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| Home > Regional Films > Marathi Films > Decline of Marathi Cinema
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| | Decline of Marathi Cinema
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 The golden period of Marathi cinema was the time when Raja Paranjpe and Balji Pendharkar made remarkable films. In the late 60s, the aesthetics changed because of the emergence of the Film Finance Corporation. Then emerged the rise of parallel cinema. These films surely did well and filmmakers Satyajit Ray, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Kumar Shahani, Mani Kaul and Mrinal Sen, became house-hold names. However, apart from these few, one can hardly see Marathi cinema spreading its wings wide and achieving a commercial success in a long time. Marathi cinema, can only boast of having won the first National Award for Shyaamchi Aai when the award was instituted 50 years ago. Then it was only Shwaas, which won the award this year. However, awards, are not essentially a reflection of the success or failure of regional films.
The decline of the regional cinema began during the 1970-85 period, as after 1990, hardly did any of the marathi films have done well internationally. Parallel cinema was fading out while at the same time mainstream cinema was jazzing up on its act. As there is no such thing as parallel cinema then and with mainstream cinema failing to show aesthetic values, midstream and small budget films have come on their own. This applies to any language.
 Marathi cinema got into a rut due to the monotony of churning films based on the chemistry between a man and a woman. Except for a few films made by Sumitra Bhave, Amol Palekar, Jabbar Patel and others, most of the others focussed on the love story angle. One look at look at the history of Indian cinema and one might observe that the Marathi films occupy an important position. However, the lack of good subjects and the low activity in cinema contributed to the lack lustre performance of the films.
By and large, Marathi films are made in the 16mm format and then blown to the 35mm format affecting the quality of the film. One of the reasons for Shwaas`s success was that it was made in the 25mm format. Except for a few filmmakers like Sachin Pilgaonkar, Kedar Shinde, Kachre and Sawant, not many are willing to spend on technology. Mahesh Kothare`s next film Khabardar is the first Marathi film to be made using the digital intern process.
Another reason why Marathi films do not catch the eye of the viewers is the lack of advertising. Unlike Hindi films where distribution is a business of its own, in Marathi films, it is usually the producer or director who has to walk the talk for his film. A Marathi filmmaker has to think of everything - from finance to aesthetics to marketing.
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