'Natrang' brings Tamasha genre back to Marathi cinema

Natrang, the story of a creative mind that dares think different, brings back the theatrical art form of rural Maharashtra — 'Tamasha', back to Marathi silver screen.

The film starring Atul Kulkarni and a directorial debut of Ravi Jadhav was premiered at the 11th Mumbai Film Festival last night.

Zee Talkies, the film production arm of Zee Telefilms, has produced the film.

Jadhav depicts the journey of a young artiste in overcoming hurdles in the form of family, friends, society and to finally realise the unthinkable dream.

Set in the 1970s, in the backdrop of a village in Maharashtra, Natrang highlights the emotions related to gender bias.

Earlier, Marathi films set in rural Maharashtra were musical hits and had Tamasha, a folk art, as the backdrop.

Kulkarni plays Guna, a poor village labourer who nurtures the urning passion for Tamasha.

He dreams of becoming King in Tamasha play and sets up a theatre company, only to realise that the survival was dependent on the inclusion of 'Nchya' (A man who portrays woman in theatre), an indispensable part of Tamasha. The well built Guna  takes it in his stride to play a woman out of his immense love for the art.

This comes as a turning point in his life as he becomes an object of mockery. His wife deserts him and society proclaims him as a eunuch for emoting feminism. The soul of the art is thus reduced by the frivolity of society.

Jadhav said Tamasha as a genre is very close to his heart.

"I undertook two years of research on the subject. It was a risk and I was not sure how the audience would react to a rural theme. It was a difficult subject," he said.

Nikhil Sane of Zee Talkies said that he plans to release the film in January next year.

Kulkarni said the film touches upon different relationships. But, the undercurrent is gender politics.

Natrang was the only Indian entry in the 'Above the Cut' section of MFF, he said.

"It is wrong to compare movies from one country against another. One has to understand the language of cinema. Iranian films are popular because they are made sincerely," he said.

Apart from screenings of movies from different parts of the world, regional films from Maharashtra and Bengal also took centre stage on Sunday at the film festival with screening of Marathi film Gandha and Bengali movie Abohomaan.

Indian Frame showcases 15 best Indian films made in the last one year while 'Above the Cut' category presents 14 first feature films of extraordinary cinematic merit.

Gandha is directed by Sachin Kundalkar and stars Milind Soman, Sonali Kulkarni, Neena Kulkarni and Amruta Subhash. The film is an ensemble of three independent stories bound together by characters who are going through experiences involving the sense of smell.

The stories depict the complexity of relationships and their varied emotional landscape.

Abohomaan, directed by Rituparno Ghosh and starring Dipankar De, Jishu Sengupta, Riya Sen, Ananya Chaterjee and Mamta Shankar, brings to the screen a sensational relationship between a film director, a young actress and a wife who swears
to ruin her husband's life and career and a son who gets caught in the cross fire of extravagant drama.

A group of Canadian students of visual art,music, theatre and dance also got a glimpse of these Indian flavours at the screenings.

The students in the age group of 20 to 68 years said, "We have seen Bollywood classics of wide range from Bimal Roy's Devdas, Gurudutt's Pyasa, Mother India, Guru and also Bollywood romances of 90s for a political analysis of films."

"We are totally mesmerised by the culture these films depict," they said.