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As Telugu film "Vanaja", winner of 16 major international
awards, opens its commercial run in America, director Rajnesh
Domalpalli hopes discerning viewers will come to watch the movie
that's yet to be released in India. Released in New York City
Friday, the story of a young girl's dream - her desire and
determination to be a dancer as she struggles to come of age - was
shot in rural Andhra Pradesh - "a place that is as rich and diverse
as it is beautiful", Domalpalli said.
"For American audiences, India can be a confusing medley of
beggars, cows and call centres. But real India is very different.
It's a place of wonder, horror, the utmost filth and the greatest
beauty all rolled into one," Domalpalli told IANS in an e-mail
interview, when asked what impact the film would make on American
audiences fed on Hollywood films.
"Some perhaps will go back to the monkey eating, heart tearing
scenes of 'Indiana Jones' and the 'Temple of Doom'."
"When an audience empathises with the protagonist and is led into
the world of the film, I think they will come to question whether
comparisons have meaning at all when dealing with cultures that
span the globe.
"Is a soPrano in a classical concert 'better/more advanced' than
a Burra Katha (a folk tale told by travelling bards) on a makeshift
stage? Are the smooth lines of a glass and concrete skyscraper more
'beautiful' than the fading peeling walls of a dilapidated
haveli? Is 'fair' better than 'dark'?
"But then of course, there will always be those who refuse to
question - and the film is not for them," Domalpalli said.
Describing how he took up the "Vanaja" story as his debut film, he
said working on his thesis at Columbia University he decided to go
back to a film that he had seen a long time ago called "Sophie's
Choice" - and to a moment of mother-child separation in it.
"As I began to write, however, I found that the story began to
meander. Gradually, it began to evolve into a study of class
structure and conflict, things that I suspect I had been exposed to
while growing up in small town Andhra, where my father had worked
as a dam construction engineer.
"To my surprise I also found that in a small insidious way, my love
for our art and culture also gradually began to infuse the script.
Right from the old mansions that I had grown up in, to our
classical music, our dances, our Janapada gitams (folk songs) to
the light around a village fire to shy water-lilies in a village
pond... I found that the story was now a vehicle to showcase what I
loved and cared for having grown up in our rural countryside.
"Of course, films must entertain, but when they can convey so much,
wouldn't it be criminal to waste the opportunity?" Domalpalli
asked.
With an early version of the script ready at the end of his fourth
semester, Domalpalli's initial intent was to find financing for
the film in India and then try the US.
"But local producers have a revulsion for anything that doesn't
have a woman with the 'correct dimensions'... and no male lead?
Well, we never got that far.
"The US was a different story. People doubted the 'marketability'
of the film, its lack of 'stars' was as much of a flaw as my
script that 'lacked cohesion,' I was told. But the biggest
drawback was - me, or rather, my utter lack of experience.
"It was only when I showed my professors a rough cut of the film,
and they approved, that purse strings finally came loose," he said.
Domalpalli said the biggest challenge was very definitely finding
appropriate talent.
"Given the rural nature of the story, I was certain that non-actors
drawn from hutments, labour camps and our vast middle class was the
right choice.
"But I was faced with not just putting them through lengthy acting
training, but having the lead learn Kuchipudi dance, the landlady
learn Carnatic music, and grappling with a whole swarm of issues
that came with working with first timers.
"As a first step, household staff and their friends were roped into
various capacities - making flyers that would be inserted into
newspapers at night, canvassing at schools, visiting local hutments
and persuading dwellers to come for auditions - while
simultaneously combating rumours that we were after their kidneys,
pleading with government bureaucrats, putting up posters etc.
"When we wanted to place an ad in the newspapers for the landlady,
we found to our surprise that we couldn't do so. So instead, we
decided to advertise for household help: 'Female, aged 35 to 50,
needed to care for elderly parents'.
"When unsuspecting ladies turned up for an interview, conversations
would inadvertently steer towards film, what a wonderful art acting
was, and how rarely ordinary people got a chance to prove their
talent.
"Problems didn't come as fires, they raged as wild fires. As I
have said before, for any independent film to succeed, a hundred
miracles need to happen, and I feel grateful that in our case they
all did."
Asked about his future plans as a filmmaker, Domalpalli said he had
started a script that weaves several elements together.
"Tribal life vis-а-vis city life, issues of deforestation,
problems of the elderly, and Carnatic music are some of the threads
that I'm working with, but it's turning out to be a very tall
order."
"Vanaja" will be released in Los Angeles and Chicago Sep 14,
Boston, Philadelphia, Austin and Detroit Sep 21, and over a dozen
other US cities after that.
By Arun Kumar
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