As wordsmith becomes the director…

At age of 75, veteran Marathi writer Ratnakar Matkari is debuting as film director with Investment. He talks to m4m about his work, thought process and views on cinema

By Praveen Lulekar

With over five decades in the field of literature, Ratnakar Matkari has seamlessly traversed from experimental theater to suspense stories to children’s theater. His socially relevant drama Lok-kathaa 78, written on the backdrop of the emergency in India is still etched in the generation’s memories. Likewise, his extremely realistic suspense stories in Gahire Paani have given an experience of thrill rare to Indian readers. With commercially successful comedy drama Jadu Teri Nazar and Dadasaheb Phalke award winning script of the film Majhe Ghar Majha Sansar, Matkari has shown his variety with respect to genres.

At the age of 75, he is debuting as a director with his film Investment. The film narrates a story of changing social values with stark realism – an essential element in all of Matkari’s literary works. The film, to be released on September 20, has already garnered praise with a National Award for ‘Best Marathi Feature Film’ and screenings at various film festivals.

The veteran talks to m4m about the film, his method of film-making and the commercial and experimental factors of theater and cinema.

What is the social context of Investment?

Our society is making a lot of progress with time and becoming upwardly mobile. But we do not realise that this progress is only financial. We are loosing our sensitivity in the process and becoming numb.  This also reflects in our nurturing of our children – the factor on which the story of Investment focuses. The story is a product of this background.

So the aspirations of the middle class are taking us towards consumerism…

Precisely. We are after an elite address in the city. We always assume that we are right. In a usual cinema, the villain knows that he is the villain and he is doing a bad thing. In Investment, the characters are becoming grey and they are still convinced that this is the right way. There are two pairs of mother and son in the film (Sulabha Deshpande and Tushar Dalvi, Supriya Vinod and Praharsh Naik). The difference in their relationship highlights the shift of values in our society.

How does an experimental drama or a film like Investment survive commercially?

We have cultivated certain habits in our audiences. Like songs, item songs etc. For Investment, we have used background music only to enhance and not explain scenes. We should consider the audience intelligent enough to understand pure cinema.Same applies for a drama. Producers do not back good projects. Instead, they say - give a drama with four comic characters and we will do it. They do not have confidence in a good script or a good children’s drama. So changing the audiences’ habits is the solution.

Investment is also based on your short story. So tell us about converting a story into a screenplay.

A good screenplay is similar to a good story. It has neat and highlighted points. What is stated as description in a story is told through characters or incidents in a screenplay. For instance, a story describes schools’ changing attitudes. It comes in the screenplay through scenes in a school and characters related to it.

At the beginning of your career, you simultaneously worked in a bank and wrote. What kept your artistic sensitivities intact?

Yes, I did that for 20 years. I think I am blessed with a natural urge to write. I have lots of ideas in my mind all the time. But it requires a lot of self-discipline. I had responsibilities – domestic and professional, but somehow I always managed to write. In 1978, while I was doing Lokkatha 78, I took a leave of two years to write – without pay of course. Once I knew I could survive without a job, I never went back.

So you were always experimental with your thought process.

I think no one decides to do an experiment as such. When your thoughts, your ideas can not fit in the conventional pattern, it becomes experimental. If you just show things according to what is being already shown, it is just demonstrative. That restlessness has to come to stage.

National award winning film Investment releases on September 20.

Posted in: