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Accomplished Producer, known invariably as the most prominent face of the Marathi film at Zee Studios, Nikhil Sane was born to a regular household in Thane, Maharashtra. Educated jointly in Mumbai and Pune, Sane pretty much began his career with Zee. He started his journey as the programming head of Zee Marathi, and popularized the culture of reality shows on television. Invested fully in his job of designing strategies, he even took up developing brands, slots and events for Zee Talkies. Right then, Sane understood the merit of a good concept. He has unwaveringly since then stood by innovative content that has been carving a niche for Marathi tv and cinema in the regional space.
In 2008 he was promoted as business head of the Marathi cluster leading which includes, Zee Marathi, Zee Talkies and Marathi film production. Sane graduated to his film career with De Dhakaa which was hit film. Many other films followed stream and helped him raise the bar step by step in the Marathi industry. His association with writer-directors Mahesh Manjrekar, Nagraj Manjule and Ravi Jadhav, along with the music duo Ajay-Atul developed considerably during these years and became one of the most celebrated relationships of his career. He worked with Nana Patekar, Sachin Pilgaonkar Riteish Deshmukh, Shankar Mahadevan, Ankush Choudhari, Subodh Bhave, Girish kulkarni along with leading ladies like Sai Tamhankar, Amruta Khanvilkar Priya Bapat, Mukta Barve, Sonali Kulkarni. He creative angered got evolved with some of the filmmakers Paresh Mokashi, Nishikant Kamat, Rajesh Mapuskar, Avinash Arun, Sanjay Jadhav.
The turning point was the film Natarang, which he produced under the banner of Zee Talkies. Directed by reputed director Ravi Jhadav, the film won a National Award for the Best Feature Film in Marathi, along with seven out of sixteen nominations in the Zee Gaurav awards. The film introduced a fresh take on the traditional stories in the regional space.
Sane's insight into the power of a good story snowballed after this and became even more clear in the choice of his productions. Movies like Fandry, Elizabeth Ekadeshi, Killa, Lai Bhari, Dr. Prakash Baba Amte, TimePass 1&2 and Duniyadari amongst many others are known to be important films that blur the lines between art house and commercial cinema. They went to become the highest grossers in the history of Marathi cinema, signifying support of the audience who seemed to be growing with the movies.
Movies like Katyar Kaljat Ghusali, Sairat and Natsamrat added feathers to his hat one after the other, and also escalated Zee Studios to be one of the pioneers of the Marathi Industry. The institution and Sane together laid a foundation where good content bounded firmly by its roots was nurtured and raised to be a collection of fine pieces of art and craft. Apart from this, Sane has also always paid due heed to subjects chosen to make films about. Important themes landscaping throughout the political and social landscape of Maharashtra have been responsibly portrayed in these films, and he humbly shares credits for the same with his filmmakers.
Here comes another cherished association with director Nagraj Manjule, with whom he has made the most successful film Marathi cinema has seen. Sairat has been seen and appreciated internationally, and its box office collections seem to have broken a lot of records. The music by Ajay-Atul transcended borders and Sane proved yet again that cinema as an art form has a language of its own and is self-reliant enough to reach all corners of the world on the shoulders of its story. Sairat went on to become the first regional film that was acquired digitally by the platform Netflix; along with the first Indian film production to have had its music recorded in the prestigious Sony MGM Studio in Hollywood. With his upcoming film Nude and Faster Fene, Sane hopes to continue this journey of empowering Marathi cinema and having it stand on its own merit, and the firm feet of its stories.
