Lalbaug Parel
Encyclopedia
Lalbaug Parel is a 2010 Bollywood film
released in both Hindi
and Marathi
languages. The film was directed by Mahesh Manjrekar
, who has directed critically acclaimed films in the past like Astitva
and Viruddh... Family Comes First
. The film is adapted from the play Adhantar by Jayant Pawar, who also co-wrote the screenplay, and explores the life of Bombay's mill workers after they were rendered jobless in the early 1980s, when the Bombay mills shut down in the post Great Bombay Textile Strike
period, and soon made way for skyscrapers and shopping malls. The film opened to mixed reviews, though it was commended for its theme, and acting. The name of the Marathi version of this film is Lalbaug Parel, while the Hindi version was released as City of Gold.
produced the film.
served Mahesh Manjrekar with legal notice, claiming that the film wrongly placed the blame for the mills' closure on Samant. They also objected to Manjrekar's portrayal of the mill workers' children, saying they were shown as "goons".
Bollywood films of 2010
A list of films produced by the Bollywood film industry in 2010. Six films made it to the top 30 list of highest grossing Hindi films at the Indian box office. The total net amount earned by the top ten films of the year was 735.07 crore , compared to 2009's 658 crores, a percentage increase of...
released in both Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
and Marathi
Marathi language
Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
languages. The film was directed by Mahesh Manjrekar
Mahesh Manjrekar
Mahesh Manjrekar is an Indian director, actor, writer and producer. He is credited with directing the critically acclaimed films Vaastav: The Reality , Astitva and Viruddh... Family Comes First . He has won a National Film Award and two Star Screen Awards...
, who has directed critically acclaimed films in the past like Astitva
Astitva
Astitva is a 2000 bi-lingual film made in Hindi and Marathi, written and directed by Mahesh Manjrekar.-Plot:...
and Viruddh... Family Comes First
Viruddh... Family Comes First
Virruddh... Family Comes First is a Hindi film, released in 2005, directed by Mahesh Manjrekar. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Sharmila Tagore, Sanjay Dutt and John Abraham...
. The film is adapted from the play Adhantar by Jayant Pawar, who also co-wrote the screenplay, and explores the life of Bombay's mill workers after they were rendered jobless in the early 1980s, when the Bombay mills shut down in the post Great Bombay Textile Strike
Great Bombay Textile Strike
The Great Bombay Textile Strike was a textile strike called on 18 January 1982 by the mill workers of Bombay under trade union leader Dutta Samant. The purpose of the strike was to obtain bonus and wage increases...
period, and soon made way for skyscrapers and shopping malls. The film opened to mixed reviews, though it was commended for its theme, and acting. The name of the Marathi version of this film is Lalbaug Parel, while the Hindi version was released as City of Gold.
Plot
The film is a story of a family of mill workers in Bombay. It traces the birth of the politics of greed in Mumbai and exposes the collusion between the triumvirate of big business, the political establishment and the trade union leaders who ostensibly were charged with protecting the rights of the mill workers. In the two decades that followed, the entire landscape of Central Bombay was changed forever. Land became the currency of growth, and this began the systematic extinction of mills in Bombay. In a matter of just a few years, hundreds of thousands of workers lost their means of livelihood. Having worked in these mills from generation to generation, this was the only vocation that they knew.Production
The director of the film Mahesh Manjrekar writes in the director notes: "When I took a sabbatical from Hindi cinema close to four years ago, I promised myself that if and only if an exceptional subject came my way would I venture back to do a Hindi film. Lalbaug Parel is that subject." After completing the script in 2007, Manjrekar decided to wait until he could find a producer who would be willing to do a film without musical numbers. Eventually, DAR Motion PicturesDAR motion pictures
DAR Motion Pictures is the film entertainment division of Dar Media Private Limited, was established with a firm commitment to develop a range of quality cinema projects in Hindi, Marathi and other regional languages of India....
produced the film.
Cast
- Shashank Shende as Anna
- Seema BiswasSeema BiswasSeema Biswas is an Indian film and theatre actress from Assam who shot into prominence with the role of Phoolan Devi in Shekhar Kapur's film Bandit Queen . She has a reputation for performing strong character roles.Biswas won the 1996 National Film Award for Best Actress for her role in the film...
as Aai - Ankush Choudhary as Baba
- Anusha DandekarAnusha DandekarAnusha Dandekar is a Sudan born Australian-Indian actress and VJ.She has 2 other sisters Shibani Dandekar- who is elder to her & Apeksha Dandekar who is younger to her....
as Manasi - Vineet KumarVineet KumarVineet Kumar is a veteran actor, well known for playing negative roles. He has done a number of Hindi films and television serials. He is sometimes credited as Vinit Kumar or Binit Kumar.-Early life:...
as Mohan - Veena Jamkar as Manju
- Karan PatelKaran PatelKaran Patel is an Indian actor. He is a Gujarati. He starred in the STAR Plus series Kasturi, where he played the male lead Robbie Sabarwal....
as Naru - Siddharth Jadhav as Speedbreaker
- Satish KaushikSatish KaushikSatish Kaushik is an Indian film director and actor in Hindi films and theatre.As a film actor his most remembered for his role as 'Calendar' in Mr. India, and as 'Chanu Ahmed' in Sarah Gavron's English film Brick Lane...
as Mama - Kashmira ShahKashmira ShahKashmira Shah is an Indian actress and model. She is the granddaughter of noted Hindustani classical singer, Anjanibai Lolekar. She has appeared in numerous Hindi and Marathi films. Shah is a half Maharashtrian and half Gujarati...
as Mami - Sameer Dharmadhikari as Mahendra
- Ganesh Yadav as Parshya Bhai
- Sachin KhedekarSachin KhedekarSachin Khedekar is an Indian actor and director, best known for his roles in Astitva, Imtihaan, and as Netaji in Shyam Benegal's Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero...
as Rane - Vinay Apte as Govind
Legal troubles
After the film's release the family of Dutta SamantDutta Samant
Dr. Dutta Samant was an Indian politician and trade union leader, who is most famous for leading 200-300 thousand textile mill workers in the city of Bombay on a year-long strike in 1982, which triggered the closure of most of the textile mills in the city.-Trade union and...
served Mahesh Manjrekar with legal notice, claiming that the film wrongly placed the blame for the mills' closure on Samant. They also objected to Manjrekar's portrayal of the mill workers' children, saying they were shown as "goons".