finally. the baby is out. a labour of love, sweat, tears and a fair amount of screaming . Some of us have gone bald, the others grey. we have lost weight, and sleep. The birthing pangs have been quite something. But, will we do it again – in a heartbeat
sometimes i wonder if the making of a movie is as exciting as the movie itself.
Having won a dozen or so awards – from best story to best film, best actors to best child actors – the film has been received well at all the previews that we have had till date.
But, the true test is with how the audiences respond to the story, the actors, and whether they talk about it to others encouraging them to see!
We have done our best, the rest is in the hands of the audience
Here are the theatres in which the film is available in Mumbai:
In Mumbai the film is available with English sub-titles at the following theatres, and at the following times :
sun city – vile parle- 12.45 show
24 karat – jogeshwari w – 4.15 show
Movie Star – Goregaon – 6 pm & 9 pm.
In Pune these are the theatres in which the film is available :
In Pune the film is available with sub-titles at INOX for the 1.40 pm show.
the reviews have already begun coming in:
Check out:
Cogito Entertainment’s first Marathi Feature Film “Jhing Chik Jhing” releases on the 11th of June 2010.
Promotion and Publicity are in full swing. The partners are all over Maharashtra holding Press Conferences. The promos will hit the TV channels by the end of this week, and the theatrical trailer is running across theatres in Maharashtra
Cogito Entertainment’s first Marathi feature film Jhing Chik Jhing is releasing on the 11th of June . And, obviously before its release there are a zillion things to be organised and put into place. Distribution is the next phase of the film. and to get audiences to the theaters, a fair amount of thinking and planning has gone into publicity and promotion.
Yesterday, we received the photosets that will go up at various theaters. Have a look. And, tell me what you think !
Bharat Jadhav in his award winning role as Mouli – a good decent man who has nothing left to lose but his sense of honour and self respect.
Chinmay Kambli in his award winning role as Shyam – a boy who won’t let circumstances prevent him from reaching for the stars
Madhavi Juvekar – i her award winning role as Manda.
It has been a long, long, long journey …. I have often told Shishir Kulkarni (my biz partner and the lead on this film) that the making of the film has all the twists and turns of a thriller. We are going to have t-shirts printed – made a film and survived the experience. and another one that says made a film – without killing each other
The awards on the film continue. The latest being the extremely prestigious Maharashtra State Awards. 7 awards last weekend ….. It feels even greater because we have no god fathers, low skills in networking, can deal but cannot wheel
Our friends in the industry, and outside it have been magnificent. Offering us unconditional support. The Marathi industry, perse has been fabulous. Unselfish, supportive and helpful.
They say that your first film is like your first lover, you will never forget the experience. I think the making of Jhing Chik Jhing is going to become part of the legend that we tell our grand kids (if we have any
Yesterday, we had our first ad release in the Maharashtra Times :
translation - Chinmay Kambli – best child actor – Maharashtra State Awards, 2010 Bharat Jadhav – best actor – Maharashtra State Awards, 2010 Madhavi Juvekar – best actor – Maharashtra State Awards, 2010 Nitin Nandan – best director (2) – Maharashtra State Awards, 2010 Nitin Nandan – best director for a film with a rural theme – Maharashtra State Awards, 2010 Cogito Entertainment – best film (2) – Maharashtra State Awards, 2010 Cogito Entertainment – best film with a rural theme – Maharashtra State Awards, 2010 Nitin Nandan – best story – Zee Gaurav, 2010 Bharat Jadhav – best Actor – MaTa Sanman 2010 Chinmay Kambli – best child Actor – MaTa Sanman 2010 Madhavi Juvekar – best actor – Sanskruti Kala Darpan, 2010 Chinmay Kambli – best child actor – Sanskruti Kala Darpan, 2010
Our film Jhing Chik Jhing is up for release in June.
Based in rural Maharashtra, with the backdrop of agrarian debt & farmer suicide, the story is that of a boy – Shyam (Chinmay Kambli – best actor MaTa Sanman, Maharashtra state awards) whom dares to hope for a better future, his never say die attitude.
Director Nitin Nadan – who also won the best story award at Zee Gaurav – shares his vision of the film
Jhing Chik Jhing is a phrase that the protagonist Shyam naturally uses to express joy; when he feels something positive has started happening for him. He is full of dreams and a go-getter just like many other children of his age. What makes his story unique is the fact that he has the audacity to hope even though he is surrounded by poverty, because his father is a farmer in debt.
I believe that only those people rise in life, that have absolutely nothing to fall back on – nothing to lose.
