Dear Friends,

Hope you all are fine there and making all Indians and especially Maharashtrians proud. Let me take this opportunity to make a sincere appeal to you all. A few decades back Marathi cinema was flying high. We had great filmmakers like V. Shantaram, Bhalji Pendharkar, Raja Paranjpe, Rajdutt etc who gave Hindi films a run for their money. But slowly Marathi films started slipping. As you know every ‘Marathi Manus’ understands and speaks Hindi, so slowly they started frequenting Hindi films and the audience for Marathi cinema started decreasing. The Marathi filmmakers raised an alarm and started copying Hindi films to lure the audience back, but in vain. Slowly the death knell for Marathi films was sounded. Films became regressive and we were left with a no win situation.

But lately, thanks to a little help from the government of Maharashtra, the quality and content of Marathi films started improving. Young, enthusiastic film makers came up with new subjects, innovative execution and attractive packaging. Marathi actors have always been a cut above the rest so there too we started making a mark. But, the Marathi audience has not started coming to theatres as much as is required. Yes, there is an improvement but not as much as is desired. The makers are making films without compromising on the quality, but are not recovering their investment. Hence the necessity of this appeal.

It is a great feeling to know that you have moved to another land, but have kept your cultural values deep rooted. It would be a pleasure to get you to see selected Marathi films in a theater near you. We, with help from Sanjay Shetye who lives in New Jersey amongst you, are planning a small festival of Marathi films in Edison, NJ. I have a long standing association with Sanjay and we are striving hard to bring quality Marathi entertainment for all of you. Let’s hope this becomes an annual event. To begin with we plan to bring you 3 films, which you will be proud of.