Maharashtra government's move to cast Marathi movies in prime-time role sparks a row

Marathi films on Tuesday stole the thunder – but on prime-time TV debates, and not where the government would have loved them to.

What sparked the debate was the state government's order to all multiplexes in Mumbai to compulsorily screen a Marathi film on one screen between 6-9 pm – cinema's prime time.

Opinions, predictably, varied.

"It all very good to do this to promote Marathi cinema. But I want to know whether the government will then subsidise tickets and make it affordable for a middle-class Maharashtrian to watch a film, say an Inox? National censor board member Nandini Sardesai told dna.

Fellow panel member Ashok Pandit called the move undemocratic. "Requesting cinema theatres for a prime-time slot for Marathi is one thing, but giving orders like this leaves a very bad taste. Bollywood is going to be directly hit," he said.

Marathi film critic Amit Bhandari presented the other side of this argument. "Accolades and awards have already proven Marathi films are cinematically superior – in both form and content, compared to Bollywood. The rather vocal opposition to the government's move makes one wonder whether the fear is that they (Marathi films) will beat Bollywood's big banners as films like TimePass have in the past."

State culture minister Vinod Tawde defended the move, saying the government is only going by existing rules.

Incidentally, existing rules already say that all theatres (single screens and multiplexes) must screen at least 112 shows of a Marathi film.

"But most theatre- and multiplex-owners either make up numbers and simply allot early morning slots to Marathi films when attendance is poor," said Bhandari, a fact once confirmed by the late acclaimed actor and filmmaker Smita Talwalkar to this writer.

"I was given a slot for 8 am and asked to feel grateful for it," she had protested.

The government move ran afoul of multiplex owners, too. Many of them were unwilling to come on record.

"This isn't a government which believes in dialogue. If that were the case, it would have taken us into confidence before taking this decision. Also, given the extreme chauvinistic nature of some of the constituents of the ruling alliance, we are unsure of our safety if we protest," said the owner of one of India's biggest multiplex brands.

Filmmaker Mukesh Bhatt called the move wrong and dictatorial. "It will only divide and create hatred. Why play up Hindi against Marathi? No one wants Marathi films to do bad, but should this happen at cost of the Hindi films," he asked.

Dr MS Kamath of the Consumer Guidance Society of India, too, called it a case of "over-reach." "Being sympathetic to the regional cause is one thing, but shoving it down people's throats is wrong. It is bad in the interest of free market and free society," he protested.

Not all voices in Bollywood, however, were on the same side. Many like filmmaker Sudhir Mishra called the hullaballoo over the government's decision absurd. "It's not like the government has said no Hindi or non-Marathi film can play in 6-9 slot."

Many like celebrated Marathi filmmaker Sanjay Jadhav welcomed the move. "It will now be a challenge for the Marathi film industry to bring in the numbers." The man whose Duniyadari even gave the SRK-starrer Chennai Express a run for its money should know what he's saying. "Given the right push, I know we can make it."

With both sides firm on their stands, the last word could come only from the box office.

Not done: Sardesai

National censor board member Nandini Sardesai said: "I tell all my students that they must make an effort to pick up Marathi if they live here. It's like picking up the local language anywhere. But the moment someone makes that into a compulsion, then we are staring at a huge problem. This whole business of telling you what to wear, where to go and not to go, what to eat and not eat and now this is seriously problematic."