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:

(more…)

There are many memorable take aways from Vishal Bharadwaj’s National Award winning film. The lush Himachal landscape is a pleasant break from the urban settings of the latest Indie films. Pankaj Kapoor gets better with age, and shows tremendous range in playing the village shopkeeper “Nandkishore Khatri”. The character is so far removed from the unbending Hindu priest of “Dharm” (also released in 2007), but Kapoor is equally at ease.

However, the film stumbles repeatedly and is unsatisfactory on the whole. The script is based on a children’s book by Ruskin Bond:

(more…)