Mumbai: The global trailer of Gondhal, India's official entry for the 99th Academy Awards, is out ahead of a worldwide theatrical release on November 13.
Santosh Davakhar's psychological thriller will open in seven languages — Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and English. The makers describe it as the first Marathi film to get a seven-language global theatrical rollout, with screens planned in India, the US, the UK, Europe, Australia, Dubai and Africa.
The trailer sets out the premise without giving it away: a newly married couple, Suman and Anandrao, and a run of unsettling events as personal desire, marital duty and devotion begin to pull against each other. The story is rooted in Maharashtra's cultural traditions.
The cast includes Ishita Deshmukh, Kishor Kadam, Yogesh Sohani and Nishad Bhoir. Santosh and Diksha Davakhar have produced under Davakhar Films, with Amalendu Chaudhary as cinematographer.
Davakhar won the Silver Peacock for Best Director at the 56th International Film Festival of India, where the jury described the film as being like a Shakespearean fable set in a real world.
One technical detail has travelled with the film: it opens with an unbroken 25-minute take, according to the makers.
The Oscar submission gives the release a second reason for attention. India's entry in the Best International Feature Film category has, in recent years, rarely been a Marathi film, and a seven-language rollout is an unusually wide bet for one.
The makers say the film is also under consideration for other categories but have not specified which.