Youths capture Nemade’s life, work in first Marathi docu-fiction

Pune: The life and work of Bhalchandra Nemade, the prolific creative Marathi writer who won the 50th Jnanpith award last year, will be captured in a docu-fiction named ‘Udaharnarth Nemade'.
"Love him or hate him, but Nemade's books like Kosala (cocoon) and Hindu continue to influence Indian writing. His is a complex personality to understand and without him history of Indian literature is incomplete," says city-based young filmmaker Akshay Indikar, who is the man behind the first-ever Marathi docu-fiction, which is a cinematographic combination of documentary and fiction.
Nemade was the man who slammed Salman Rushdie and V.S.Naipaul, calling them writers "pandering to the West". He stands firm on his theory of nativism – Deshivad – which negates globalization and asserts value of writer's native heritage and language. He was embroiled into a controversy for defending caste system and at the same time is the target of right-wing groups. At the age of 77, the controversial writer continues to attract controversies, due to which is provided police protection.
In this film, Nemade will narrate his own story and the actors will play protagonists from his novel. Indikar and his friends have put their own money and efforts to make it without support from any big production house.
"This experiment will open doors of new genre in Marathi cinema. Capturing Nemade in a camera was one of the most challenging tasks. The docu-fiction emphasizes on the theme of alienation which Nemade has been reiterating all these years. We live in a world which has lost its roots and connect to the soil. In the name of globalization, we are becoming monolithic and hence lonely. The docu-fiction captures these emotions. Nemade is plural and the film captures this pluralism in narrative," says Indikar.
Interestingly, during shooting of this docu-fiction, Nemade got a threat letter for his stand against the state government's decision last year to give Maharashtra Bhushan award to writer Babasaheb Purandare.
"Intolerance is on the rise," says Nemade, who drew flake for receiving the highest Indian literary award at hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when scores of writers and scholars were returning their awards denouncing "intolerance" in the Modi regime. However, Nemade defends stand saying that Modi is an elected prime minister and people have elected him through a democratic process.
Tejashri Kamble, one of the key players in the production team, said, "Our effort was to document Nemade as he is. No such effort was made earlier. We were financially weak. So, we opted for loan and later received support from Arvind Pakhale, who is an admirer of Nemade. But we don't have resource to put our film in theatre and hence we are going to small auditoriums and colleges to show the film."
The special screening of the movie is scheduled for the Goa Marathi Film Festival on June 4.
"This is an effort to deviate from traditional film-making. The film will release this week. We plan to use all possible forums to screen our film and hope to start a healthy discussion on the current socio-political and economic scenario," said Indikar.
Nemade, known for his intricacy, did not demand special screening for himself. "We asked him if he wants to view the film before it is released. He said that he believes in the right of freedom of director," Indikar added.