It was sometime during 1969 that a child artiste with the name of Mahesh Kumar
grabbed a meaty double role in Bollywood film 'Raja aur Rank'. Not many knew
that he was a Maharashtrian. Mahesh played a young Prince with authority in that
age with confidence. He had many good stars to support him in this film. Popular
Dancer and actress from South -Padmini and late Sanjeev Kumar were very much
part of this film. The film was a hit at that time for its presentation and
popular songs. Besides 'Raja Aur Rank', Mahesh also played memorable roles as a
child actor in 'Chhota Bhai', 'Mere Laal' and 'Ghar Ghar Ki Kahani'. Few years
later, he was seen playing an adolescent in Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore
film 'Safar'. He played a perfect collegian and younger brother of Feroze Khan ,
who played a parallel role in this film.
Later, when he studied in Mumbai's Wilson College, it did not take much time for
him to mature as a hero and find roles in Marathi films as a young handsome
hero. Simultaneously, he also performed in Gujarathi films. After playing a hero
for some time, Mahesh soon produced and directed his own films. Till today, he
has dedicated himself as a film maker with perfection on technicalities ,
knowing his job well, as a director.
As a successful hero and director through his own productions since 80s from
'Dhumdhadaka' to Pachadlela', Mahesh Kothare has offered all quality films to
entertain the Marathi audience. He almost knew the pulse of Marathi audience.
And his talent came as a blessing to Marathi film industry in 80s. Mahesh has
succeeded in bringing a number of innovations especially in the technical area
of Marathi films and has been instrumental in bringing Dolby Digital sound to
Marathi Cinema with the film 'Chimni Pakhara'. He made 'Pachadlela' in 2004 -
the first Marathi film with Digital Special Effects. He also made his identity
as the first Marathi Film Maker to produce Sci-Fi films.
The good news is that his latest directorial film 'Dubhang', Produced by Shankar
Mitkari, has
received the sponsorship from Future General India Ltd. This film is based on
the backdrop of Boxing, where the hero of the film (played by his
own son Adinath) has a mission in his life to participate one day in the
Olympics and win a Gold medal for the country. While speaking to Marathi Movie World, Mahesh said that the subject of this film
was in his mind for the past few years and had even talked to popular actors
like Shreyas Talpade and Reitesh Deshmukh to play the lead; but, somehow the
idea didn't work. Finally, he found his hero in his own son-Adinath , who had
turned mature by the passage of time to fit into this lead role. "It was almost
like the role was waiting for him" he said.
Mahesh is very excited to speak about his new film 'Dubhang'. "It may sound like
Bollywood's 'Dabang', but the meaning of both the films are different. In fact,
I was asked to change the title of my film by the makers of 'Dabhang', when they
came to know about it. But, since I had registered it much before, I had to
convince them that it carried a different meaning. You will find lot of twists
and turns in this film , with a story that you haven't heard of before in
Marathi and Hindi films.
Actually, I have taken the idea from a Malyalam film, which was shown to me by
my friend. So, I took the proper rights from them but finally gave a different
look to the film. Fortunately, all my artistes responded very well and Adinath
in particular playing an aspiring boxer, has fulfilled all my expectations.
There is a love story angle to this film, with the girl in his life standing by
his side during the time of crisis. My first scene itself begins with Urmila's
marriage to a stranger against her wish and Adinath elopes with her," he added.
Speaking about the lead pair Urmila and Adinath, Mahesh was high praise for the
girl and her talent. "Urmila is a talented actress and I have seen her
potential through her previous film.
Adinath turned out to be a perfect match
for her." All that Mahesh had to say that both had developed a good chemistry
between them. "I had seen them coming closer during my previous project
'Shubhamangal' in which she was a leading lady and Adinath was my assistant in
direction. Now, you will witness their actual love story happening on the
screen," he concluded.
