Ever since its selection as India’s official entry for the 99th Academy Awards, Gondhal has continued to intrigue film enthusiasts in India and beyond. Now, the makers are set to offer audiences an early theatrical experience, with exclusive preview screenings beginning October 9.
Written and directed by Santosh Davakhar, the Marathi Film, Gondhal, draws from Maharashtra’s rich cultural tradition of Gondhal—a ritualistic folk performance traditionally conducted through the night, combining devotional storytelling, music, percussion and dance. The film places this deeply rooted cultural form within a cerebral psychological thriller, creating an atmospheric narrative where tradition, desire, human emotion and hidden tensions collide combining the cultural specificity of rural Maharashtra with psychological and human themes that transcend language and geography. The film features Ishita Deshmukh, Kishor Kadam and Yogesh Sohoni in key roles.
Gondhal built a notable festival journey. The makers and cast of the film were recently honoured by Maharashtra Chief Minister Shri Devendra Fadnavis. Santosh Davakhar was honoured with the Silver Peacock for Best Director at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), while Gondhal also received the FIPRESCI Award at the Bengaluru International Film Festival. Its subsequent selection by the Film Federation of India as India’s official entry for the 99th Academy Awards has taken the film into a new phase of its international journey.
Gondhal will now have preview screenings across Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru ahead of its wider worldwide theatrical release. The exclusive previews will begin on October 9 across four theatres each in Mumbai and Pune, followed by screenings in other key cities, including Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad. Presented in Marathi and Hindi, these special previews will offer audiences an opportunity to experience the film on the big screen ahead of its larger multilingual rollout.
Speaking about the exclusive previews, Santosh Davakhar said, “For us, these previews are more than just early screenings; they are an opportunity to bring Gondhal back to audiences for whom the theatrical experience was always at the heart of the film. This is a story born from Maharashtra’s cultural soil, and we have always believed that its atmosphere, sound and visual world should be experienced collectively in a theatre. After the honour of representing India at the Oscars, it feels especially meaningful to open the doors of the film to audiences and let them experience Gondhal for themselves. I hope viewers enter the theatre without preconceived notions and allow the story, the culture and its psychological journey to speak for themselves.”
Following the exclusive previews, Gondhal is slated for its wider worldwide theatrical release in Marathi, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada, taking a story deeply rooted in Maharashtra to audiences across linguistic markets in India and overseas.
