Video excerpts, war stories about the making of, concerns about distribution, ringing cell phones and crying babies is how the DVD launch of festival fav Vanaja went down at Borders (NYC) on Friday. As Rajnesh Domalpalli (director) smiled his way through the proceedings, someone in the audience remarked “it looks like you are watching the movie for the first time”.

The film is in its second year on the festival circuit (112 festivals at last count), but distributors in India have predictably shied away. The infamous censor board’s demand for nine cuts, and the director’s reluctance to comply have further complicated the distribution prospects.

Rajnesh shared some interesting tidbits with a diverse audience at the dvd release:

• The film was a thesis project for Rajnesh’s film school degree at Columbia. He chose a subject close to his heart, based in his native state of Andhra Pradesh.
• All the actors are actually non-actors, picked up from the lower social strata. The subject matter of the film required the actors to bring forth their life experiences. Rajnesh conducted an acting school in his basement.
• Mamatha Bhukya who plays the title role of Vanaja learnt Kuchipudi dance for a year after being cast in the film. You could not have guessed it.
• The filmmakers could not advertise for actors in the local papers in Andhra Pradesh due to bureaucratic reasons, so they advertised instead for “household help”. When unsuspecting applicants showed up for the interview, the director would slowly turn the subject: don’t you think you deserve a chance at acting
• The Indian censors were uncomfortable with the sexual undercurrent in some of the most engaging scenes. In one particular instance, the shape of a young man’s genitalia was visible through the underwear, and that was enough to demand a cut.

It was clear from the presentation that Rajnesh was proud not only of the film, but also the lives it had touched (family gardeners turned into production designers). The lack of distribution in his own country, coupled with the belief that audiences there are not even ready for a film of this kind, has done nothing to dampen his spirits. Having heard of Indian filmmakers driven to depression because of the Indian censor + distributor double whammy, I was curious to understand the driving force behind Rajnesh’s sunny disposition.

I may have found the answer in a post by Rajnesh on the Vanaja user forum:

Film, to me, is magic: On Screen. In my Mind. In my Heart.
The simple pride in watching Mamatha perform what she calls “Scene 66″ - where she begs the landlady to return….
or the joy of seeing a viewfinder filled with waterlily leaves…
or the frustration of being awoken in the middle of the night for a cup of “morning” coffee…
or the value of a million small things, each of which appears more precious than any other…
each in turn, sums to the total that is Film.

I can imagine that I have placed on the scales, on one hand, a bucket full of very good reasons why you should not be a filmmaker, and on the other side, just a tiny bead of why you should.

But whether or not that tiny bead is the purpose of your life… that is a decision only you can make.

For this filmmaker, pleasure is in the making.

Tags: art house, indian, social issues, telugu
Posted in Filmmaking, People

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 1st, 2008 at 6:28 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.