Veena Jamkar’s heartfelt note for Vijay Kalamkar, director of ‘Kurla to Vengurla’!

#VeenaJamkar wrote a heartfelt note for #VijayKalamkar, director of ‘Kurla to Vengurla’.

“Awakening the Resonance of Self-Belief – Kurla to Vengurla”

Grand welcome, Vijay…!!!

Your effort, your study, your roles, your leadership—all of this pales before the sensitivity within you… sensitivity born out of facing pain and hardship. And then one must decide—whether to nurture that sensitivity, or let it drift away and be lost to the current. You chose to nurture it…You are a special kind of filmmaker. I remember wondering how on earth a person with polio in both legs could ever become a director. But what I experienced in you, time and again, was the absence of that mental paralysis which, in truth, many of us carry in some measure.

Even after facing humiliation that I cannot imagine, your smile never faded. The expected traits of a victim—crying out against injustice or exploiting one’s sorrow—never came near you. And it is precisely there that your stature becomes immense.The success of Kurla to Vengurla is not to be measured by its box-office collection. You had already won the day you pushed aside your walking stick and seated yourself in the director’s chair for the very first time. What must that moment have felt like for you?

My dear one, thank you so much… for giving meaning to your own existence! Otherwise, to whom would people like me look? From where would we draw strength? You are a super hit, Boss. No matter how fine an actor may be, without support he remains crippled despite his talent. Today, our support has come in the form of Amarjeet Amle’s “Spandan” family—the Spandan Film Movement. Where some films have wealthy patrons and some inherit generations of film-industry lineage, ours has found its pillar in this movement. For 30 long years, a visionary like Amarjeet has been carrying this flame from village to village. Who else, if not such a ‘maverick’, could dare challenge the system? A man who never once calculated cold profit and loss, who has the courage to distribute a film through sheer willpower—that is rare. His madness for cinema hides within it a unique wisdom, which becomes evident when one watches our film.

What has the Spandan family given me? Whenever I am in your company, I turn inward for a few moments. I feel safe. With you, there is no trace of that familiar bitterness—that we are just being sweetly used after being paid for work. With you, I feel my own heartbeat fall into rhythm with Spandan itself. To all my friends from the Spandan family—your tireless dedication cannot be matched by money. No salary can buy the integrity with which you are taking this film to every doorstep. You deserve boundless praise, respect, gratitude, and a heartfelt salute! In an age of paid advertising, may the drumbeat of your united passion continue to reverberate. For your sound is not just promotion—it will remind the dry, corporate world that humanity still survives among us.My deepest wishes, love, and gratitude to the Spandan family… Love you all.–

Veena Jamkar.

By Keerti Kadam