Sairat is that rare movie which has received critical acclaim as well as box-office love, making it the most commercially successful Marathi film. The director, Nagraj Manjule has often portrayed caste oppression as a burning reality in his films, he has also stated in many interviews that women are the dalits of the dalits. But in this exclusive interview by The Quint, his ex-wife Sunita Manjule has made some rather serious allegations against the filmmaker.
She spoke to the website about getting into an arranged marriage with Nagraj when she was 18-19 years old. He was in 12th grade when they tied the knot. Being the eldest daughter-in-law, she had to take care of the entire family, which included his parents and his brothers. She alleges that he promised to take her to Mumbai when he’d make it big as a director but that never happened. The biggest change she saw in her husband was after he won a National Award for his short film, Pistulya; he moved to the city but never called her to stay with him. She wanted to have children, but he made her go through 2-3 abortions. Whenever she raised her voice for keeping the child, he reportedly thrashed her with his bare hands. Sometimes with a leather belt and sometimes he would use a log of wood.
A social worker, who was the mediator in the divorce proceedings has spoken to the website about how Sunita got the raw deal in their separation as well. Nagraj has not given a statement to these claims as of now.