Embracing some of the tropes of Bollywood fare in no way takes away from the elements that make Marathi its own distinct entity in Indian cinema.
Even though Marathi film has slowly started moving away from its old-school heritage, adapting to the evolving cosmopolitan culture in Maharashtra, modern M-town films still retain the central messages and political lenses as well as traditional jargon, idiosyncrasies and specific references to Maharashtrian culture. This isn’t to say that Marathi cinema has lost the elements that make it unique. Recently, Marathi films have even begun including kissing scenes (though certain theaters in India still censor these moments). Kissing has become more mainstream since 90s, now only a minor taboo in Bollywood (though initially, Bollywood too did not involve much kissing) and Marathi films have followed suit in the past four years or so. This shift from traditional Marathi filmmaking to more modern storylines and soundtracks has been a slow process. They are coming up with new storylines and innovative concepts.” “This is thanks to directors and writers getting exposed to world cinema via television, film festivals etc. “The kind of Marathi cinema that is being made today is very fresh and different,” he said in an interview with the Times of India. Jabbar Patel, has suggested that part of this current Marathi revival has evolved from the blending of cultural ideas. To combat this issue, some Marathi filmmakers have moved towards more generic Westernized themes in an attempt to generate more revenue and build a broader audience, an effort that has yielded some success.Ĭritically acclaimed Marathi director, Dr.
Marathi films have historically received less exposure and funding than Bollywood films. A narrow audience and lower financial expectations were a boon to artistry.Ĭreative freedom comes at a cost, however.
Yet that stigma also begat freedom as the mainstream and upper class rejected this form of entertainment. Tamasha is a subgenre within Marathi cinema, but since the 60s, it has become an inseparable part of this style of filmmaking. This particular trend grew in part out of the Tamasha tradition. This makes these movies a great lens into social and cultural concerns. Marathi filmmakers are known for delivering politicized messages through their work. The Marathi/Bollywood divide is perhaps similar to the Hollywood/indie film divide here in America, where one tends to prioritize profits while the other offers something more unique and smaller scale. However, back in the 1960s and 70s, Marathi filmmakers began focusing on creating movies with social and political undertones, a risky proposition for Indian cinema.ĭespite being located in Maharashtraas, the same sub-national state where Bollywood comes from, so-called “M-town” is more representative of Indian culture than the colorful but often empty offerings of their mainstream counterpart. They’re given large budgets and put focus on making everyone happy in order to guarantee solid box office returns.īollywood films have long focused on easy-to-swallow messages-traditional family dynamics, love and betrayal-standard fare for moviegoers. They skew over-the-top (sometimes even into self-parody). While Bollywood films achieve their success due in large part to filming in Hindi (the national language of India), they also, like big Hollywood blockbusters, tend to be designed to be fail-proof. Marathi is one of the more than two hundred languages in India and represents a unique cultural perspective. This makes the Marathi film industry the oldest in India. However, what most people are not aware of is the fact that the first full-length Indian film ever made- Raja Harishchandra, produced and directed by Dadasaheb Phalke in 1913-was part of the Marathi film industry rather than Bollywood. Considering the dramatic storylines, the focus on emotions accentuated by intense sound effects and entertaining dance numbers, it’s no surprise that Bollywood has made it big, overshadowing the other facets of Indian cinema. Bollywood is easily the most well-known arm of Indian cinema, so much so that Indian cinema has become all but synonymous to Bollywood-at least in the Western world.
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