Marathi films take the shorter route

Today when people have limited amount of time to dedicate to their hobbies or even families for that matter, taking out time to watch a film proves to be a difficult task at times.
Keeping this and much more in mind, the running times of Marathi films have become shorter of late. Take the recently released 'Chitrafit 3.0 Megapixel' for example. Keeping aside the fact that the film didn���t manage to pull crowds (despite its sleazy content), the running time of it was a meagre 90 minutes.
Even director Paresh Mokashi���s 'Elizabeth Ekadashi' ran for 90 minutes and he feels that a lot of ingredients go into deciding the length of a film. ���For Elizabeth Ekadashi, we didn���t tamper or manipulate the natural unfolding of events in it. Also, because the crux of the story was specified, 90 minutes were enough to present it,��� says Paresh. The attention span of the audience plays a vital role in this regard according to actor-director Manava Naik. Her debut directorial film 'Por Bazaar' was 1 hour 40 minutes long but it was not a deliberate decision to keep it short. ���The film turned out to be that long eventually but then we were fine with it. The audience is used to Hollywood films which are shorter and moreover TV shows which hardly run for 25-30 minutes.This has resulted in a lesser attention span and a shorter film helps keep the viewers engrossed,��� informed Manava.
The multiplexes have also contributed to this development. 'Avatarachi Goshta' director Nitin Dixit said, ���For multiplexes, the lesser the length of a film, the more shows they can accommodate. From their business point of view, it is a good thing. In fact, many people told me to keep the running time of my film short so that it could get more shows in multiplexes.���
The collective thought among filmmakers is that the content plays the most important part in the running time of a film. ���I would���ve preferred 'Classmates' to be shorter than what it was. Our first cut was three hours long and we brought it down to 2 hours 35 minutes eventually. But the very fact that the film had so many characters who needed to be introduced, justified its running time,��� said director Aditya Sarpotdar. Manava added, ���You can���t make a film like 'Interstellar' or for that matter a version of Mahabharat in two hours. These are subjects that are grand, both in terms of content and treatment. But we are not making these types of films, so I think that two hours are enough to present a love story, issue-based film or a drama.���
Marathi films have always been content-driven and there is no arguing the fact that a film���s story decides its popularity among the audience. But a shorter running time would surely help Marathi films get more shows and reach, which is the need of the hour. Or as Nitin puts it, ���The more compact the film is, the better its output and reach will be.���