"Theatres in areas like Dadar, Mahim have huge Marathi footfalls. I am not against them screening the Hindi movie, but give me at least two shows," Manjrekar told DNA.
He may be a former leader of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) that hold forth about Marathi cinema and culture, but actor-filmmaker Mahesh Manjrekar is unable to get a theatre in Maharashtrian-dominated areas to screen his Marathi movie. There is another irony here. The movie Bhai, which releases today, is on the life and times of a Maharashtrian literary icon — late litterateur and humorist PL Deshpande.
Manjrekar, who contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 from Mumbai as a candidate of the Raj Thackeray-led party, alleged that distributors of a recently-released Hindi blockbuster were "bullying" single-screen theatres in Mumbai and Pune to ensure that their movie was screened in all four shows.
"Theatres in areas like Dadar, Mahim have huge Marathi footfalls. I am not against them screening the Hindi movie, but give me at least two shows," he told DNA.
Manjrekar said the distributors of the Hindi action-flick were indulging in 'dadagiri' by bullying theatreowners and threatening them that if they did not comply, they would not get any movies for screening in the future.
"Will they dare to use this strategy in Chennai and Hyderabad," questioned Manjrekar, whose 2009 movie "Mee Shivajiraje Bhosale Boltoy" was about the subjugation and loss of identity and power of Marathi-speakers in Mumbai. Manjrekar had himself acted out the role of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the 17th-century warrior-king, who plays the pivotal role in the movie.
"The MNS is often accused of being involved in dadagiri, but what about this?" he questioned, adding that he had approached cultural affairs minister Vinod Tawade about the issue.
"The live and let live principle must be followed. After all, we are part of one industry. It is not as if I am seeking all four shows every day and being unreasonable. But, I am not even getting one show," lamented Manjrekar.
Incidentally, in 2017, DNA had done a story about how a salon spa, named 'Tangerine by Medha Manjrekar', at Dadar, which is run by the wife of the filmmaker, carries an English nameplate and does not have one in Marathi. The salon was situated just four buildings away from MNS chief Raj Thackeray's residence, Krishna Kunj, in Shivaji Park.
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 "Mahesh Manjrekar and PL Deshpande")
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