Ujjwal V. Thengdi is a committed filmmaker. In his debut Marathi film ‘Vazir’, he succeeded in bagging six State and three Filmfare Awards. He also bagged three independent awards. His second feature film (Hindi) ‘In The Name of Tai’ is set for release. He has once again taken up a realistic cause. ADC’s Sandeep Hattangadi managed to catch up with him for his most original thoughts.
Tell us about Vazir...
Vazir has left very beautiful and pleasant memories. It had a successful run of 25 weeks, Silver Jubilee in a single theatre. ‘Vazir’ proved to be a bench-mark for Marathi film industry and all the stalwarts Ashutosh Gowarikar, Vikram Gokhale, Ashok Saraf and Ashwini Bhave acting in it under Oum Films banner will agree with me.
On his next film in Hindi – In The Name of Tai
In the Name of Tai is a female oriented story based on dreadful tragedy of a dedicated and educated village woman (lawyer), respectfully known as Tai who chooses a valiant but perilous avenue. She unfortun-ately suffers sexually (not rape!) as well as psychologically in her personal life, yet altruistically battles for a common cause of protecting acres of land owned by farmers and deprived poverty stricken community from the clutches of the corridors of power, builders, (land sharks) and of course not forgetting the voracious politicians. I have made this film to generate awareness amongst the young generation and to let them know what’s in store for them in future.
On the film’s message and expectations.
The film leans towards realistic values in every situation of life obviously conveying a strong message. Regarding my expec-tations from the film, I would say that my film being very emotional and hard hitting, depicts a parallel government run by politicians. The masses should understand the truth behind such tragedies occurring more often.
On his advice to new filmmakers.
The process of filmmaking is always within the creator. He or she need only to identify that vision and print it on celluloid.
On the USP and highlights of the film.
In the name of Tai is a film with a difference. It is a film with strong performances. It is a film with a vision. It is a sensible film with no nonsense. It is a film with good music and has characters all befitting the storyline. The film is releasing in June and I am the producer-director besides handling 12 other segments viz.
story, screenplay, dialogues, music, lyrics, vocalist, choreography, action, acting et al. Don’t you think I deserve a place in the Guinness Book of World Records? (laughs).