Ace comedian and actor Navin Prabhakar, who is known for playing the Mumbai bar girl Julie on 'The Great Indian Laughter Challenge', is looking forward to the release of his Marathi film 'Soham'. The film's plot will "awaken people", he says.
'Soham', directed by Datta Bhandare, makes the point that "we have westernised English education beyond thee level that is necessary". It will be truly commendable "if we bring richness to our languages and learn them," Navin pointed out.
"Like in the film, the school where I was shooting, there were students who were 12 or 13 years old, walking in a line in a disciplined manner, but fighting in Sanskrit," Navin said. "Can you imagine that?"
Navin continued: "We live in India, most of us speak in Hindi, follow Hindu culture and our religion is Hinduism, yet we don't know anything about Sanskrit. Nevertheless, there are schools where Sanskrit is the medium of instruction."
Making a broader point, he said: "This is a matter of concern for our education system. What have we lost and what should we do or what should we follow, which footsteps to follow. With the help of this movie, we will show the way."
The film is significant for Navin. "Of course, it's a different film for me. I'm playing the male protagonist and the entire story is being narrated through me. I am negative at first, then I lead and make the public aware that we spend so much money on an education system and culture that is we do not need."
Talking about balancing Marathi and Hindi projects, Navin said: "I believe that is easy, for I am comfortable in both languages. There's actually a thin line that separate Marathi from Hindi."