BENGALURU: Following on the lines of Kannada sleeper hit, Lucia, another Kannada movie that has been made as a result of the goodwill of people is slated for release at the end of June.
A crowdfunding initiative for the movie, Days of Borapura, started off around six months back on two different online platforms. “Apart from these platforms, we also contacted a few people personally and engaged in a number of other activities. For example we screened a small demo of the film to a group of around 200 people in Malleshwaram to get the word out about need for funds,” says Madhu Basavaraj, one of the two producers of the movie.
Movie lovers Pitch In
While Madhu and the other producer of the movie, Ajit Kumar Gaddi invested majority of the funds, they received funds from a number of movie enthusiasts. “We got funds from as many as 15 people. Of these 15 people as many as 10 are IT professionals while the rest are from various other backgrounds. These are people who we do not know at all and who believed in the concept of our movie,” says Madhu.
Vivek Chakravarti, the movie’s music composer is himself a former IT professional who quit his job around six years ago to follow his passion full time. “I worked for the IT company Mphasis for quite some time before deciding to follow my calling. A number if people in my earlier field are always looking to do something in movies,” he says.
Of the 15 people that have contributed to the funds the largest contribution is by one of the ten IT professionals. “The largest fund that we have got is around Rs 8 lakh. The funds from the contributors make up as much as 25 percent of the total budget of movie. We have calculated these contributions as shares” says Madhu.
What Troubles the Content Villagers?
Days of Borapur is set in the village of Borapura located in the South Karnataka. The story revolves around the ordinary and happy lives of village folk, that is suddenly shaken up because of a foreign intervention.
“I am a movie buff and time like today I want to see different kinds of themes in movies, whether in terms of themes and styles. A movie with such ambitions would normally not financed by producers in the industry. I can say that the Days of Borapura has the feel of a Lagaan although it is very different from it. It is a sort of an experiment and hopefully it clicks with the audience,” says Madhu.