NEWS-IFFI: 'Not Only Mrs Raut, Marathi film, English title... and about women
Frederick Noronha (FN)
From Frederick Noronha
PANAJI, Goa, Dec 4 -- This film is about the harsh exploitation women face in today's society, but producer-and-actress Aditi Deshpande won't quite call it a "feminist" film.
It's a hard-hitting story all-right. 'Not Only Mrs Raut', a Marathi 122-minute film with an unusual English-title, is about single-parent Vidya Raut, who brings up her daughter alone.
When her daughter, just stepping into her teens, gets raped by the boss she trusts, Mrs Raut fails to get justice in court, and finally kills the rapist and surrenders to the police. Following this, the travails of accessing justice for a lone women make up the rest of the story.
Producing her maiden film, Ms Deshpande narrates that she had to rustle up money via a precarious bank-loan, spent on a whole just Rs 15 to 20 lakh (one to two million rupees) for the entire film, and completed shooting in a bare eleven days.
"If content is strong, people overlook the technical aspects. But don't judge the film (adversely) merely because it has been shot over such a short time," she said.
She says they were thrilled to win the Best Marathi Film National Award in 2003 and get selected for the Indian Panorama section of the 35th International Film Festival of India, currently underway in Goa.
"It seems that a woman have all the money and power in today's society. But does she really have a say over her own self?" asked Ms Deshpande. She said director Gajendra Ahire, rising beyond gender, had done excellent justice to the film, in which she herself plays the lead role of Mrs Raut.
Released in June 2003 at Pune, the film completed 100 days at Pune's major theatres and went on to run for seven weeks in Mumbai. "We've already recovered 80% of our costs (and hope to do well)," said Ms Deshpande.
It had also got a "very good response" from audiences in Delhi and Baroda, and had been screened in California and Sydney (Australia), home to Marathi expatriate audiences.
Asked about the English-language title for the Marathi film, she said after toying around with a number of titles, someone accidentally mentioned its current title while discussing the film. That stayed on.
She says there's no rivalry with the other Marathi film, coming from the western Indian state of Maharashtra, which was making waves this year -- 'Shwaas' (A Breath), which is India's nominee for the Oscars.
"It's natural (that my film) would get overshadowed. After 50 years,
Marathi film has got a natioal award. We are all very happy about
'Shwaas'," she added. (ENDS)
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