'Reserve a screen for Marathi films'

MUMBAI: A section of Marathi film producers want the state government to reserve one screen in every multiplex for Marathi films. The demand was put forth during a meeting of leading Marathi film producers with cultural affairs minister Sanjay Deotale.
The meeting was held at the Sahyadri guest house on Wednesday to discuss issues pertaining to the Marathi film industry.Leading film producers, including Amol Palekar, Mahesh Manjarekar, Jabbar Patel, Ramesh Deo, Nitin Desai, among others, were presentfor the meeting. Shyam Tagade, managing director of the Dadasaheb Phalke Filmcity and minister of state Fauzia Khan were also present at the meeting.
Sources said that some producers also wanted the government to encourage setting up of new theatre screens with lesser seating capacity (75 to 80 seats) for showcasing Marathi films. The long-pending demand of assigning slots to Marathi films during prime time was also reiterated. Sources said that Deotale remained non-committal on these demands and said that his department would consult the home and revenue department.
The film producers, meanwhile, were unanimous in their demand for relaxations on certain conditions by the state for grants to Marathi films. A waiver of domicile certificate requirement and the condition to shoot the film in the film city premises at Mumbai and Kolhapur was also demanded. Deotale said that a proposal for increasing the grant amount was under consideration. He assured the directors of looking into the other demands.