Top News

National Award-winning filmmaker reflects on April May 99, the challenges of Marathi cinema, and his shift from direction to production — while preparing for an AI-driven mythological film that reimagines Hanuman’s humanity

There is something quietly powerful about a filmmaker who insists on telling the truth of his own world and then watches a French woman weep at the sight of it. That is exactly what happened to producer-director Rajesh Mapuskar, the Mumbai-based writer, director, and producer, when his latest production screened at the Cannes Film Market (Marché du Film) this year.

Rajesh Mapuskar is at Cannes representing April May 99, a coming-of-age Marathi film written and directed by his brother, Rohan Mapuskar, and selected by the Government of Maharashtra’s Film City for the market. The title carries a deceptively simple meaning for anyone who grew up in Maharashtra. “April May means vacation. Holiday means fun, no studies. Cricket, swimming in the sea, climbing mango trees,” he explains with a wide smile.

“Every Maharashtrian looks forward to that.”

But the film reaches beyond its regional roots. Set just before the turn of the millennium, it captures a world without mobile phones or the internet — a world where boys still felt awkward talking to girls, where not knowing English felt like a social failing, and where three teenage friends finishing their 10th grade had nothing more urgent to plan than how to spend their summer. When a city girl from Pune arrives speaking fluent English, and one of the boys is packed off to learn the language his parents consider essential, the summer’s easy rhythm begins to unravel.