After a gap of over 10 years, Mahesh Manjrekar returned to directing Hindi films. The actor-filmmaker, who has a string of projects lined up in Marathi and Hindi, stepped in to helm Antim: The Final Truth, a remake of the Marathi film Mulshi Pattern (2018) that featured him in a pivotal role. In a chat with BT, Mahesh talks about how he convinced Salman Khan to break the mould, why he feels Aayush Sharma has Sanjay Dutt-like qualities and more. Excerpts:

For two years, I was actually getting myself treated for a condition, an overactive bladder. But when I underwent a cystoscopy, I was anticipating that it might turn out to be cancer. I knew that I would have to undergo chemotherapy and surgery, post which I would need a few months to recuperate. In my case, the chemotherapy didn’t affect me much. I needed three months to recuperate post-surgery, so I wrapped up most of the work on the film. We didn’t want anyone to know that I had been diagnosed with cancer, but a few days post my surgery, the word spread.

It was out of the blue that I had some sort of an attack, which triggered extensive treatment. I had to take a gap in the shoot for treatment. I had to let Salman and Aayush know that I was diagnosed with cancer. Salman advised me to go abroad and get it treated, but I decided to get myself treated here. Salman was very concerned, but when he saw that I was okay with the treatment, he came around it, too.

Around five years ago, I acted in Mulshi Pattern, directed by my friend Pravin Tarde. Pravin was to direct the remake, but then, he moved out of the project. Eventually, Salman offered me the film. I agreed, but on the condition that I would write it, too. Even when I was working in Mulshi Pattern, I had a different perspective on the story. I had to hold myself back from expressing my opinions to Pravin at that time because he was the director, and it had to be his vision. So, this time, when the film came to me, I first spoke to Pravin and then took on the film. I wrote the movie with my take on it and started shooting.

The story revolves around a young gangster and a cop who is against the gangsters and wants to wipe them out of the scene. The officer wants law and order to prevail, and then there are powers that try to stop him. The film builds on the clash between Salman and Aayush, two ideologically opposite individuals. The cop’s role in the original movie was not all that long. However, when I thought about the clash in the new version, I felt that the cop’s role needed to be longer. The approach to the narrative was also going to be realistic because I don’t make fantasies. I spoke to Salman and he agreed on a few of the pointers that I suggested. One of them was that I wanted the action to be raw and real, which meant no one would hang from cables, no flying in the air kind of action and nothing unreal. It had to be more of hand-to-hand, regular action. The characters look like they belong to Maharashtra. Aayush’s introduction scene is a high-power scene in which he is wearing a ganji in Govinda style. Salman was a bit concerned about it, but he agreed when I told him why it was necessary to have him look that way.

I had to tell Salman upfront that what he was doing to himself was pushing him into a professional graveyard. It happens when an actor gets stuck in the rut of trying to serve what the audience wants. I told him that we should try and do something different. The thing with fans is that they love an actor in a role, but if they see him do it too often and for too long, then they start getting irritated. An actor feels forced to do what their fans like. When we decided to make this film in a realistic space, I had to ensure that we didn’t lose track.

I’ve seen that in our films, actors want to enact their lines. When the script says ‘angry’, actors want to shout, whereas I feel that emphasising or shouting does not underline the anger a character is feeling. I made him underplay the lines.

In Aayush, I had seen a kind of fire in his eyes, although he has an innocent face, which is a deadly combination. When Aayush and I started working together, I told him to be honest to the genre. I had seen a kind of restlessness in Sanjay Dutt’s eyes back in the day; I see the same thing in Aayush today. I had advised Aayush to stay as close to the original film as possible to get the tone of his character right. I asked him to follow my instructions to the T, and he did. What you see in the trailer is not even a percentage of what that boy has delivered. In reality, I had seen characters like what Aayush has played in this film when I used to do theatre in Pune. Aayush has tremendous screen presence and control. I refrained from giving him anything typical — song, dance, romance. No tropes of commercial films, and he has come out shining.

Today, I have evolved as a director, but I am also scared when I see how brilliant and prepared the younger directors are. I feel like I need to be better prepared to compete with them. World cinema has come into our living rooms. There is a new kind of audience thanks to multiplexes and other avenues. Today, actors like Salman and Shah Rukh Khan have to do something different to evolve. Aamir Khan, for instance, has evolved with a careful choice of characters. Tere Naam is one of those rare Salman films where you see how deeply he can immerse himself into a character. He has done something out of the box previously, he just needs to do it more now. With Antim, Salman and Aayush are tapping into a lesser-known territory. If this film works, I will approach him with bolder content and different subjects. I hope people accept the film because then Salman will believe that people are ready to accept him in a new avatar.

Huge sets, high-octane battle sequences, a wide canvas and elaborate costumes — historical films have been the talk of the town in the Marathi industry for a while now. With almost five such films either ready for release or in the making right now, it’s safe to say that the genre is at its peak in the industry. We spoke to filmmakers to know more. Read on:

Marathi filmmakers have been trying their hand at lesser explored genres like dark comedy, sci-fi and psychological thrillers. But history is clearly the favourite subject this season. Director Digpal Lanjekar, who has helmed two historical films in the past — Farzand and Fatteshikast — will be making six more films under the series ‘Shivraj Ashtak’. The third and fourth films —Pawankhind (earlier Jungjauhar) and Sher Shivraj Hai — have already been announced, with the former eyeing a release soon. Speaking about the reason behind doing this eight-film series, Digpal says, “There are a lot of events in Maratha history that deserve to be made into films. My basic motive was to make the youth know of the glorious tales of the bygone era. Plus, the genre hasn’t been explored well in Marathi.”

