In a coup of sorts, Marathi film Medium Spicy has managed to get Arundhati Nag, an accomplished actress and a theatre legend to do a special Appearance in it. Interestingly, Padmashree Arundhati Nag made her debut about 40 years ago with a Marathi movie called 22 June 1987.
Revealing about the role essayed by Arundhati, talented filmmaker Mohit Takalkar mentioned, “While penning down the script and character graph of ‘Laxmi Tipnis’, a well informed and cumulative lady; I felt in her introduction scene itself my patrons should get the unerring vibes from the character. There is affability in her character with a stark persona. So for such a dynamic role I only could have thought about Arundhati who could pull this off .”
Mohit added, “I knew Arundhati from the last 15-20 years. A multifaceted performer, altruistic and gifted personality she is, therefore I approached her whole heartedly for the role and she willingly came on board. Though she’s had a long break from Marathi cinema, Arundhati maintains a fluency in Marathi. In her early career Arundhati has done professional theatre in Marathi and films therefore it was a cake walk for her.”
National Award winning actor Arundhati too is ecstatic about her comeback in Marathi cinema and while she spoke about the compatibility she shares with Mohit, she was also full of praise for her co-actor, Lalit Prabhakar. “Coming back to Marathi Cinema after 40 years surely feels good. It seems like a complete circle in life almost like starting afresh as a debutant. In the past, Mohit has organised shows of his plays at Ranga Shankara (the theatre space in Bengaluru that runs my life at present) and while he was seated in the auditorium, he humbly invited me to sit next to him and gingerly asked “Aru Akka, I am planning to direct a film soon. There’s one role I would like you to do. Would you be a part of it?", reminisces Arundhati.
Arundhati has liked Mohit and his body of work in theatre and was keen to be a part of Mohit’s directorial debut in Marathi films in any capacity. “The script and a character description was sent to me, but the magic happened when I reached the set and read the lines with my co-actor. Whoa! Lalit Prabhakar suits the role to the T and transforms into his character effortlessly. With such a talented director and an awesome woman to portray, I didn’t have to do much,” concludes Nag.
Mohit continues to praise Arundhati, “Though she is so senior, she has no pretensions about being a prolific actor on the sets. Arundhati is a director’s delight who can tweak herself as per the filmmaker’s vision.” While sharing her experience working with the wonderful Arundhati, producer Vidhi Kasliwal says, “It’s been such a privilege and an honour to work with an artist and a person like Arundhati ji. She’s ever so warm and genuine. She makes everyone around so comfortable and at ease that it really doesn’t feel like we are in the presence of such a senior and accomplished actor and we are working. The naturalness with which she performs is so captivating that you can’t take your eyes off her shot after shot, take after take.”
Landmarc Films’ Medium Spicy, slated to release on June 5, 2020, builds a potpourri of relationships, love and marriage in our urban lives. Produced by Vidhi Kasliwal, directed by Mohit Takalkar and written by Irawati Karnik, the film boasts of a young ensemble including Sai Tamhankar, Lalit Prabhakar, Parna Pethe, Sagar Deshmukh, Neha Joshi, Pushkaraj Chirputkar and Ipshitaa complemented by veteran actors Neena Kulkarni and Ravindra Mankani, all playing key characters.
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