Nine years after his critically acclaimed Dombivili Fast (DF) set both the festival circuit and the box office ablaze, Sandeep Kulkarni is back with Dombivli Return (DR), a psychological thriller with the social conscience. And no this one's no sequel. "DR became such a cult film that I keep being asked by people to this day if there's a sequel," Kulkarni admitted to dna but added, "How can you take a narrative which had already reached crescendo of sorts and build on it further? It was impossible and let's not forget that the protagonist in DF died in the end."
Kulkarni says people in metros, second generation cities, towns and even rural India, found a resonance for their existential angst. "Corruption, apathy and complete break down of even the most basic service delivery systems has meant that there is a lot of anger building up in common man. Knowing that we've touched a nerve with DF, I was on the lookout for another story like the one directed by Nishikanth Kamat. I had mentioned this to Mahendra Teredesai, who came up with the story of a roller coaster experience of a man with joy and fear of power," he explains.
In DR, Anant Velankar is a photographer in the PR department at Mantralaya. This Dombivli resident, a middle class Maharashtrian, who lives strictly by the norms and mores of his class suddenly finds himself engulfed with circumstances which give him a leg-up to upper class. But the not-exactly-ethical way up he has used begins gnawing him from within and leaves him conflicted. "Not surprising then that the middle class are often called the conscience-keepers of the nation," says Kulkarni.
"Of course critical acclaim is important but I want the film to work with the masses too and relive the glory of DF," he says. DF, it will be recalled was a story of a middle class bank employee, Madhav Apte, an ordinary, law-abiding and honest citizen, who faces constant frustration with the injustice and corruption in all walks of life. The film shows him reaching breaking point, and going on rampage as a vigilante setting things right.
Unlike DF, which was a Marathi film, this time DR is in Hindi. "Given the universality of the subject we wanted it to reach a wider range of people and hence decided to make the characters speak Hindi," he explains adding, "This doesn't take away from the Maharashtrian texture. Like Kahani, had Bengali texture about it or Vicky Donor, had a Punjabi one and yet the characters spoke Hindi. That's what we've tried to do here."
According to him, this is one of the best times for Marathi cinema which has not only pulled itself out of a rut since sending Shwaas (which saw this Satyadev Dubey protegé debut in Marathi) to the Oscars in 2004, but followed it with releases that stand-up to Bollywood and give it a run for its money. "It is true that Marathi films are coming into their own, once again. We've had some of the best critically acclaimed cinema being made on out-of-the-box subjects more diverse than even Hindi. Many are becoming BO commercial successes." He, however, warned against the release of several films together. "We end up cannibalising each other's audience which is not good for everybody. I think filmmakers in the Marathi film industry are becoming aware of this problem. "I only hope that a win-win mechanism is found so that all the films get spaced out and everyone makes some money. If Bollywood can do it, why can't we?"
(Dombivli Return today at Cinemax Versova, Screen 2 at 12.15 pm and on Monday PVR Andheri, Screen 3 at 6pm)
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