Marathi Film Festival provides platform to discuss challenges

Nagpur: The two-day Marathi Film Festival which concluded on Sunday received encouraging response from audiences and sparked discussions on the present and future of regional cinema.

Several critically-acclaimed Marathi films were screened. After each screening, film-makers interacted with the audience, leading to lively exchanges on storytelling, themes, and cinematic craft.


The festival opened on Saturday with ‘Ghaat' directed by Chhatrapal Ninave. The film is set against the backdrop of guerrilla warfare in forest regions, particularly Gadchiroli. Director Rohan Mapuskar interacted with viewers after the screening of ‘April-May 99' and also facilitated a telephonic interaction with Rajesh Mapuskar, director of ‘Ventilator'. Mapuskar thanked Nagpur audiences for the continued appreciation of the film.

The two-day event was organised jointly by the Orange City Cultural Foundation (OCCF), Nagpur Municipal Corporation, Nagpur University, NFDC, Mukta Arts, Cine Montage, Saptak, and Persistent Systems.

A key highlight of the festival was a seminar titled ‘Marathi Cinema – Kal, Aaj ani Udya', where filmmakers and scholars discussed challenges facing the industry. Speakers including Shailendra Bagde, Jayant Somalkar, Chhatrapal Ninave, Vinod Kamble, and Janardan Kadam pointed to issues such as limited theatre availability, distribution bottlenecks, and inadequate promotion and marketing of Marathi films.

Concerns were also raised about the growing influence of OTT platforms and the diminishing collective experience of watching films in theatres.

Padma Shri Dr Chandrashekhar Meshram thanked citizens for their response and announced that a Health Film Festival will be organised from January 31 to February 1, 2026. Contribution of Dr Uday Gupte, Vilas Manekar, Nitin Sahasrabuddhe, Pramod Kalamkar and others made the festival a success.

The inaugural ceremony at Kavikulaguru Kalidas Auditorium, Persistent Systems, was attended by NU vice-chancellor Dr Manali Kshirsagar, Dr Meshram, President of OCCF, filmmaker Vinod Kamble, and actor Janardan Kadam. Dr Kshirsagar highlighted the economic dimensions of filmmaking and underlined the importance of public support for cinema.