Rajesh Ransinghe, a director of small as well as big screen, happens to be a very youthful, energitic & dynamic director. Incidentally speaking he had started of his career as a Videographer. And then he made a quick switch as a small screen megaphone wielder. This was almost more than 2 decades ago, when he had dabbled with the small screen shows, starting off with a biggest production house named Contileo films, like ‘Ankhen’ (his debut serial), ‘Aahat’, ‘CID’, ‘CID Bureau’, ‘Bhanwar’, ‘Koi Hai’, ‘Maharana Pratap’, Savdhaan India’, ‘Rishte’, ‘Fear File’ and last but not the least ‘Adalat’. All in all till this date almost 22,000 hours of work has been tucked under his directorial belt. And then his next big leap was in the big screen arena in the year 2010 when he had directed a Hindi film named ‘Rokkk’. And finally after almost half a decade he is ready with his 1st ever Marathi film namely ‘Janiva’.
Just recently the music of your 1st ever Marathi film ‘Janiva’ was released at the hands of Salman Khan. So was it on purpose to cash in on his ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ wave? That apart you were also conspicious by your absence in your own film’s music release event?
No sir, not at all and it was not intentional. I did not attend the music release function of my own film Marathi film ‘Janiva’ as I was busy shooting in Hyderabad and I didn’t feel right that I should leave the entire unit in a lurch just to attend the music release of my own film ‘Janiva’. And releasing the music was Salman Khan’s own choice as he wanted to bless Satya, the son of his best friend Mahesh Manjrekar. And Satya happens to be one of the 5 main leads of my film ‘Janiva’. That’s it.
Tell us something about your upcoming Marathi film ‘Janiva’
First & Foremost I would like to state that Renuka Shahane plays a major role of a lawyer in this film. Besides Satya is playing one of the 5 male leads, there is also Anuradha, Vaibhavi, Sanket, Dev Dutt, Kishore Kadam (also playing the role of a powerful lawyer), Kiran Karmakar, Indira Krishna, Atul Parchure & Usha Nadkarni with a special appearance by Mahesh Manjrekar. Incidentally speaking, we will all see the father – son team of Mahesh Manjrekar & Satya together for the 1st ever time in ‘Janiva’. Also for the 1st time ever, the very popular singer of Bollywood films Deler mehndi has rendered a Ganpati number in Marathi and he makes it a point to croon this number in every show he does whetheer in India or abroad.
How was your experiences on the sets with the seasoned actors like Renuka Shahane & Mahesh Manjrekar?
Renuka Shahane is fantastic. She took only 2 hours to okay the script which I had narrated to her. She even improvised so much on the sets that she exceeded herself 10 times more than what I had expected from her. When I had narrated the script to Mahesh Manjrekar, he had asked me who was the hero. I told him that I need a 17 year old college going boy and just then Satya entered the room. Eureka! I knew that I had found one of the main hero of my Marathi film ‘Janiva’. I immediately offered Satya the role and luckily for me I had both the father – son team on board of my Marathi film ‘Janiva’. Mahesh Manjrekar appears in the Ganpati number which has been crooned by Daler Mahendi, the Punjabi pop singer who is known both fort his racy Punjabi & Hindi numbers.
How come you convinced Deler Mehndi to sing for a Marathi film?
When I went to Daler Mehendi he clearly told me that he can sing only Hindi & Punjabi numbers and not the Marathi ones. But when he heard the scratch number in my voice he really got excited and said that he will certainly give it a try and when he actually belted out the number in the recording room, everybody was stunned including myself.
On a round up note how about giving us an insight into the subject matter of your Marathi film ‘Janiva’!
You see after selecting all the lead actors, 3 boys & 2 girls, I put them through an intense and a gruelling workshop session. And then the 1st 6 days of the shooting I made them to sit for 6 whole days in the courtroom just as a spectator doing nothing, just observing the senior actors in action which proved like a Master Class in acting for them. Now coming to the subject matter of my Marathi film ‘Janiva’. It certainly has an altogether different story which I can’t reveal it now. At the moment it is suffice to say how the college students are trapped by the law and how a powerful lady lawyer like Renuka Shahane fights with the system and saves the future of these college students. This kind of a subject matter will always have a youthful audience connect and the college going boys & girls will also identify themselves with these innocent boys & girls. By the way my debut Marathi film ‘Janiva’ will hit the marquee by the end of July, 2015.