“SHALA” marathi movie cast with photos

Navalakha arts,media & entertainment and nishadh audio visuals present new marathi movie “shala”

Starring- Anshuman Joshi, Ketaki Mategaonkar, dilip prabhavalkar, nandu madhav, jitendra joshi, santosh juvekar, devki dastardar, ashwini giri and amruta khanvilkar

producer – Nilesh Navalakha and vivek wagh

Director- Sujay Dahake
Writers-Avinash Deshpande (screenplay), Milind Bokil (story)

Adaptation from the book

The screenplay of this film has been adapted from the best selling novel of the same name , by reputed Marathi novelist Milind Bokil.
Say’s director Sujay Dahake, “When I first read Shala, I was mesmerized by the sheer loneliness of the character of Joshi. The backdrop of the Emergency and the influence of the hippie culture gives the book a very interesting backdrop with, in my opinion, some of the most interesting characters in Marathi literature”
The novel looks at passionate love in it’s purest and elementary form, in school, in the form of the first love.
The movie is an attempt to bring to life on screen, the very essence of pure, unrequited love that the character Joshi feels for his classmate, Shirodkar.

Themes

Is love time bound? Is it free, or bound by circumstance?
What happens when the friends you grew up with and whose faces you saw everyday are no longer going to be with you?
Why is it that sometimes, it is impossible to express just exactly what you feel?
Is passion, but a lit candle, sure to burn out ?
Is there an alternative to walking alone?
And are we an inseparable part of society and slaves of fate, or can we be truly free?
Shala – The Movie deals with all these, and more . .

India of the 70’s – Emergency and its relevance to the movie

The India of the 70’s was troubled, reeling under the dictatorship of the Emergency declared by Indira Gandhi for 20 months.
The counterculture of the 1960’s viz. that of free speech, liberation, the sexual revolution woman rights and the drug and hippie culture wasn’t felt in its full impact in India.
It was only after the Emergency was declared that the youth of 70’s India realized the importance of liberation and freedom, and started a counterculture of rebellion. The leftists and communists rose to power and massive anti government campaigns became common.
This state of a society on the verge of its first post – independence transformation is reflected in Shala.

Director’s Cut

Why Shala the novel, and not your own story?
Shala the novel by Milind Bokil is one of the most amazing pieces of Marathi literature that I have read.
I feel sorry that despite the existence of a strong literary culture in the Marathi language, we filmmakers haven’t explored it’s possibilities as inspiration for stories on celluloid.
Since the current generation doesn’t read too much these days, I believe I will be doing my bit to incite them to read and make them aware of the existence of the wonderful stories and character’s our literature beings forth.
Also I think the basic premise of the novel Shala is love and school life, which is one of universal appeal. Therefore a movie on the subject would have a likewise appeal.
Technically what new are you doing in Shala?
We are exploring a lot of new technologies, many for the first time in Marathi cinema, with this film. I have invited foreign technicians to be a part of the Sound and Camera department in this project. Diego Romero, a Spanish cinematographer will shoot Shaala. He has studied 18th century Indian paintings to decide a color palette for the film.
Christopher Harvey will record sync sound on location for the film, for the first time in Marathi cinema.
Art and Visual Effects will be used to achieve an authentic look of the 70’s rural India

Revival of Marathi Cinema

In past few years, the Marathi cinema industry has produced many films that are not only critically acclaimed but commercially successful as well. It has brought fresh ideas, untouched subjects and deeper human sensitivity on the celluloid.
Acclaimed director Dr Jabbar Patel explains the reasons behind the change, “The kind of Marathi cinema that is being made today is very fresh and different. This is thanks to directors and writers getting exposed to world cinema via television, film festivals etc. They are coming up with new storylines and innovative concepts.”
Actor Atul Kulkarni remarks, “There is a lot of content and variety in Marathi films. A lot of bold subjects have been handled well by them. They carry a lot of substance.” But, he adds, “We need to start watching a lot more Marathi films. Until we see the films ourselves, we will never be able to appreciate them when they are sent to the Oscars.”
With outstanding contribution and efforts from different producers and directors of Mumbai Film Industry, Marathi cinema relatively outshined other Indian Film Industries such as Bollywood in the first quarter of 2010 in terms of box office collections and critical appreciation.

Reasons for the decline of Marathi cinema

While the theatre of Maharashtra earned recognition at the national level, the cinema failed to make a mark. A major reason was the proximity to the production centre of Hindi cinema (Bollywood), which encroached on the identity of Marathi cinema. Other reasons include the shortage of cinema halls for distribution due to poor marketing, a vibrant theatre scene and the emergence of private television. It also lacked the powerful lobby at the national level unlike Bengali and South Indian cinema; the regional industrial advantage being soaked up by Bollywood.
Approach towards making “SHALA” (School) “Shala” is a book of struggle, passion and freedom. It tells the story of one common emotion ‘LOVE’ and the struggle we go through to get it.
Shala will be a technically strong film. It will focus on relationships between the protagonist and the supporting characters. It’s a simple love story and will also be told in a simple way. The factors, which don’t relate to the love story, will be taken out. A subtle message of the era and the 70’s culture will be shown through visuals and the production design.The film will be shot entirely using wide angle and long lenses. If we consider the films made in the 70’s use of wide angle was prominent. Reason being 70’s was supposed to be freedom, liberation and passion era. We will try to be as close to the novel as possible in terms of details and story.
The film will have a desaturated cold tone throughout the film. One reason being we are telling a tragedy. The film will be shot in rural India showing a general lifestyle of village life.