Despite it being a Marathi film and him being a former leader of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Mahesh Manjrekar says theatre owners in Mumbai are unwilling to screen his latest film Bhai: Vyakti ki Valli, which releases today.
This, when Bhai is based on the life and work of late Maharashtrian literary icon Pu La Deshpande. Manjrekar blames the distributors of a recent Hindi blockbuster, who he says are forcing theatre owners to run all four shows of their film, refusing to give room to any other.
"Theatres in areas like Dadar, Mahim have huge Marathi footfalls. I am not against them screening the Hindi movie, but give me at least two shows," he told DNA.
Accusing the distributors of doing “dadagiri” and threatening theatre owners of not giving them films in the future, Manjrekar said, "Will they dare to use this strategy in Chennai and Hyderabad?
"The MNS is often accused of being involved in dadagiri, but what about this? The live and let live principle must be followed. After all, we are part of one industry. It is not as if I am seeking all four shows every day and being unreasonable. But, I am not even getting one show," he said, adding that he had also spoken to cultural affairs minister Vinod Tawade about it.
Manjrekar, who has directed Bhai and will release it in two parts, said he was glad he did this film despite his writer’s wariness about it. “It was the anger and the need to prove a point to the writer that I embarked on this journey. That apart, I am really fascinated by this man’s life and his stories,” he told Hindustan Times.
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