Chhaava director Aditya Sarpotdar on his link to Sambhaji’s story: ‘Directors were choosing the same stories 100 years ago’

With Laxman Utekar’s Chhaava becoming a success, director Aditya Sarpotdar shares how his great-grandfather ND Sarpotdar made the first film on Chhatrapati Sambhaji

While the success of Vicky Kaushal’s Chhaava has brought cheer to the Hindi film industry, it has left Munjya (2024) director Aditya Sarpotdar nostalgic. Not many know that he has a special connection with the story of Chhatrapati Sambhaji’s life. Exactly a century ago, his great-grandfather, ND Sarpotdar, a pioneer in Indian cinema, had directed the silent film, Chhatrapati Sambhaji (1925). The historical drama, starring Parshwanath Yeshwant Altekar as Chhatrapati Sambhaji, was the first depiction of the Maratha ruler on screen.

ND Sarpotdar

“The United Pictures Syndicate produced the silent movie,” reveals Aditya, who is currently helming the horror comedy, Thama, for producer Dinesh Vijan’s banner that also backed Chhaava. “I was telling Laxman [Utekar, Chhaava director] that this is such a great coincidence. I am directing for Maddock, where all of us have the same team—my DOP, art director and costume designer for Thama also worked on Chhaava. [Chhatrapati Sambhaji] was among the first few films made in the silent era of Indian cinema; it had actors from different states of the country because there were only a few filmmakers at that time. [What’s fascinating is that] even 100 years ago, filmmakers were choosing the same stories, and today, a film on the same narrative is also doing great business. These are timeless stories that one can keep making in different ways. The same subject still stands true 100 years later!”

Aditya Sarpotdar

The silent film had released on November 28, 1925 at Majestic Cinema in Girgaon, Bombay. How did Aditya discover this movie? “We had a list of my great-grandfather’s movies as we are four generations into the film industry. My dad is a producer-distributor. So, we always knew about the film, but when Chhaava released, one of my cousins pointed out that we had also made this film. That’s how I was reminded of it,” he smiles. Unfortunately, he says the original movie reels and negatives, which were stored at the National Film Archive of India [in Pune], were lost to the 2003 fire.

So far, Aditya has directed horror comedies. Does he plan to follow in his great-grandfather’s footsteps and make a historical drama? “I am looking forward to doing it now. I did a partly historical series, The Secret of The Shiledars, but I want to do a full-fledged historical war film.”

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