Waiting In Recognition

Computer Engineer turned film maker Rajnesh Dompalli has proved his forte as a film maker in his debut film ‘Vanaja’.

The film has sailed through various festivals across the globe winning critical acclaim and awards in its journey including ‘Best feature debut ‘ at Berlin 2007. Even after winning critical acclaim and awards at various film festivals, Rajnesh Dompalli, who has directed, written and co-edited the film, is still longing for a distributor to release his film in India. The young talented debutant shared his experiences with Indian motion pictures.com

Excerpts from the interview.

What brings you from Computer Engineering to Film Making?
It was a long road to travel, but I suspect I had already set foot on it while studying Electrical Engineering at IIT: I used to love writing Short Stories. I also started Carnatic Music lessons at about the same time. Photography came a bit later though, once I had enough to buy a good camera in the US. Add one more ingredient to this (acting) and you have most of the essentials of Filmmaking.

I liked my work as a Computer Engineer, but it was only when I took off to take a few courses in creative writing at a local community college in California that I realized I had to make the switch. I set my heart on Columbia because of its stylistic emphasis on the screenplay, but lacking a “film” background, I knew I was up against heavy odds. So I continued with a few more semesters of coursework in Acting, Art History, Voice Control, Elements of Design, Photography, Writing etc. before applying to Columbia in 2001. I graduated with VANAJA in 2006.

What excited you as a writer to take a rural subject like ‘Vanaja’?
My father used to work as a Dam Construction Engineer in Andhra. We used to spend about 4 years per town, and all those places – Nagarguna Sagar, Srisailam, Nizamabad, Manjira etc. formed the core of those formative years. The schools, mostly Convents run by very dedicated nuns used to be highly non-discriminatory in terms of who was who, and I do believe that even though social distinctions have infiltrated me now, the influence of that past still lingers somewhere deep within.

How did you get along with the project?
Most Thesis projects are Shorts, but I felt that since costs of shooting in India were lower, it made sense to stretch and make a feature. The intention was to shoot on Super 16 with a local crew except for a few technical leads most of whom I knew in the US and who were very eager to experience the “magic” of India  - as I put it to them.

But when I had made a rough cut of the film and taken it back to my Professors, the unanimous response was that it well deserved taking further. That was when we decided to stretch some more and create a Digital Intermediate – a process of Scanning a film Negative and working henceforth in the Digital Realm. This cost quite a bit, but it was still nothing compared to what was to come in the months following – when we were faced with a completed product, and the task of getting it “out there”.

Did you approach for finance from outside?
Initially, yes – in the US, since I had very few Industry contacts in India. But doors kept swinging back and forth so much that it turned out to be a waste of time. That was when we decided to do it from within our known circle of people. The strategy was to take it step by step: i.e. start small, and if and only if the result was good, invest some more and take it to the next level.

Did you approach any professional actors?
No. Even though I did go to a local acting school to see what talent was like, the intention wasn’t to hire from there. It was important to take people “raw” – something that I done for a few of my class projects at Columbia shot during my vacations back home in Hyderabad. We had hired people from local “labour addas” (bus stands where daily wage laborers stand, waiting for contractors to hire and cart them off to work). I decided to employ a similar strategy in Vanaja, since I had seen very clearly in the past that the life-experience that these laborers brought with them was not just unique, but essential if authenticity was at stake. The only difference was that this time, we decided to reach out to the middle class as well.

What where your experiences during the making?
In pre-production, to find the lead, we had to meet approximately 2,500 children, interview about 260 and finally select two from a shortlist of 5 to play the roles of Vanaja and Lacchi. Parents were also distrustful of unknowns such as us, given that for the training period of almost a year, the children would have to frequently commute to our house for lessons. To convince people to devote so much of their children’s time and energy was hard enough, but to find the right combination of intelligence, commitment and talent as well was probably the steepest cliff we had to climb.

Facing the Indian bureaucracy was probably the next major hurdle. Many government officers work limited hours a day – secure in the fact that government rules protect them from “harassment”. Much here requires a permission – or a political connection. Lacking either, the only way to move these mountains is to oil their base with money. The only thing that finally saved us was the fact that we were shooting in remote locations within Andhra.

Production, however, presented a different set of hurdles, but the toughest was probably just sheer exhaustion. There was a lot on my shoulders, but I feel lucky that I had the support of a wonderful cast and crew, very dedicated and enormously persistent.

The film seems to have a fragile ending? Your comment.
Yes. FIPRESCI in one of its five reports on Toronto (our World Premiere) criticized me for not having synthesized the film well enough. I had been in two minds about this. After all, it is critical for a film to make clear its purport. But on the other hand several people, that I have brought this issue up with, have said unequivocally that they “got the point”. They don’t need more. So my present thinking is to just leave it to the audience to decide.

