Entertainment | Film & Cinema
Stepping out
Filmmaker Rajnesh Domalpalli showcases his directorial debut in Dubai.
- By I-Cheng Chan, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:36 May 3, 2009
- Filmmaker Rajnesh Domalpalli showcases his directorial debut in Dubai.
- Image Credit: Vazhisojan/Gulf News
The age-old issue of caste conflict has been looked at afresh in the debut film by Rajnesh Domalpalli, screened during the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF).
The writer and director of Vanaja, who made the film as his Master's thesis at Columbia University in New York, said he was inspired to create it after seeing Sophie's Choice five years ago.
Set in rural South India, Vanaja tells the story of a 15-year-old girl whose life intertwines with the family of a powerful landlady.
The movie made its debut at the Toronto Film Festival and has just been selected as one of six entries to be featured in Berlin International Film Festival's General Competition Section.
Domalpalli, an engineering graduate from Mumbai's Indian Institute of Technology, said he recruited ordinary people from the street to be a part of the film which, in itself, proved how relevant its subject matter was.
"There were certain situations where we came head-on with this kind of caste bias," he said.
Soothing tempers
On one occasion he asked some of the extras to sit on the steps of a temple, which led to a huge verbal argument with onlookers.
"It turned out that, unknowingly, I had asked people from a low caste to sit on the temple steps," said Domalpalli, who is from Hyderabad.
"The fight was between them and the upper-caste people from the village close by who asked them to get off.
"We had to sit them in different positions and soothe tempers which took a long while."
As well as highlighting the caste issue, the film features the classical dance Kuchipudi which the lead actress, Mamatha Bhukya, took 10 months to learn.
Domalpalli said: "It is a very beautiful dance form and I feel it has to be showcased a little more globally. I feel not enough people are learning Kuchipudi. We have to preserve what is ours."
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