A tale about three corporate slaves and how they see life in a new perspective, Hou De Jarasa Ushir (Let There Be A Little Delay), the latest Marathi film from the house of Wasim Maner is making all the right impressions abroad.
One of the few Marathi films to ever be represented at the Oscars, this feature is now competing with Hollywood-produced films in the final run-up to the Oscars.
“What makes Hou De… really special is that we are competing as an American film in a non-English language.
This makes us one of the first films to have ever done something like this. We’ve made it to the first 200 right now and the competition is still underway. We hope we make it to the final list,” opens Abhyangh as we chat with the actor over phone.
The film has already been released in the USA and has received positive reviews, while the Maharashtra release is slotted for January 18, 2013. “The film represents today’s global Marathi, with his heart in Maharashtra, but his home, spread all across the world,” explains Abhyangh. “I play one such character too, an America-returned Marathi software engineer, who is now completely Americanised and is finding it really tough to settle back into his homeland,” the actor adds.
So, where is the film based? “It’s based in this small town called Phaltan (once a princely state) in the district of Satara. Most of the shooting was done there itself and co-incidentally, this is also the hometown of our directors, Wasim and Tahir Maner,” explains Abhyangh.
And what about the other characters? “Well, it’s a nice mixture of old and new talent, with several prominent names including Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Raj Ranaware, Anil Nagarkar, Aishwarya Narkar and Sharvari Jamenis, among many others — the film will definitely be a treat for any Marathi cinema-lover,” answers
Abhyangh.
Synopsised as ‘the story of Sunaina (Sharvari), Malhar (Raj), and Shantanu (Abhyangh), the story follows their lives as the employees of a software company. Each one of them is fighting a lonely battle trying to balance work and life. Every morning, they travel to work together in Shabbir’s (Anil) cab. One day, on a very crucial day in their careers, Shabbir does not arrive on time, and when he does, their cab is stuck in a major traffic jam on the highway. The already irate passengers decide to let Shabbir try an alternate route to the IT park that will take them through remote villages. But almost as soon as they break from routine, a series of life-altering incidents (and a fakir who challenges them to take time in their own hands), inspires them to change their perspective of life itself.’
We ask Abhyangh about the rumour about the screenplay being invited to the Oscar library. “Yes, you heard it right. The screenplay of the film has already been requested for by the Motion Picture Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library. Hou De… has the honour of being the first Marathi film to be invited here. It’s exciting for now. We just hope we make it into the final list,” Abhyangh concludes.
romal.singh@dnaindia.net
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