Known for their well researched issue based presentation of subjects, the film maker duo- Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukhtankar have contributed a lot to lift up the level of Marathi films not only in India but at the international scenario.

Q: Tell us something about the various characters of this film ?
A (Sunil) : We have Kishore Kadam playing the central character of a Bus conductor, while Ashwini Giri plays his wife.The four children are played by Mrinmayi Deshpande( Kunku and Agnihotra fame)a talented artiste , along with child artistes - Om Bhutkar, Parn Pethe and Mandar Devdhar. We have Kamal Desai playing Grandmother’s role dressed up in that typical 9 yard saree. Devika Daftardar plays Dr. Durga, while I myself play the role of Sayyad- the driver.

Q: All your films are issue based focused at a particular target audience. When are you going to give a commercial look to your movies ?
A (Sumitra) : We wouldn’t agree that our films are focused only on a particular target audience. Except for ‘Devrai’ which obviously could not be called a commercial film, all other films can be categorized under Mainstream cinema. Take for example Dahavi Pha( 10vi F) ; when this film was shown at Delhi Festival, it was categorized under Mainstream cinema section and this film was an opening film in that section. Look at the presentation of ‘Doghi’, ‘Vastupurush’, ‘Gho Mala Asla Hava’. Were they not mainstream cinemas? Now, talking particularly about commercial angle, that’s not in our hands. It is for the producers to market the film at different theatres in a commercial manner. May be because of the budget limitations, they may not be able to give our films a complete commercial look, but we call our films commercial. We leave it to the audience and media to appreciate and brand them as commercial hits.

Q: How was the response received from people abroad to your films during various international festivals ?
A (Both) : We were always confident about our subject presentation, but we were not very sure as to how our cinematic presentation would be accepted by people from different countries. But, they appreciated that part too. In Germany and Japan they were rather surprised as to how we could manage the technical sides within our restricted budget. In short, we tried to reach the world audience through festival audience at various international screenings of our films.

Q: How do you both coordinate during the making of a film ?
A (Sunil) : We first sit together to research on the script details. Once that is finalized, Sumitraji takes the charge of art direction and costumes. During actual shooting I myself handle camera and artiste movements, while Sumitraji takes charge of the monitor and decides on the final shot. Even on the editing table, she has her final say. This has worked well so far.

Q: So, can we expect a commercial success for ‘Ek Cup Chya’ ?
A (Both) : Yes, of course. Thank you.