National award winner Akshay Bardapurkar, the man behind changing the face of Marathi entertainment received the highest honours for a film from the hands of The President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu. Having given the industry some of its biggest wins in a short span, Bardapurkar was presented with the ‘Best Marathi Film’ award for his production ‘Goshta Eka Paithanichi’ which will release on 2nd December 2022 in cinemas.
The award-winning ‘Goshta Eka Paithanichi’ tells a simple story of a woman’s will and resilience, led by actor Sayali Sanjeev, who has received great praise for her stellar performance along with her co-actors Suvrat Joshi and Mrinal Kulkarni.
Tracking his trajectory, Bardapurkar has been seen creating a large thriving space for strong female talent. Be it web or cinema, his stories have set new benchmarks in the industry for women. On OTT, the gritty political thriller ‘Raanbaazaar’ which trended in 7+ countries globally had Prajakta Mali and Tejaswini Pandit play diabolical unseen characters. Pandit also starred in another hit series ‘Anuradha’ on the platform as a femme fatale. On celluloid, he brought to life the magnum opus ‘Chandramukhi’ with a larger-than-life reveal of the lead artiste, an event which was never done in the industry before along with the experimental musical ‘Tamasha Live’ which saw popular actor Sonalee Kulkarni as a power-driven journalist. Veteran and celebrated actress Mrinal Kulkarni’s directed film ‘Sahela Re’ is another great addition to the content slate. Each of his female characters has explored the good, bad and ugly shades and broken stereotypes by giving stupendous performances and raising the bar of content.
Bardapurkar shared “Marathi industry has always seen great female talent, but we need more stories to be told from a female perspective and better fleshed-out characters if we want to evolve as a strong content space. We should be ready to tell any and every kind of story, as long as it has potential. It can be a huge spectacle drama or a simple, slice-of-life film ‘Goshta Eka Paithanichi’. It does not matter. This film winning the award is testimony to the fact that brave stories with strong backing are unstoppable” Commenting on receiving the award he said “It was a humbling and surreal experience. I was moved and would like to express great gratitude to our President for presenting the award”
His cinematic ambitions and marketing genius have catapulted Marathi entertainment in a new league entirely. He has been honoured and recognised by several dignitaries including his recent meeting with Goa CM, to explore the potential of Marathi content in the state.
The film’s director, Shantanu Ganesh Rode shared “The feeling after receiving such an immense honour is surreal. I am immensely grateful and humbled to accept an award from our respected President. The simple film has taken us to heights we have not imagined”. Rode has not only directed, but written the story, screenplay and dialogue for the film. The yet-to-be-released film’s story of a strong-willed woman’s journey has managed to strike the right chords with critics and has already received the highest honours by bagging the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Marathi at India's 68th National Film Awards.