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By:

Bharati Dubey

17 May 2026 at 1:38:10 am

Raja Shivaji sparks a new era for Marathi cinema

Mumbai: As Raja Shivaji marches steadily towards the Rs 100 crore mark, the film has reignited debate around the future of the Marathi film industry. Having already crossed Rs 80 crore at the Indian box office, the historical drama is now only the second Marathi film after Sairat to achieve the milestone. Its success has raised a larger question within the trade: can a major blockbuster finally attract sustained investment into Marathi cinema, an industry often marked by cycles of growth and...

Raja Shivaji sparks a new era for Marathi cinema

Mumbai: As Raja Shivaji marches steadily towards the Rs 100 crore mark, the film has reignited debate around the future of the Marathi film industry. Having already crossed Rs 80 crore at the Indian box office, the historical drama is now only the second Marathi film after Sairat to achieve the milestone. Its success has raised a larger question within the trade: can a major blockbuster finally attract sustained investment into Marathi cinema, an industry often marked by cycles of growth and slowdown? Much of the buzz surrounding the film stems from the support it received from prominent Hindi film stars, several of whom reportedly came on board to back the project and the industry. Trade analyst Girish Wankhede believes the film’s biggest achievement lies in the scale of collaboration it represents. “The real strength of Raja Shivaji lies in its creative ensemble star cast, which Riteish Deshmukh successfully brought together. By roping in heavyweight Hindi stars like Abhishek Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, and Salman Khan, the film showcases the immense combined value of cross-industry collaboration. This strong gesture of Hindi cinema’s biggest names extending full support to a Marathi project has created a powerful impression, generating tremendous curiosity and respect for Marathi cinema among audiences, investors, and other industries. It underscores how Marathi films can now command pan-Indian attention and star power,” he says. At the same time, Wankhede feels it may still be premature to call the film a runaway commercial success given its production scale and costs. “What is heartening is the visible new energy and creative fuel that Riteish Deshmukh has infused into Marathi cinema. With him at the helm of affairs, the film looks strong and polished, and this momentum, further amplified by the star support, is already drawing serious attention from investors who were earlier hesitant about the regional space,” he adds. Producer Suniel Wadhwa, Co-Founder and Director of Karmic Films, says the film’s performance could play an important role in rebuilding investor confidence in theatrical cinema. “The success of Raja Shivaji could significantly improve investor confidence in theatrical cinema, especially at a time when many non-film investors have become cautious about the sector. If the film succeeds as a large-scale theatrical event rather than just an opening weekend phenomenon, it will reinforce the belief that culturally rooted Indian stories still possess massive commercial potential across regions and demographics,” he says. However, Wadhwa points out that the industry continues to face deep structural challenges. “One of the biggest is the shortage of true theatrical stars who can create urgency for audiences to step into cinemas. Streaming has created visibility, but not necessarily ticket-selling mythology. At the same time, India remains heavily under-screened, and even strong films often struggle with inadequate show slots, limited showcasing windows, and overcrowded release calendars. Many films today are judged within the first 48–72 hours, leaving little room for organic word-of-mouth growth,” he says. According to him, the theatrical business is evolving rather than disappearing. “Audiences are now reserving cinema outings for event-driven experiences — spectacle, emotion, mythology, action, horror-comedy, and culturally resonant storytelling. Films that can create that collective viewing urgency will continue to attract both audiences and serious investment capital,” he adds. The Marathi film industry has witnessed a mixed year so far. More than two dozen films have released, but only a handful — including Raja Shivaji, Kranti Vidyalay Marathi Madhyam, Aga Aga Sunbai Mahnatay Sasubai, and Super Duper — have performed strongly at the box office. Veteran journalist Dilip Thakur believes Marathi cinema has already begun regaining momentum after the slowdown caused by the pandemic. “New Marathi films are getting launched regularly. The upcoming film Bapya had its screening at Sunny Super Sound, which was attended by non-Marathi journalists in big numbers. The story of Bapya is complex and difficult to make. The point here is that a producer agreed to put his money into the film. Sabar Bonda was another difficult subject which won an award at Sundance. So, producers willing to invest money in such subjects is one positive sign,” he says. Thakur also points to the continued appetite for mainstream Marathi entertainers. “The boom after Sairat still exists in Marathi cinema. There was a setback for four years because of Covid, but the industry has gained momentum. Ravi Jadhav’s new film Fulawara, based on tamasha folk art, will soon go on floors in Pune,” he says. He further notes that Marathi cinema is increasingly attracting investors from outside the industry. “Most Marathi films have non-Marathi investors. They are putting in money because there is business in Marathi cinema. But not every film becomes a hit. Subhash Ghai also produced a few Marathi films. If the subject is good, people are willing to invest,” he adds. Not everyone, however, is convinced that one major hit can alter the industry’s fortunes overnight. Nitin Datar, president of the Cinema Owners Association, remains cautious about reading too much into the film’s success. “Only one film success is not going to bring investors. In the last five years, out of nearly 500 films produced, the success rate has not been encouraging,” he says. Datar acknowledges that the presence of Hindi stars has helped boost the film’s commercial appeal but stresses that Marathi cinema still lacks enough bankable stars capable of consistently drawing audiences to theatres. “The production houses and directors have attracted audiences. Unfortunately, producers haven’t been successful in attracting financial assistance, which has resulted in low production and advertising budgets. But if films succeed in pulling audiences over the weekend, exhibitors automatically increase shows and reduce screenings of underperforming films from other languages. The audience is always there, waiting to visit theatres in large numbers for a good film,” he says. For now, Raja Shivaji has undeniably given Marathi cinema a strong moment in the spotlight. Whether that momentum translates into long-term financial confidence and sustained industry growth remains the larger question.

Caged Lives, Vanishing Wings

Pinjar literally means “cage.” But the word can be expanded to mean more than a cage. In Rudrajit Roy’s debut film, the title refers both to birds, the bird-catcher and to other characters held captive in the larger and invisible cage called Life.


“Pinjar is about captivity in its visible and invisible forms. It asks whether freedom is an external condition or an internal awakening. It does not provide solutions. It observes, reflects, and invites the audience to confront their own cages,” says Roy.


Pinjar is the director’s response to cages - literal and invisible - we construct around others and ourselves adhering to societal templates. The story mirrors a bird torn from its forest, struggling to survive in captivity. Like that bird, Jhimli, Paromita, Shefali, Tarak, and Iqbal are all ensnared by patriarchy, poverty, grief, and violence.


“Their struggles reflect the quiet tragedies we normalize, naming it as resilience. This film is a protest against that normalization—a resistance to cruelty, silence, and systemic oppression. But it’s also a soft, urgent plea for compassion, for liberation, and celebration of individuality.”


The film opens with a stark warning on the global decline of bird populations, tracing it to the widespread poaching and caging that have driven many species towards extinction.


Tarak (Sagnik Mukherjee) is a bird-catcher who is very poor with a growing girl Jhimli to take care of, her mother having died at child-birth. He belongs to a low caste and finds it difficult to eke out a bare living because there is a severe depletion of birds in his village. The camera focuses and closes in on some birds like the Asian fairy blue bird, the yellow bird, the black bulbul, the Darjeeling woodpecker, the white-rumped shama, the streaked spider-hunter, the zebra finch and the blue-winged laughing thrush. “These birds are familiar in the Indian sub-continent which makes their disappearance quite disturbing. The idea was to show that loss often begins quietly,” says Roy.


Jhimli (Swastidipa Das) cannot cope with the cruelty of capturing birds but helps her father as much as she can. Poverty keeps her away from school but she keeps tracing alphabets and letters on the floor with a stick. Tarak doubles up as a pseudo priest to earn some extra money which is wrong as he is not a Brahmin and neither does he know the rituals that go into Hindu poojas and prayers. He has a Muslim friend Iqbal (Ishan Mazumder) who helps him eke out a living. Soon, he too is trapped in his profession because of his faith. Paromita (Satakshi Nandy) is young and attractive widow who ekes out a bare living by cooking for the children in a local school.


A completely different track narrates the story of an urban, beautiful, working wife and mother Shefali (Mallika Banerjee), a sad victim of domestic violence. This track has no connect with the main story and sticks out like a sore thumb in an otherwise beautiful painting. One wonders why a smoking, drinking and working wife with a boyfriend is so quiet about the domestic abuse and quits her husband and home when the husband is unwell. It does not make sense. Pinjar would have been a beautiful film if this track did not exist.


Pinjar has been screened at around nine national and international film festivals. Sagnik Mukherjee as Tarak and Swastidipa Das as Jhimli are brilliant. Manas Bhattacharyya’s cinematography captures the beauty of Nature as eloquently as it catches the pained expressions on the faces of Tarak, Jhimli, Iqbal and Shefali. Ratul Shankar’s background score and songs are beautiful including the soundtrack filled with the chirping of birds, the unending circular staircase a tired Shefali climbing slowly back to a home which was never hers, are beautiful.


The film was shot in rural Bengal and parts of urban Kolkata, including residential high-rise interiors and Jharkhand. A wild life cinematographer shot the birds and recorded their exact sounds for a span of 18 months in India and Nepal.


Asked what defines the trigger for a film beginning with caged birds, Roy says, “The image of a bird struggling inside a small bamboo cage stayed with me for years. It raised a simple but haunting question: who is truly trapped — the bird, or the man who traps it? From that question, the story gradually expanded into a meditation on captivity.”


(The writer is an award-winning film scholar.) 


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