The dichotomy in my country baffles me. When the Indian economy witnessed a sharp rise in the last decade, ironically more than 10000 farmers committed suicide due to indebtedness in Vidarbha, Maharashtra (State in India). It was a phenomenon that took India by storm. They swallowed pesticides, hung themselves from trees, set themselves on fire or jumped down wells. Most of them were plagued by debt, poor crops and hopelessness.
I thought of this story when I came across more than 50 children in a remote village school. We were shooting an environment series for India’s national channel, in the interiors of Vidarbha, Maharashtra. These children surrounded our car looking very excitedly inside. That is when the forest officer told me that this was the area where the maximum number of farmers had committed suicides. I was sure at least one of those boys wanted to own a car when he grew up. My mind was flooded with questions –
What if one of these boys has dreams?
And what if his father wants to commit suicide with the whole family?
How will the boy survive? Where will he derive strength from?
There were many stories that I could have chosen for my first film. All entertaining and commercially viable! But I debated within myself as to what was more important – a film only for the sake of a glamorous career or a film based on the issues that I have deeply felt for, for years?
I picked up few real instances and weaved them into an imaginary story. To elaborate, in my personal journey from a small nondescript tribal school in rural India to Mumbai, the City of Dreams, I have survived by sheer ‘HOPE’. So my protagonist’s character is also defined by Hope. Simplicity in expression was my priority. For the same reason the story telling is linear. For me it was important to get the audiences to feel for the characters and sympathize with them. The characters live simple life yet there exists an inherent drama. It unfolds through the characters’ behaviour in situations. Even the solution I suggest is simple and right upfront.
I know for a fact that before my film many films have been made and after my film many will be made. Where I stand as a filmmaker is not the question nor is how my film gets rated. What definitely matters to me the most is how deep an impact my film will create on the people who see it. Whether it will make them want to alter their existing lifestyle (food) to organic lifestyle.
Thousands of farmers for almost 3 decades have been misguided under the pretext of green revolution (inorganic Farming). I as a director feel for it strongly and want to put it across to the consumers who can create a difference because I firmly believe that “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”.
Last night at a star studded event at Bhaidas Hall, Vile Parle, Mumbai – the 10th Maharashtra Times MaTa Sanman Awards were held.
Cogito’s film Jhing Chik Jhing – was nominated in two categories for 3 awards – best child star (s) and best Actor. Both Bharat Jadhav and Chinmay Kambli won awards for their performance in the film
It has been a good month so far. The awards won by Jhing Chik Jhing have been :
Best Actor (Male) – Bharat Jadhav – MaTa Sanman Best Actor (Female) – Madhavi Juvekar – Sanskruti Kala Darpan Best Child Star – Chinmay Kambli – MaTa Sanman Best Child Star – Chinmay Kambli – Sanskruti Kala Darpan Best Story – Nitin Nandan – Zee Gaurav
In all we have had 7 nominations at Zee Gaurav, 9 at Sanskruti Kala Darpan and 3 at MaTa. 5 awards in all -:) It is our first feature film as producers, and naturally we can’t stop beaming
Here is the latest promo:
The film is set around the problem of agrarian debt and farmer suicides in Maharashtra.
Bharat Jadhav plays Mouli – a farmer who ekes out a living on a 2 acre farm – trying his best to support his family. He is in debt to the tune of Rs. 10,000 to the local money lender (Uday Sabnis). Mouli’s wife Manda (Madhavi Juvekar) tries her best to sustain the family on the little that they have.
(Bharat Jadhav & Madhavi Juvekar – in Jhing Chik Jhing)
Mouli and Manda’s children Shyam (Chinmay Kambli) and Dipti (Aarti More) go to the local school – and both are bright children who have a lot to look forward to. Shyam wants to become ‘someone’ and Dipti has her first crush !
When it seems that all is lost – including the land - and suicide is the only option – Shyam decides that he is not going to die and tries his best to save the family.
What he does and the alternative to suicide and debt free farming (the word used in the film is swawalambhi) is the crux of the film…..
Chinmay Kambli (Shyam) and Dilip Prabhavalkar (kavi) in the film Jhing Chik Jhing
Jhing Chik Jhing – the Marathi film that my company Cogito Entertainment produced – is ready.
It was part of the panorama at the Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) on Wednesday – and ran houseful to an appreciative audience.
The last year has been a roller coaster. Producing a film, especially one that is made out of passion – is the best way to age rapidly I have come to a conclusion that Independent producers making movies is the modern equivalent of the quest for treasure – full of adrenaline and adventure !
Shyam is an everyday small boy, mischievous and very inquisitive. His world is made up of Mouli (father), Manda(mother), Dipti (sister) & Gautam (best friend).The family lives in a small house on their cotton farm, somewhere inCentral Maharashtra.
