Sumitra Bhave gives voice to the voiceless

Dithee’ is the first film that she has adapted from another person’s story

Small, kind and 77 years old, Sumitra Bhave is one of the veterans of Marathi cinema. In a career that spans several decades, the filmmaker is known for films that gave voice to the underprivileged. However, her new film ‘Dithee’, which was screened at the Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes) 2020 is the first film that she has adapted from another person’s story.

“It’s the same,” she said, when asked how writing an adapted screenplay is different from an original. “Until I made that story mine, I couldn’t write that screenplay. I just gave a lot of screen space to women, and also created two women characters.”

All her films, from the very first, ‘Bai’ in 1985, have been about people from society’s fringes. When asked why she has always sought to be a voice for the voiceless, she says, “It’s perhaps the temperamental inclination. It may also be my educational background, which was in sociology and in social work.

Metrolife had earlier written about how many veteran filmmakers find it difficult to move on traditional platforms on to OTT content. Sumitra, at 77, does not have this problem. When asked about how many Indian arthouse films have not moved on Netflix and Amazon, she excitedly said with a smile, “My films are there!”