The Filmmaker
Born and brought up in the obscure parts of Walkeshwar in South Mumbai, Milind Dhaimade has an interesting story about his tryst with cinema. An impromptu plan with a friend led Milind to Eros cinema for his first ever theatre experience when he was all of five. He takes us back to that day—‘I reach Eros with no sign of [friend] Maneesh. Then I think maybe I’m late, so I buy a ticket and go in. I look around and can’t seem to find him. So I sit and watch the film. In a few minutes I forget all about Maneesh and family. The movie was Battle of the Bulge.’ Some of those scenes are etched in his memory, he tells me. From then on, Milind saw every possible movie in Hindi, English and Marathi, in theatres from Strand and Sterling to Taj, Edward and Gaiety Galaxy. His journey in films, however, started as an ad-man—Milind has made over 100 commercials. But 12 years and innumerable promotions later, the itch to make films only got stronger, so one fine day Milind quit his job at the peak of his career and started his own production and design company, Love & Faith, to pursue his artistic goals. Set up along with his wife, the production house set out to explore different avenues, and when Milind finally wrote Tu Hai Mera Sunday, it felt like homecoming.
The Film
In the maddening crowds of Mumbai, five regular guys share a common goal: to play football at Juhu Beach every Sunday. While each one has their own reason to look forward to Sunday morning, it becomes equally the high point of their week. Later, when a ban is issued on playing games at Juhu Beach, the group has to look for a new place to play in the swarming city. At the crux, THMS is about how people give up small goals of their lives in the hope of larger materialistic gain that often eats up their happiness; it’s about how we are stuck in a rut to earn money which makes us lose ourselves. Inspired by Milind’s real-life experiences, the movie had its world premiere at BFI London Film Festival, after which it was screened at the Jio Mami Festival in Mumbai.
Text Hansika Lohani Mehtani