The family earns its meagre living by growing cotton, which is sold at the local Government Cotton Mill. But Shyam is least concerned with all this. Most of his time is spent in exploring, discovering & playing with Gautam.
The major concerns in his life are the state of his school uniform (a hole in his pants) and whether his mother will make bhajjis (fritters) for dinner. Shyam’s idyllic life is thrown asunder when he realises that his family is reeling under debt and his father has all but given up hope of ever getting his farmlands out of mortgage. All dreams of a new school uniform & bhajjis come crashing down.
After overcoming his initial dejection, Shyam takes it upon himself to save his family. He is not so easily overcome by his parents’ sense of impending doom. The lessons he has learned at school give him reason to hope. One day in school, he hits upon a scheme that might just do the trick – a sack race that carries a winner’s prize of Rupees. 10,000/-.
With the help of Dipti and Gautam, he begins practicing with the sack for the big day. Mouli is at first perplexed by Shyam’s antics but later joins in enthusiastically. After all he wants to see his family happy in its last few days. Meanwhile our little hero is dead set in his practice (sack racing is tougher than it looks), with a single-minded aim of saving his family.
Come D-day, Shyam runs the race of his life – literally! But can he save his family?
And,
In addition to the traditioanl method of distributitng to theatres, we are taking the movie to 350 + villages across the length and breadth of Maharashtra to show it to farmers and farming communitites.
for more information drop in a line to me – at harini at cogitotv dot com….
After a few weeks of being immersed in Disaster Risk Reduction – thanks to the documentary, Farmer Suicides and the way out – thanks to our Marathi feature film “Jhing Chik Jhing”, and politics & elections – thanks to the elections; I am back to my normal reading. (disclaimer: my normal and other people’s normal may be two different things ).
Some interesting articles / blogs / analysis ? opinions i read last week :
a) Hindu Divided Family – by Sudheendhra Kulkarni in Tehelka.
For me, Mr.Kulkarni is the acceptable face of the Right in India – more economically and politically right of centre than in a relgiious nationalistic sense; which, readers of this blog know, scares me. He says, in this brilliant piece of introspection,
the BJP could not convince the voters that they should vote in favour of change. Rather, the truth is that the people wanted change but were not convinced that the BJP or the BJP-led NDA assured the kind of change they wanted.
The BJP’s failure to convince the people on this score is rooted in a combination of structural, political, ideological, organizational and campaign-related reasons.
He also takes a long hard look at “Hindutva” and the reasons for defeat – and takes on the Sangh Parivaar. I predict that just as the old style Communists in the Soviet Union or the pro Apartheid regime of South Africa used to exile people, Mr. Kulkarni is in for a long period of political exile. But, i really don’t think that he minds. I hope that he and others can lay the foundation for a right of centre party that provides a genuine alternative to the Congress.
2) A Wish List For New I&B Minister Ambika Soni: The CEO’s Agenda – from Social “Media India” – interests me as a media professional.
The list includes issues as varied as a single tax window, clarifying the Content Code, FDI, etal. To these i will add my two wishes :
a) Terrestrial Broadcasting - Doordarshan sucks. it really , truly does. Doordarshan is supposed to be a Public Service Broadcaster. However, the way it is run, it has become a money making machine which is neither Public, nor Service, the only thing that it is is a broadcaster. Free up the Terrestrial media – allow private sector entities, lay down rules that ensures Public Service Broadcasting; and finally remove the chains from DD that allows it to compete. It cannot spend its time selling slots that can only be monetized if you make a programme at zero cost.
b) Rating Services – the media rating services have to be more representative, both at the top & bottom ends of the audience. It is as important to have a metric that looks at what 25 year old graduates, who have a disposable income of Rs.25 k, watch – as it is to have one that looks at what someone who earns 4k a month watches. the current system is geared to the latter. And while, the numbers are there – you can’t sell too much beyond low value products..In the interest of diversity, audiences, and clients – it would be good if the minister took the lead in guiding the system away from its comfort zone – into something that offers choice.
The thing that is really driving conservatives crazy, I think, is that their identity politics just isn’t working like it used to. Their whole approach has been based on the belief that Americans vote as if they live in Mayberry, and fear and hate anyone who looks a bit different; now that the country just isn’t like that, they’ve gone mad.
replace Americans and Mayberry, with Indians and Ahmedabad, and you could be talking about the BJP.
4) Doc Soup – Fund Raising Woes – how documentary film makers worldwide are impacted by the recession, and what are the steps that they are taking to continue making their films.
It is so interesting to a government give economic incentives to change behavior, rather than impose blanket bans or take to the streets in violent protest.
