Why regional cinema has risen

Shreyas Talpade says that the youth is supporting it more now

Having been an integral part of both Marathi and Hindi cinema, actor and filmmaker Shreyas Talpade has insight into both industries. And with films such as Sairat, Natsamrat (2016), Chauthi Koot (2015), Killa and Court (2014) in the recent years creating waves all over India, Shreyas feels that the credit goes to the young generation of viewers acknowledging good stories in regional cinema.

“Earlier, people made films but did not promote them enough. Giving one ad in the papers was considered enough. I remember telling producers of my Marathi films that if they were spending so much money in making a film, they could spend some publicising it as well. Not everyone got the point and they said it was waste of money. But eventually, it started happening,” he says.

Shreyas, who has been a part of Marathi films such as Pachadlela (2004) and Aai Shappath (2006) goes on to add, “The youth has started [supporting] regional cinema, which would earlier happen only with Tamil and Telugu films, where the youth thought it cool to watch regional films. Slowly, with films doing well at the box office, they realised stars are stars, and actors are actors. That is when the whole cinema started growing.”

However, Shreyas stresses that one has to be practical about investing money in regional projects. “We can’t be making a leap in terms of budget. There has to be a gradual increase in it and at the end of the day, the market [for a Marathi film] is Maharashtra.”

PHOTO: AMAL KS/HT Shreyas Talpade directed the Marathi film Poshter Boyz (2014)