Slumdog filmmaker gets standing ovation at screening

Panaji: Having grown up in the dangerous slum environment of Thane in Mumbai to standing up to receive a thundering applause post his film’s screening at the 45th International Film Festival of India (Iffi), it has been an incredible journey for young filmmaker Viju Mane.
Success didn’t come to him overnight. Right at the start of his career, Mane, who has already made four critically-acclaimed Marathi films, had to choose between feeding his family with a mundane job and taking a plunge into the unpredictable career of filmmaking.
“My dad passed away soon after I was born. The slums in Thane look like buildings but are no better than Dharavi. There is no hygiene, no water, no electricity. Every day, the slab in some house in the slums collapses even today. Every year, 60 to 70 residents die in a building collapse. These vertical slums were constructed somewhere in the 1980s and they are like a pack of cards. When one building falls, it takes down at least two others with it,” said Mane.
Mane, whose film ‘Ek Hota Kavlaya’ was chosen for screening at Iffi, was initiated into acting through a theatre group in his locality.
“I have been fortunate to be never short of finances or actors, as there were plenty to support me from the theatre group in Thane. Today, I am in a position where I turn down financers and producers when a project does not interest me,” Mane said.
He got his first taste of film festivals when his 2012 film ‘Khel Mandla’ was selected for screening at the Mumbai film festival.
“The protagonist of my film ‘Ek Hota Kavlaya’ is a boy who lives in the same vertical slums as I lived in. He is dark-skinned and nicknamed ‘ crow’ by peers because of it. Indian society considers dark-skinned people to be inferior. His inferiority is worsened with his social conditions. This film has been shot in the same environment that I grew up in . It revolves around a love story because that is the only way to attract a larger Indian audience to watch the film and convey the message,” Mane said.
Mane, who had abandoned his masters course in zoology to take up filmmaking, said that he still dreams of completing his post-graduate degree. “I think when you have nothing to lose you can do anything. That is what happened with me.” Mane said, adding that he has now moved out of the slums due to his films’ success.