Director Rahul Jadhav, who recently revealed the first look of his next, Chhatrapati Tararani, based on the life of the erstwhile regent of the Maratha empire and featuring Sonalee Kulkarni in the lead, also plans to make another period drama based on the life of Maratha naval commander Kanhoji Angre in 2022. “These are our unsung heroes and we need to celebrate them,” he says, adding, “At least 200 movies can be made on the life and times of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and the Maratha empire.”

Ask Rahul what prompted him to make a film on Chhatrapati Tararani and he replies, “I remember, I was in Kolhapur with my daughter and we were crossing the statue of Chhatrapati Tararani. My daughter pointed towards the statue and said ‘Jhansi ki Rani’. It left me heartbroken. I respect Rani Lakshmibai, but I realised that lack of awareness and information about Maratha warriors among the younger generation. That was a trigger point on me and I decided that these stories needed to be told.”

Filmmakers say that thorough research is a must before venturing into making a historical saga. Prasad Oak, who directed Sonalee in Hirkani, shares, “You can’t tweak history. Period. In fact, right from the costumes, to the sets, everything is created from scratch for a historical film. Your groundwork and knowledge about the subject should be impeccable. Every scene in Hirkani was written in detail, which is why we could pull everything off smoothly. It is true that making a historical film is far more challenging than other genres. But it’s satisfying, too, and I am looking forward to beginning another epic soon.”

Pravin Tarde, whose upcoming directorial Sarsenapati Hambirrao boasts of a big star cast, feels that the grandeur of historical films must not be compromised upon. “The film has been made with a budget of approximately Rs. 18 crore. Most of my technicians in the film have worked in big Bollywood films. The sets, the costumes and make-up, nothing has been compromised upon. We have tried to keep VFX to a minimum and tried to keep it as real as possible,” says Pravin, adding, “My actors, including Gashmeer Mahajani and Raqesh Bapat, have shot war scenes wearing armours weighing 90 kgs. I am sure when audiences watch the film, it will be a thrilling experience for them.”

One of the first posters of Jungjauhar , which has now been renamed to Pawankhind

While the I&B Ministry has issued revised SOPs for cinemas, allowing them to operate at full capacity, the state government, till the time of going to press, was yet to give a goahead to multiplexes and single screens with regards to the 100% seating capacity. However, the centre’s decision has made Marathi filmmakers hopeful of bringing the audience back to theatres as they gear up for long-pending theatrical releases and new projects.

Digpal Lanjekar, whose period drama Jungjauhar (above) wrapped up shooting just before the Coronavirus lockdown in March last year, says he wanted to release the film in 2020, but couldn’t. He says, “We were waiting for the government’s nod to 100 percent occupancy. Jungjauhar is a film that needs to be watched with friends and family. With the new development, our team is now finalising a release date, and the film will hit the big screens soon.”

Another period film, the Pravin Tarde directorial Sarsenapati Hambirrao, is also ready for release and the makers have breathed a sigh of relief with the new directive. Tarde says, “Ours is a big budget and big screen film. So, it was obvious that we’d release it in theatre. The 100 per cent occupancy will allow viewers to enjoy the historical saga as it should be. At the same time, it will also help makers in making fair returns at the Box Office.” The team is planning to release the teaser on February 19 and eyeing a June release, as of now.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many films that were supposed to release around the summer vacation time last year were postponed. Among them, prominently, were the Akshay Kumar-Katrina Kaif starrer Sooryavanshi, directed by Rohit Shetty, and Kabir Khan’s '83, with an ensemble cast headlined by Ranveer Singh. With the new directive, it’s obvious that these films will be eyeing release dates soon. So, will that result in regional films being pushed further?

Aditya Sarpotdar, who has three films, Zombivli, Maheshcha Badla and Unaad, ready for release, feels that though releasing a film to full occupancy immediately is tempting, he is not willing to pit his films against the big Bollywood outings. “We will wait for movies like Sooryavanshi, Satyameva Jayate 2 and Radhe to release, and then present ours. These movies will reinstate movie goers’ faith in cinema halls, and sort of normalise the process of watching movies on a big screen again. Subsequently, it will benefit regional cinemas. All my films will be spaced out between June and November,” he says.

In 2018, actor-writer-director Pravin Tarde created waves with his directorial Mulshi Pattern. The Marathi film turned out to be a one of the hits of that year and also resulted in talks for a Hindi remake. While we had recently written about the shooting for the Hindi version, titled Antim: The Final Truth, having begun, we have now learnt that Mulshi Pattern is getting more remakes.

The film highlighted the hardships faced by farmers, who sold off their lands to builders and, due to no knowledge of savings, slipped into poverty soon after. It also spoke about the young generation from these farming families taking to crime.

Speaking to us, Tarde shares, “The movie is being remade in three south Indian languages — Telugu, Tamil and Kannada. I am working on the project with actor Dev Gill. Though I am not associated with the Hindi version (Mahesh Manjrekar is directing it with Aayush Sharma in the lead), I will be directing, writing and acting in the south versions.”

When asked if audiences will relate to the movie down south, Tarde answers, “Like Mulshi in Pune, the situation is the same with farmers from Bengaluru and Chennai where IT parks and industries have been set up on erstwhile farm lands. The topic is relatable across the country.”

He also informs us that most of the cast will remain the same as the Marathi version. “I will play the role of an inspector, while the lead actors will be from the south industry,” he says.

Tarde is simultaneously busy with multiple projects. He has announced the sequel of the Marathi film Deool Band and is awaiting the release of the historical Sarsenapati Hambirrao. “I will soon start working on a love story titled Kolhapur To Buldhana Via Israel. The film will see a boy from Kolhapur and a girl from Buldhana, who are in love, heading to Israel to understand farming techniques and improve the condition of agriculture back home,” Tarde shares.