Has the film been officially released anywhere?
No. But Emerging Pictures, a New York based company is trying to release the film in the US in July. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, but I do realize that a release doesn’t guarantee anything – for the press and public to accept and approve of it is yet another rocky road.

Why the option to go through festivals & not have a commercial release?
I would love to release the film commercially – especially in Andhra, but finding theaters willing to release such a film is extremely difficult. The first question asked is, “Who are your stars?” Some of them are willing to forgive the fact that we have “None”, but what they can’t accept is that this is not a love story, it’s not a comedy and it’s not a action packed thriller.

I was asked by one major player whether anyone had given me a “frank opinion” about my film. Such attitudes take time to change, but I’m sure that the time will come.

Tell us about your experiences in various festivals, like Berlin, Cairo & others?
Toronto was our World Premiere – a wonderful place to begin, and there’s no way you can go wrong with the cinephile audience there.

However, there’s also practically no way to describe the response we received at Berlin. I had been forewarned that the audience there was “reserved,” so we went in expecting little. But at the Premiere (11th Feb 2007) in the Zoo Palast, at the end of the screening, if I were to try and describe their warmth by saying that they started the applause when the subtitles started rolling, and continued it until the end (when we climbed the stage, about 2 minutes later), I would still be doing them an injustice.

We are forever indebted to these and so many other festivals where people came out to support the film.

The movie has won critical acclaim in different festivals, what if it fails to prosper commercially?
I don’t want to think about that possibility. My mind is focused on the fact that it’s just a matter of time before we recover costs.

After the critical acclaim, what kind of a response did you receive in India?
Getting press attention has been very hard in India, especially since you’re up against the behemoth of Bollywood, Tollywood and all the other kinds of woods. But I think there is a small but significant Art House audience in India, and I have received a lot of support from them. However, the challenge will be to grow this and make it more broad based so that Art Films can have a better future here.

Have you been approached by any distributor?
Yes, recently two of them – one from Chennai and another from Germany came forward. But nothing concrete has been finalized. A big question is how much will be spent on Publicity. For films in this genre, publicity / press support can either make or break a work.

Did you approach any distributor?
Yes, in Andhra, we did approach several people at several times, but the answer has always consistently been the same. Finally, we decided to put all resources on the US release in the hope that if press and audiences there favor the film, it might have a spill-over effect here. Press and Distributors might then take a different attitude. But even so, this is probably a risky gamble.

What are your next future plans in particular regarding films?
I have a character study for a feature that involves the very old and the very young. It’s a look at how they contrast. But I’m also working on another that involves deforestation in some of our Hill Tracks. This is a much harder story to write, but I suspect that a lot of ground-work in the affected areas will help the process enormously.

Being an MFA from Columbia University, Do you find any difference in the approach of film making between India & abroad?
It depends on what is meant by “India” and “abroad”. There’s really no single style that characterizes our work – just as there isn’t one for “abroad”. Bollywood is distinct from Tollywood, which is in turn entirely distinct from say Indian Art House fare. Writing styles, camera movement, camera placement, work with the actors, production design, lighting, all these fundamental elements of filmmaking are not only different, but have evolved over time. Compounding the problem of a comparison, there are good filmmakers, and there are bad filmmakers, but I will point to one very significant fact: one of the world’s greatest filmmakers is Indian – Satyajit Ray, and his approach was not just Indian, it was Universal.

Which category of Indian and Foreign language films, attract your attention personally?
I tend not to make a distinction in terms of genre. It’s the quality of work that tends to sway the balance. So a well made action packed thriller can have a different but equally significant impact as a thought provoking social drama. If we’re speaking of Directors, my favorites span genres again: Ray, Kusturica, Yimou, Cassavetes, Doillon, from the old masters, but there is equally strong work coming out from a new generation now-a-days.

Why do you want a common cinegoer, to go and watch ‘Vanaja’?
To go to a movie and enjoy a good story, strong visuals, music and acting are one thing, but an audience also needs to engage intellectually and question why: Why is the opening scene with the Burra Katha dancers cut a trifle longer? Why the emphasis on the Landlady’s mansion – in the long shots and wide sweeping moves? Why non-actors? Why Carnatic and Janapadams (Folk Songs) as background music? Why a setting in the 1950’s/60’s? Why shots of crows, and a baby towel that seems particularly emphasized?

An audience has a responsibility too, just as much as any well-intentioned film is an invitation to re-examine our issues.

Is there any message you would like to give to the audience?
Several. But the audience will find them. I don’t need to tell them.

Apart from photography, what are your other passions & hobbies?
Carnatic music, reading, writing, painting, hiking, gardening (none of which I have done much lately – Vanaja’s distribution problems take up all my time). But I’m certain that I’ll soon have an opportunity to go back to all the other things I cherish.