Director Sujay Dahake has announced his next film and it is an adaptation of social worker and freedom fighter Sane Guruji's autobiographical novel Shyamchi Aai.
The film, which will share the title, will be released in time for Diwali next year.
Dahake shared this news on Facebook by unveiling the first poster for his film.
"So here we go," he wrote. "A passion project. After 5 years of working on it I was finally able to mount it. Stay tuned on this page for more updates... Wish me luck and send me love."
In a departure from the norm, the film will be made in black-and-white. It is set in the period from 1912 to 1947, when the country was fighting for freedom from British rule.
This is the second adaptation of Sane Guruji's novel after Acharya PK Atre's classic Shyamchi Aai (1953), which became the first film to win the Golden Lotus for Best Film at the National Film Awards in 1954.
Dahake had been toying with the idea of making a film on Shyamchi Aai since the release of his first film Shala (2012). Since then he has made Ajoba (2014), Phuntroo (2015) and Kesari (2020). Even as he worked on other projects, he continued his research on Shyamchi Aai and now, after years of background work, he has finally decided to launch his film.
The film's casting will be done after a thorough audition process. Shyamchi Aai will be produced by Amruta Arun Rao under the banner of Pune Film Company.