. One is to make this 2 actor’s unique film in Marathi and one more in Bollywood with fine actor Pankaj Kapoor, who agreed to act in Sudheer’s Hindi Film. Now one of dream has come true and soon he is finding producer to make film with Pankaj Kapoor, which is again a very unique subject.
Sudheer, who’s won many awards in South for his films and songs including 3 Radio Mirchi awards, Rising Star Award of Big FM and a National Award for a film he produced with Vidyadhar Shetty and others. He is writer too. He is recipient of “Sahitya Academy Award” for his recent play Gul E Bakavali ; which M S Sathyu (film Garam Hawa fame) directed and play represented India in 8th World Theatre Olympics.
Doesn’t think language is a barrier if you want to convey a story. “For a director, any language is good enough to narrate a story. I made non-Kannada speaker Usha Uthup to act in my Kannada film. These are classic example! My crew was very good and they helped me in conveying my point across .
