We have paid tribute to Dada Kondke through Shikari, claims Mahesh Manjrekar

The teaser of Viju Mane’s Marathi movie Shikari made  a lot of heads turn due to unabashed skin show.But the footage didn’t reveal what the film is about. During the trailer launch of the film yesterday, it was revealed that Shikari is a story of a photographer (Suvrat Joshi) who gets attracted to a beautiful young woman, played by debutant, Neha Khan.

Mahesh Manjrekar, the producer of the film, shared that they have tried to pay tribute to the late Dada Kondke through the film. “It is not just another sex film or sex comedy. I have a lot of respect for Dada Kondke. Somewhere, we have tried to pay him a small tribute through this film. We no longer get to see the Dada Kondke type of humour. He had a patent on such type of humour,” he said.

While highlighting the hypocrisy Kondke faced, Manjrekar said how challenging it was to not cross over to the vulgar side. “People used to call him (Kondke) vulgar then. But today, they keep saying he was such a hit and great filmmaker. I always used to like his films. To create the humour was like walking the razor’s edge. The dialogues could have tilted towards the offensive side but we took care of it, just like Dada Kondke did. Rajesh Deshpande has written the film so brilliantly,” he added.

But he added that the level of the adult content in the film is less than what people are subjected to in today’s digital era. “Our content is quite simple as compared to the kind of content youngsters enjoy today on WhatsApp. I feel we keep running away from sex. This film is adult in nature so we are targeting it at the adult audience. In today’s world, there is nothing 'adult' any more,” said Manjrekar.

He also revealed that the film is not just limited to a sex comedy. “After you see the film you will realize that it is a complete entertainment package. But after the film ends, you will carry back at least some thought. It was very difficult to handle this subject. But Viju has done that so well,” he said.

While commenting on the kind of reactions the teaser received, he said, “There were a lot of comments after the teaser came out. I felt, it’s okay, after watching the film people would realize that it’s a good film.”

Also starring Mrunmayee Deshpande, Prasad Oak, Bhau Kadam and Kashmera Shah, Shikari will be released on 20 April.