Paritosh Painter, who has written and directed Hindi films and television shows, has made his directorial debut in Marathi cinema with Lochya Zaala Re, which he has co-directed with Ravi Adhikari.
After a recent screening of the film in Mumbai, which was organized by the distributers UFO Moviez, the filmmaker told Cinestaan.com that he was fortunate to have worked with the cast.
“It’s a dream team, if I may say so, because for my first project I had stalwarts like Sayaji [Shinde] sir, Vijay Patkar sir, Siddharth [Jadhav], Ankush [Chaudhari] and Vaidehi [Parshurami]. And Prasad Khandekar has written it really well,” he said.
Painter is also elated about the response the film got at the screening. “The actors enjoyed performing their parts and that’s reflecting on the screen, which is nice,” he said. “The audience was enjoying itself, laughing and getting entertained; that’s what we wanted and that’s what has happened.”
Lochya Zaala Re is based on a play by Suresh Jayaram titled Pati Sagle Uchapati. Interestingly, Painter used to play the lead character in the English version of the play; the role that Chaudhari essays in the movie.
Recalling that time, Painter said, “I used to play Aditya in the English version. Ninad Kamat used to play Siddharth’s role. Dinyar Contractor used to play Sayaji sir’s character. I started this play 20 years back. I was not as mature as Ankush is now. So I could see a more matured Aditya [in the movie] than what I played.”
Lochya Zaala Re was shot back in 2019. But like many other films, its release had been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent shutdown of theatres. Painter is relieved that the film doesn’t look dated.
“People get scared thinking the film might look old. But luckily, Sanjay Memane has done a wonderful job with the camera. He is a great DoP [director of photography]. He has given a nice look to the whole film,” he said.
Lochya Zaala Re is set to arrive in theatres on 4 February, which will also see the release of four other Marathi films — Panghrun, Faas, Law Of Love and Gaav Aala Gotyat 15 Lakh Khatyat.
“I hope every film makes its money and gets its due,” said Painter. “I hope audiences return to theatres. I also hope we and our film are responsible in some way for getting the audiences back. I am sure everybody wants a little bit of laughter, fun, excitement and entertainment in their lives. I hope Lochya Zaala Re brings that to them.”