Marathi Film Association launched in Mumbai: Babasaheb Patil appointed as Maharashtra President

Maharashtra is the leading state in the film industry where millions of actors, technicians and crew work together in bringing the best of the film work to the industry. While there have been various organizations working for the interest of the artist and technicians, a new film association namely the Marathi Chitrapat Association (MCA) has been added to this. The very first meeting of the Marathi Film Association was held today at the association’s Mumbai office where all the board of directors unanimously appointed Babasaheb Patil as the president of Maharashtra. Same time, Chandrakant Vispute has been unanimously appointed as the Mumbai President.

Both the presidents have been appointed by the founder president Prashant Mankar and their appointment letters have been given to them in this regard. Similarly, other directors were also been given major positions with responsibilities which include Jayesh Jagad as media in-charge, Prof. Dr. Mohan Das as Head of International Film Festivals, Sriranjan Sawant as head of marketing, Sandesh Gour as head of Film Artist coordination and Bandubhau Ambuskar as Buldana president. A total of 15 directors were registered including Shyam Kshirsagar, Jayesh Jagad, Niranjan Sawant, Nitin Dhavane Patil, Praveen Taiyade, Chandrakant Vispute, Prof. Dr. Mohan Das, Sandesh Gour, Sunil Shirsat, Praveen Hatkar, Sumit Ambhore, Bandubhau Ambuskar, Chandrakant Vispute, Babasaheb Patil, Narendra Khawale, Ramesh Gavai, Jay Diwakar, Pankaj Sehgal, Surekha Gawande and Prashant Mankar.

With a focus to work continuously for the prosperity of Marathi Cinema, the Marathi Chitrapat Association (MCA) will strive for the betterment of all its members - right from the filmmaker to the technician and from the technician to the backstage artist. In this first meeting, some very important issues regarding the same and of the future progress of the Marathi Chitrapat Association have been discussed.

One of the key issues raised by MCA is asking for the status of the Marathi film industry to be accorded as an industry with a labour office and a union registered in that context. Bringing cinema artists and technicians through the union under one umbrella, it resolves to solve all labour issues in that context. The MCA also demands that the oppressive conditions imposed by the government in the case of single theatres should be relaxed and new permission should be given to those theatre owners to start new industries and businesses. It also demanded that a memorial of Vithabai Narayangaonkar should be erected at Narayangaon in Junnar, as well as establish the Vithabai Narayangaonkar Economic Development Corporation.

Apart from these, the MCA wants that an Artist Bhavan should be built for scores of artists that come to Mumbai, Pune for shooting. Just as the banner of tamasha artists who go from village to village for yatra fairs gets subsidy from the government on a commercial level, professionals that are working regularly for those banners should also get subsidy from the government. It also demands that the pension given to old artistes by Maharashtra government should be increased. Also training of backstage artists required by theatre and film industries should be started through ITI and they should be recognized as skilled workers. It also opines that concessions should be made available in railways and buses to the artistes of Maharashtra, similar to that of notified journalists.

In Gharkul Yojana, artists should be given priority in rural areas on the ground of MHADA. Artists are often deprived of loans because they do not have any kind of substantial income proof. Therefore, it was mainly decided in the meeting that Marathi Film Association will also build a bank dedicated to artists in the coming time.

Regarding the Marathi film subsidy amount, the MCA is of the opinion that it should be increased as per A & B category. Similarly, a grace subsidy should be arranged to help the financial condition of the producer by introducing C grade. This is sure to help the first-time filmmakers for film production. It was also announced that the MCA will start an OTP platform in near future as well as organize an international film festival on behalf of the Marathi Film Association.

The Marathi Chitrapat Association launched its head office in Mumbai, but it is soon planning to open offices in important cities like Pune, Sambhaji Nagar, Nashik, Akola, Nagpur, Amravati, Kolhapur, etc. Membership registration to the association is expected to start soon and keeping in mind the issues faced by artists and film makers due to the high costs of the other association fees, the MCA has decided to keep a nominal registration fee of Rs.500/- for artists and Rs.1000/- for banner registration for the first 500 entries.

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