Vicky Kaushal starrer film ‘Chhawa’ is gathering fiercely in theaters these days. ‘Chhava’, who has become one of the biggest films of Bollywood, is constantly making new records of earnings at the box office. Released 13 days ago, this film has now crossed the 500 million gross collection figure at the Worldwide box office.
Vicky Kaushal, who is playing the role of Chhatrapati Sambhaji in the film, is being highly praised and the success of ‘Chhava’ is being linked to the increasing stature of his stardom. But behind the curtain, the celebration of the success of this film will remain incomplete without talking to Laxman Utekar, the director of the film’s real hero, the film’s real hero. Laxman’s journey is no less than a film story of fulfilling dreams in itself.
Great hero on screen, real life hero
Seeing Sridevi’s film ‘English Vinglish’ or Alia Bhatt’s ‘Dear Zindagi’, you cannot live without being impressed by the frames of these films. The settings, lighting and camera of these frames were a big role in making many important scenes of these films alive. Many frames were so cute that you will not fill your heart. These frames were the gift of Laxman Utekar. He was a renowned cinematographer of the film industry before becoming a director.
Seeing the frames of Laxman’s films, it may seem that he must have studied cinema from a big cinema institute. But Laxman has really studied life, not cinema, which has given the world knowledge to see with a new sight.
Laxman was four years old when he had to leave his village and come to Mumbai to live with one of his uncle. He used to go back to the village on holidays. If Laxman did not feel like studying, then many small things started doing. He did the first task to sell Vada Pav at Shivaji Park in Mumbai. Then one day the BMC (Bombay Municipal Corporation) took away his hand. A few years ago, in an interview to Rediff, Laxman had told that he himself was bored of selling Vada Pav, so he felt ‘good’. He said, ‘Then I used to make Vada Pav with all my heart, and people liked it. Now I make films with full heart and people like it.
The story of Laxman’s journey is the story of catching the opportunities found tightly
Then one day Laxman saw an ad in the newspaper, which changed his fortune. The ad was that a studio in Mumbai needed a sweeper. Laxman reached and started the job. He started liking the life and food of the studio. Once there was no camera attendant in the studio and the chief cameraman was getting upset, then the studio owner pointed to Laxman and said, ‘Hey this is sitting, take it.’ In this way he became camera attendant. Then he became a final cameraman while becoming the Chief camera attendant, assistant cameraman.
Once Laxman directed a promo for director Anthony D’Suza, who gave him the opportunity to direct a music video. Subhash Ghai watched this music video and called Laxman to shoot the film ‘Khanna and Iyer’ in his production. Laxman’s career started from this film as a director of photography. After this, Anthony, who gave Laxman a chance of music video, gave the opportunity to shoot the film ‘Blue’. This film, made with big stars like Akshay Kumar, Sanjay Dutt, Lara Dutta, flopped at the box office. But there was a lot of discussion about its cinematography.
Laxman says, ‘People felt that a Firang (foreign) had shot’ Blue ‘. But when he saw my name in credits, it happened to him that ‘Who is this dangerous man, man? “After this, Laxman got films like’ English Vinglish ‘,’ Dear Zindagi ‘,’ Hindi Medium ‘and’ 102 Not Out ‘. But then after a while, Laxman felt that cinematography has become enough, something else should be done. He realized that he could tell the story good and so he made his first film in Marathi because he understood the flavor of this language, culture and story.
Directed by Marathi films, made emotional films
Laxman’s first film ‘Tapal’ is the story of a child who writes a letter to his childhood friend. But he is afraid that his letter may not reach someone else’s hands instead of that girl. He goes back to find his letter back with the help of a postman. Her second Marathi film ‘Lalbagachi Rani’ is the story of a mentally challenged girl who is lost in Mumbai. With her eyes, the way she sees the problems of the world, she brings many emotional and beautiful moments in the film.
Then the big break of Laxman’s career came and he directed Karthik Aryan and Kriti Sanon in his first Hindi film Luka Chuppi. This romantic comedy film was liked by the public and Laxman’s first Hindi film collected more than 100 crore gross collections at the box office. This was the bang of Laxman’s career. In this film, Laxman once again collaborates with her actress Kriti and brought ‘mm’ on Netflix. The story of this film with comedy filled moments appealed to the audience emotionally. ‘Mimi’ not only got popularity among the audience, as well as nomination in the National Award. Kriti Sanon received ‘Best Actress’ for ‘Mimi’ and Pankaj Tripathi received the National Award for ‘Best Supporting Actor’.
Two back to back hits with Vicky Kaushal
Laxman’s next film Vicky Kaushal and Sara Ali Khan’s family drama ‘Jara Hatke Jara Bacheke’ were. With this light comedy, Laxman once again impressed the public and this time also his film made more than 100 crore gross collection worldwide. While working with Vicky in this film, Laxman also planned ‘Chhava’ and once again cast Vicky in his film.
The record of Laxman’s films from ‘Tapal’ to ‘Chhava’ has been tremendous. His films have been successful at the box office along with gathering praise. And with ‘Chhava’, he has joined the list of big directors who have given 500 crore earning films at the box office.
There is a common thing in Laxman’s films … The game of emotions will be seen very much at some point of the story and Laxman must have prepared these scenes neatly. In his interview, Laxman told that the kind of life he has lived, people usually call it ‘strict’ but he found it fun. In this life, he faced a lot of delicate emotions, so he has no problem in expressing emotions in his films.
Real life taught cinema lessons
During the school holidays, when Laxman returned to his village, he used to sit outside his house and see airplanes flying in the sky. Seeing the plane, he used to ask his mother, ‘If someone sushes in the plane, what will fall down?’ At the end of Laxman’s film ‘Mimi’, a child was seen asking a similar question.
Laxman has also earned from Ganesh immersion to run the expenses. People with money were afraid of going into water for Ganesh immersion, so they used to get their Ganpati immersed in water by giving money to others. Laxman has done this work. A similar scene is also found in his film ‘Lalbagchi Rani’. Laxman’s experiences may come down in some of his film scenes, but it is not that he gets the whole motivation of making films from his life that the world calls ‘strict’.
Laxman says, ‘When people say that such experiences inspire them, they say lies! When your stomach is empty and you try to fill it with vigor, then you just focus on it. You do not get inspiration for anything else. When the stomach was full, ate the vada pav, drank water, then you get satisfied. With a great record of success, Laxman is tasting the success of ‘Chhava’ these days. The public will now be eyeing that the director who delivered the biggest Hindi film of 2025 now brings new.