Bollywood borrows some Marathi magic
Updated On: 08 May, 2026 07:30 AM IST | Mumbai | Mohar Basu
Ravi Bhagchandka, co-producer of Sitaare Zameen Par (2025), is adapting Marathi film Funral for Hindi audiences. Moved by its emotional honesty, he has secured rights and begun writing. A writers’ room is set up, with casting and direction in progress

Ravi Bhagchandka also produced ‘Sachin: A Billion Dreams’, the 2017 documentary on cricket great Sachin Tendulkar. Pic/Instagram
Ravi Bhagchandka, who recently co-produced Sitaare Zameen Par (2025), remembers watching Funral in 2022. The Marathi movie’s “emotional honesty” stayed with him. Now, the producer has acquired the adaptation rights of the Vivek Dubey-directed venture and is readying to bring the story to the Hindi film audience.
“Cinema rarely explores [the theme of] death with warmth and celebration,” he said. Funral offered a refreshingly different perspective by telling the story of four friends, who provide services related to last rites and slowly turn the solemn event into a celebration of life. Bhagchandka added, “This film looked at how a passing can also become a moment of reflection, and even celebration of a life lived. Upon watching it, I felt this was a story that deserved to reach a wider audience in Hindi.”
Aroh Welankar in ‘Funral’. Pics/X
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