Rajnesh Domalpalli’s debut and Telugu classic, ‘Vanaja’ wins accolades internationally but struggles to find a distributor in India.
While one may agree that there’s a significant growth in the cinematic sensibilities of today’s audience, one can still find many cinematic works struggling to find distributors. One such movie is Telugu classic, ‘Vanaja’.
Having travelled almost half the world via film festivals like Toronto, Houston, Cairo, Durban, Goa and winning the Best Debutant Feature award at the 57 th Berlin International Film Festival, the movie is set to be screened at this years MAMI International Film Festival in Mumbai.
Set in the coastal Andhra Pradesh, it revolves around 14-year-old Vanaja and her spirit of survival. “Besides dealing with the central character, the movie talks of many issues like the changes in the social structure, effects of television and many more. Also, the film lays a lot of importance on the Kuchipudi dance form,” says Rajnesh Domalpalli, director of ‘Vanaja’.
In spite of receiving tremendous critic appraisal, the movie finds it difficult to find its way into cinema theatres.
“Though the movie has been screened in many film festivals in North America and is also slated to hit theatres around mid-summer, the scenario is far different when it comes to India. When we spoke to a couple of distributors back in Hyderabad, the movie was immediately turned down as it wasn’t seen to be commercially viable,” explains Rajnesh.
And while the movie struggles for recognition, Rajnesh has made up his mind to keep himself far away from the mainstream cinema. “Movie making is not my primary job.
So, the few movies that I make in my life should satisfy myself rather than living up to someone else’s expectations,” says Rajnesh.
h_vikas@dnaindia.net
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