Actress Renuka Shahane has debuted as a director and is all set with her first Marathi film titled Rita. This is the first time one will see Jackie Shroff in a Marathi flick, playing the role of a mentor. The movie is adapted from a Marathi novel, 'Rita Welingkar', which is written by Renuka's mother and eminent critic Shanta Gokhale.
Renuka is excited about her first release. She says, "I chose my mother's novel because it lends itself as a beautiful screenplay for a film. The characterizations were so well edged. And the essence of the main protagonist Rita works very well cinematically. Pallavi Joshi plays the central character and it is about her life span from the age of 8 to 40 and I play the role of her best friend."
Renuka initially started writing for a Hindi movie screenplay. She says, "Initially, I started with a Hindi movie screenplay but something was missing and it wasn't fulfilling and living up to expectations. I decided to go back to my roots and experiment something in Marathi. That's when my mother's novel, which I had read in 1993, struck me and I decided to translate the novel into a film. I spoke to my mom and she was shocked at first. I then began writing my screenplay in May 2007 and finished it by August 2007. My mother read the screenplay and her approval gave me the impetus to go ahead."
Didn't she think to cast her husband Ashutosh Rane for her directorial debut? She says, "The character required a 15 years age difference and needed to look old. No matter how much make up I would get on Ashutosh, he wouldn't live up to the character. Jackie Shroff suited the role aptly."
The Hum Aapke Hai Kaun actress can't stop raving about how Ashutosh played a perfect husband by sitting at home all this while. She adds, "He played a very good husband and a father while I was busy with shooting. He didn't take up any assignments. He also gave me various inputs with regards to the screenplay and direction of the film."
Renuka also plans to make a movie in Hindi and cast her husband. She says, "I have two scripts ready one in Hindi and the other in Marathi. The Hindi script has my husband playing the most important role."
The movie is produced by Pooja Shetty Deora's Walkwater Media and is due to release on September 4.
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