People started thinking of Marathi as downmarket: Sachin Pilgaonkar

Mumbai, Aug 17 (IANS) Veteran actor Sachin Pilgaonkar says earlier many people used to think of Marathi as downmarket.

While the Marathi film industry is doing fairly well, Sachin recalls how it was the case earlier and told IANS, "Now it's not the case but earlier I had observed people started thinking of Marathi as a bit downmarket. Even at home they used to speak either in Hindi or English so they sued to avoid speaking in Marathi because they felt that it's downmarket."

"It's your mother tongue it cannot be downmarket you have to be proud of your mother tongue. I love my mother tongue and at the same time I respect others' mother tongue as well," he added.

Sachin is happy about the way the Marathi film industry is growing but is concerned about the quality of the movies being made.

He says, "I appreciate the progress but at the same time I am worried about the Marathi film industry as well. The number of films is increasing day by day but the every film cannot be a 'Sairat'.

"There are four releases every week and audience is limited. Non-Maharashtrians went to watch 'Sairat' but do they go to watch every Marathi film -- they don't. When you release three films together then audience is divided. Today if you have to go to multiplex to see a movie you really have to shell out a huge amount from your pocket. It is not as easy as it was earlier," he added.