Now, catch Sena-MNS rivalry on celluloid

From the mannerisms of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray to the thick moustache and glasses of Shiv Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray to the rudraksha beads and body language of Sena chief Bal Thackeray — the film has it all, reports Rajendra Aklekar.

From the mannerisms of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray to the thick moustache and glasses of Shiv Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray to the rudraksha beads and body language of Sena chief Bal Thackeray — the film has it all.

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Titled Zhenda (flag), the film captures the story of Maharashtra’s two rival political parties — the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) — for the first time on celluloid.

The film, written and directed by Marathi singer and composer Avadhoot Gupte, who had originally sung the Shiv Sena geet, the party’s official promotional song, will hit the theatres on January 8.

Two advertisements released to promote the film show characters closely resembling Uddhav and Raj.

Promotional clippings suggest that the film deals with the feud in the Thackeray family, the split of the Shiv Sena and the formation of the MNS.

Gupte, however, denied this.

“The movie is not about any particular party or set of people, but about the state of Maharashtra’s politics and the youth in today’s age,” he said, adding that nobody from the Thackeray family had seen the movie till now.

“The story of Zhenda could be the story of any political party in Maharashtra today,” he said.

Gupte said the idea occured to him while he was writing a series of songs on the subject.

“I will not call myself a director. I am a singer and will remain one. I had a series of songs on this subject, which I thought could be explained better with an audio. When the audio was prepared, I was not satisfied with it and wrote a script that became Zhenda.”

The debutant director started his career as a composer in 2002.

His first album Paus featuring eight songs on the rain theme became an instant hit. He has also received the best composer of 2002 award for this album.