Marathi film ‘Vihir’ gets an entry at Berlin International Film Festival
Around the city, Events & Happenings — By The Desk on January 27, 2010 at 11:30 AM
Indian Express: Marathi films and talent from Pune made a mark at the 56th National Film Awards last week. One of the winners, Pune’s Umesh Kulkarni, is now getting ready for the prestigious Berlin International Film Festival next month, where the Marathi film he has directed, Vihir, produced by Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited (ABCL) is an entry.
Vihir will be screened in the ‘Generation’ category.
“The formal selection was two days ago. There will be four shows of the film from February 14 to Februry 17,” said Umesh, who had last week won the National Film Awards for best direction in the non-feature category for Three of Us, his second Golden Lotus after one for his short film Girni. Vihir, the first Marathi venture of ABCL, is also the first Marathi film in 34 years to have made it to Berlinale. In 1976, Saamna, directed by Jabbar Patel, had made an impression at Berlin. The 60th edition of the festival is scheduled from February 11-21.
Umesh said the film would be screened at the Rotterdam Film Festival on January 30. “It will be a special case, as films shown in Rotterdam are generally not screened in Berlin,” he said.
The Vihir team will land in Berlin for the screening. Jaya Bachchan, Ramesh Pulapaka, Vrushali Kulkarni, Shrikant Yadav, Vihir actors Madan Deodhar, Alok Rajwade, Parna Pethe, Sharavi Kulkarni, Girish Kulkarni, Mohan Agashe and Umesh will be there. In October 2009, the movie was screened at the Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea. The film, shown at most film festivals in India, also won Umesh the best director award at the recent Pune International Film Festival. Vihir is slated for release on March 5.
Palsadcho Manus (Konkani) and Dev Benegal’s Road, Movies (English/Hindi) are other two Indian films to be showcased at the Berlin Film Festival.
Jabbar Patel, director of Saamna that made it to the Berlin Film Festival 34 years back, said the selection of Vihir was a proud moment for Marathi cinema. “Getting selected for Berlin is a great achievement. It is one of the most prestigious international festivals. Umesh is a promising young director and I am happy for him. His cinema is different and depicts a different language. It is a boost for Marathi film industry and the artistes who want to experiment,” he said.