Manna De turned 90 yesterday – the 1st of May. Compared to Mohd. Rafi or Kishore Kumar – he didn’t sing as much for Hindi films, but the songs that he sang left a mark.
It’s been a long time since i put together a compilation of songs, in a way my music hearing has been predominantly Hindustani Classical Music. Manna De, more than any other Hindi singer – was completely at ease with the classical form.
Here in no order of preference, are some of my favourite songs sung by Manna De. if you have your favourites, please post them
1) Yeh Raat Bhigi Bhigi - Mukesh is said to be the voice of Raj Kapoor, but i personally preferred the duets that Manna De sang for him with Lata. Be it this, or Pyaar huva or Aaja Sanam …. Shankar Jaikishen composed the music, and the film is Chori Chori . The guitar as the prelude is possibly one of the most distinctive pieces of Hindi film music. i need to hear two chords to identify the song. Enjoy Raj Kapoor & Nargis in this brilliant composition.
2) Tu Pyaar ka Saagar Hai – I used to have this huge crush on Balraj Sahani when i was a kid. in those glorious days of watching Chitrahaar and Hindi films on Doordarshan. I could never understand his films in those days – but i simply thought he looked yummmm i still do. and of all his songs, this one was played the most frequently. Soul stirring stuff. Balraj Sahani & Nutan in the film Seema. Music by Shankar Jaikishen.
3) Kaun Aaya mere Dil ke Dwaare – I cannot remember watching this film, though i must i have. i devoured everything on Doordarshan whether it was Krishi Darshan or Santakukdi or Kilbil … Anoop Kumar (Kishore Kumar’s brother) and Anita Guha in Dekh Kabira Roya. Music by Madan Mohan
4) Dil Ki Girah Khol Do – the film “Raat aur Din”. The subject multiple personality disorder. The year 1967. And a commercial success. Nargis in her last leading role. Fabulous film. Fabulous music. Watch it also for a very young Feroze Khan. Music Shankar Jaikishen
5) Ja Tose Nahin Bolu Kanhaya – Raga Hamsadhwani. Lata Mangeshkar & Manna De. The movie is Parivaar and the music director is Salil Choudhary .
6) Hoke Majboor Mujhe - The film Haqeeqat. Possibly the finest war film ever made in India. From the point of view of the men who serve. Directed by Chetan Anand it starred Balraj Sahni (him again), Dharmendra and a host of others it is set around the 1962 war – which no one talks about. The song ‘kar chale ham fida jaan aur tan saathiyo’ by Rafi is guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes. But, this song, more philosophical is equally good. Check out Manna De in this
7) Mausam Beeta Jaye – The film “Do Bhiga Zamin”, the director Bimal Roy. Music Salil Choudhary. Actor Balraj Sahni and the voice Manna De. I cry everytime is see this film – nothing has changed for the farmer. When we decided to make our film “Jhing Chik Jhing” i went and rewatched this film — the famers’ lot is the same. there is a line in Jhing Chik Jhing where Bharat Jadhav says ‘we are farmers, we grow food but our children go hungry; we grow cotton and our kids wear torn clothes’. This is not the post to call for agricultral reform or greater support to farmers, but consider it said .
By the way, despite the subject this was not an art film. it was a commercially viable film .
Zindagi kaisi yeh Paheli - Manna De sings for Rajesh Khanna – a man with a medical death sentance. the music by Salil Da. The film Anand. Lyrics by Yogesh.
9) Laga Chunri Mein Daag – Music by Roshan (grandfather to Hrithik ). The film is Dil Hi to Hai starring Raj Kapoor and Nutan
10) Pucho na Kaise Man - The film was hackneyed but the music was great. Staring Ashok Kumar in a triple role , the film is Meri Surat Teri Aankhen. Music by S.D.Burman
11) Sur Na Saje Kya Gaaon Mein - the film Basant Bahar. music by Shankar Jaikishen – who hitherto had been considered to be ‘pop’ music composers without a handle on classical – and how they proved the world wrong. Starring Bharat Bhushan who possibly had some of the best classical songs featured on him. The other great song in this film is Ketki Gulab Juhi sung by Manna De and Bhimsen Joshi !
. Some of us have gone bald, the others grey. we have lost weight, and sleep. The birthing pangs have been quite something. But, will we do it again – in a heartbeat 
Clap
(Bharat Jadhav & Madhavi Juvekar – in Jhing Chik Jhing)
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Zindagi kaisi yeh Paheli - Manna De sings for Rajesh Khanna – a man with a medical death sentance. the music by Salil Da. The film Anand. Lyrics by Yogesh.
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