In the past one year, Marathi film ‘Bittersweet’ has travelled to several international film festivals. Now the Government of Maharashtra has selected the film as the official entry for the Cannes’ Marche Du Film this year. ‘Bittersweet’, the hard-hitting drama of the emotional dilemma of women sugarcane workers in interior Maharashtra. ‘Bittersweet’ had its world premiere at the Busan International Festival where it was an official selection.
The film received rave reviews in Screen International which called it “a conversation starter of a picture “and praised the debutante actress Akshaya Gurav for her performance as the protagonist.
Bittersweet is written and directed by Ananth Narayan Mahadevan who was overwhelmed by the headline in a prominent newspaper “Beed: a village of women without wombs” that urged him to investigate and film the story on the actual location, using real sugar cane cutters along with prominent Marathi actors Suresh Vishwakarma, Smita Tambe, Guru Thakur, Bhagyashree Pane, and
Anil Nagarkar. The film which was also an official selection at the Kolkata International Film Festival and Hainan Island International Film Festival has received rave reviews all over for its sensitive portrayal of an explosive social issue.
