Sachin, Karan, Resham at the premiere of Mahesh Manjrekar’s Lalbaug Parel

Biggest budget Marathi movie, Lalbaug Parel premiered today
· Releasing on 9th April 2010 in over 170 screens across Maharashtra; the highest ever in Marathi Cinema
· ‘Lalbaug Parel’ is the Marathi negative of DAR Motion Pictures and Mahesh Manjrekar’s forthcoming bilingual film; the Hindi negative is titled ‘City of Gold

Mumbai, 8 April 2010: DAR Motion Pictures (DAR) and Mahesh Manjrekar’s most anticipated movie ‘Lalbaug Parel’ was premiered in the city today at PVR, Phoenix Mills. With over 170 screens across Maharashtra, both digital and print, already locked in the movie etches another landmark milestone in the fast changing landscape of Marathi Cinema, earning itself the distinction of being the largest opening ever in Marathi. Held at PVR Phoniex Mills, the premier of this movie, which is a compelling drama based on the backdrop of the great Mumbai textile mill strike of 1982, was attended by attended by maverick filmmaker Mahesh Manjrekar, DAR Capital Group Chairman Arun Rangachari, Millworkers, a host of glitterati from both Marathi cinema and Hindi cinema, the entire cast and crew of the movie and many more eminent Mumbaiites.

Having watched the entire movie at a one-of-its-kind special screening held for the millworkers and dabbawala’s at the symbolic BharatMata theatre on 7 April 2010, a visibly moved mill worker Mr. Vitthal Ghaj commented “We are very grateful to Mr. Mahesh Manjarekar for making this movie. After watching this movie every millworker and common man, including me will feel that this is his or her own movie. It was a good thing that realism was maintained and nothing was shown in a frivolous manner. Just like how dinosaurs, who were wiped out but are still remembered because of their pictures, so will the Mumbai mill workers be remembered through this movie.”

Starring Satish Kaushik, Seema Biswas, Siddharth Jadhav, Ankush Chaudhari, Sachin Khedekar, Vinay Apte, Karan Patel, Sameer Dharmadhikari, Vineet Kumar Singh, Shashank Shende, Veena Jhamkar, Kashmera Shah, and Anusha Dandekar, Lalbaug Parel explores the struggle, trials and tribulations faced by the mill-workers’ and their families who were affected by the strike. The film which portrays the story of those long-forgotten masses, not only explores the misery of these mill workers narrated through the story of one such family, the politico-socio environment existing during the early eighties but also realistically depicts the birth of the true underbelly of organized crime in Mumbai.

Commenting on this momentous occasion for DAR Motion Pictures, Arun Rangachari said: “Today is a very special day for all of us, not just does it mark the successful culmination of over five months of untiring efforts by Mahesh and his team as well as the DAR production team, but also marks DAR’s entry into mainstream film-making. Based on what I have seen thus far and from the reactions of all those who have seen the movie including the millworkers am very thankful to Mahesh for having lived up to his word of making a very realistic yet brilliant content driven mainstream movie. This movie is definitely going to be one of the most defining movies of the year.”

Adding Mahesh Manjrekar said: “Having grown up in Wadala, with many millworkers as my close friends even till this day, Lalbaug Parel has been a very difficult movie for me. I have had to live with it for a long time now. It’s been over four years since Jayant Pawar, a former millworker, a journalist and the writer of this film, and me first discussed the possibility of making this film which is based on a very successful play on the mill strike titled Adhantar, also written by Jayant. The subject is very serious and the treatment could most definitely not be frivolous and hence it was amply evident to both of us right from the beginning that we would need to partner with someone who was as passionate about the subject as us. I am very happy that the DAR team has been as dedicated and involved in this project as us and that together we have been able to make what I consider a really good film. I am humbled by the response that this film has received thus far and I sincerely do hope that it transcends boundaries entertains, as well as meaningfully engages audiences around the country.”

In addition to this film DAR has also developed a production slate of at least 10 other film projects, several of them in multiple languages through 2012. In addition DAR plans to launch a film fund in the second half of 2010 that will focus on both Hindi and regional cinema.

Other credit in the movie include screenplay Jayant Pawar & Mahesh Manjrekar, Director of Photography by Ajit Reddy, Edited by Sarvesh Parab, Music direction by Ajit Parab and Lyricist Shriranga Godbole.