Marathi filmmakers find a new gimmick to pull crowds?

From Bluffmaster to Singham Cha Baap, Marathi filmmakers are referring to popular Hindi film titles in their projects

Some Marathi filmmakers have found the perfect way to grab instant attention — they are using words from popular Hindi film titles for their own films. The formula is working as the number of Marathi films with references to Hindi film titles has shot up of late.

While some of the titles of Bollywood and Hollywood films are tweaked, a few are direct lifts. Inspired by Rohit Shetty's hit film Singham, Marathi film director Amol Muke has named his upcoming film — Singham Cha Baap. Muke's earlier project was titled Tatya Vinchoo Lage Raho and his next will be called Amhi Dabbhang. "If I can attract more crowds by using references of popular Hindi film titles in my films, I don't see any harm in it," he says.

This year, Milind Kavde released 4 Idiots, while Kishor Sav's film was called Bluffmaster. Other examples are Mahesh Kothare's Dubhang and Pushkar Jog's Mission Possible.

In more cases than not, this is a gimmick used by filmmakers to cash in on the popularity of the original films. Sav says, "A known title at times helps the film strike an instant chord with the audience. After a period of five years, a filmmaker loses the right over the title unless he pays a certain amount to retain it. Also, as long as the title is not repeated in the same language, the copyright department has no issues with registration."

Kavde claims that 4 Idiots is his creation. "It's just a matter of luck that Hirani released his film before mine. I was working on my film with this title two years before Hirani's Hindi film 3 Idiots released," he says.