A well-known film producer Nagraj Manjule he raised the profile of Marathi cinema with his 2016 hit romantic tragedy “Sairat”, starring Rinku Rajguru and Akash Thosar. The film became the highest-grossing Marathi film of all time, a record it held for nearly a decade before Raja Shivaji dropped it earlier this year. Sairat was remade in Hindi as ‘Dhadak’ (2018), to mark Janhvi Kapoor‘s big-screen debut. Last year, the franchise expanded with ‘Dhadak 2’, starring Siddhant Chaturvedi and Triptii Dimri.Recently, promoting his recently released project ‘Frame’, Nagraj Manjule spoke to SCREEN about the success of ‘Sairat’ and whether he has plans to make ‘Sairat 2’ following the release of ‘Dhadak 2’.
Nagraj Manjule on ‘Sairat’s success
In an interview, Nagraj Manjule revealed that he wrote the story of ‘Sairat’ with a simple vision. Manjule said: “I didn’t look at it as difficult. I said what I wanted with this film. When I was writing Sairat, I thought that the world we see in films where people love is very different from the real world. In real life, we face difficulties when we love each other. I didn’t need to act, so I kept it as it is. What we always think is that a love story ends happily ever after; we don’t see problems in it, so my vision was showing that.Talking about the film’s success, the filmmaker said, “I never thought that Sairat would be replaced by Bollywood. We just make our film. We don’t think how many people will like it or if there will be a remake.”
Will Nagraj Manjule make ‘Sairat 2’?
Last year, Dharma Productions expanded the ‘Dhadak’ franchise with a sequel. When asked if this inspired him to decide to make ‘Sairat 2’, Nagraj Manjule said, “Sairat 2 does not need to be inspired by ‘Dhadak 2’ to be made. If there is news, ‘Sairat 2’ will be made. I think the story was enough by itself, but sometimes when people like a movie, they want to see what happens in the movie. A lot of people keep asking me when I’m going to make it to Fandry. After ‘Sairat’ came out, people forgot about it. But now they keep asking me about ‘Sairat 2.’ I think it’s a country where we can say a lot, but I never thought about it.”
Nagraj Manjule on the rise of Marathi cinema
Nagraj also spoke about the growth of Marathi cinema, considering how the divide between television and the region has changed. Co-star ‘Frame’ Amey Wagh he pointed out that the Marathi cinema had given seven shows in the first six months of 2026, adding that Sairat had “opened the door to a room full of riches.”Sharing how Marathi cinema is growing, Nagraj said, “‘Raja Shivaji’ and ‘Deool Band 2’ have crossed Rs 100 crore. Several other films have earned around Rs 30-40 crore. So, what counts as popular now? ‘Baahubali’ was in Telugu, ‘Kantara,’ many people were in Push Kapagunna, ‘Push Kapagunna’ was in Push Kapagunna. The film becomes popular when everyone likes it.“
More about Nagraj Manjule’s movie ‘Frame’
On the work front, Nagraj Manjule will next be seen in Vikram Patwardhan’s “Frame”. The film, which also stars Amey Wagh, revolves around the lives of two photographers who come to a crossroads in their lives as they struggle between humanity and professional responsibility. The movie will be released on Zee5 on July 10.