Alternate cinema has existed as long as mainstream has.
But in Telugu film industry, traditionally ruled by stars, alternate cinema has been sporadic, mainly because those with ideas did not have the resources.
It was this thought that brought together a group of ardent film lovers who had grown on a mixed diet of global cinema and wanted to reproduce it in Telugu.
And after years of ideation and months of hard work, the result was the cooperative film production house Telugu Independent Cinema (TIC) and its maiden production Edari Varsham (The Desert Rain).
The 28-minute-film, starring actor Raghu Kunche and Swapna, is directed by Mahesh Kathi, one of the forerunners of TIC, which now has over 1,000 members, from aspiring film makers to those already working in the Telugu film industry.
And for the group which wants to tell different kinds of stories, the making of TIC is a story in itself.
Says Mahesh, “Three of us, Venkat Sidha Reddy, a software engineer, Satyaprasad, a banker, and I, always shared the movie dream.
We run a website called Navatarangam which talks of movies, movies and more movies.
But we wanted to do more than just talk.” Mahesh, who mainly worked in the development sector, soon turned his energy full-time to pursue his dream.
“We worked for some time as script consultants for mainstream movies but we realised soon that in the industry, script was always sacrificed to market dynamics,” he says.
It was then the idea of TIC took roots in their minds.
As they started networking through Facebook and other social media sites, they found that there was a sizable chunk of audience out there waiting for intelligent cinema in Telugu.
They were soon joined by others and by January 2011, the group was officially established.
“We wanted to first define ourselves,” says the debutante director.
“Our idea is not to take on mainstream cinema but just to create an alternate space within it.
We decided to explore the vast expanse of Telugu literature for stories and found not one, but many stories just waiting for us.” The other crucial factor was budget and the solution lay in the magic word ‘cooperation’.
“As a cooperative production house, in fact the first of its kind in Telugu cinema, we decided to pool in our resources, both monetary and technical.
People invested anywhere between `1,000 to `40,000 and we collected around `2.5 lakhs,” says Mahesh.
But was the money enough for a half-hour film? Mahesh laughs heartily and says, “People were surprised that not only did we include the cost of screening the preview in this budget but we also have produced artificial rain in the film and included a song.” Constraints of budget proved both advantageous and otherwise.
While they had to manage with a camera that had limited range in depth and focus, they also finished their shoot in four days.
“This film cannot be released in theatres because of its length.
But we want to showcase this film as a lab experiment.
We want to say, ‘Look! This is possible! We can produce this kind of output with only this much of investment.
Give us a chance.’ I am sure that if bigger producers opened themselves to it, Telugu cinema in all would come out richer,” says Mahesh.
So, what’s in store for the future? “Well, we have sent this film for film festivals and also for the national awards.
If we win, that will bring in money which we can put into our next venture.
We are also looking at a DVD release,” he says but adds that they would continue to make films even if an award does not come their way.
“We already have shortlisted two more scripts.
These will be longer in length and work will start by mid-March.” With the preview of Edari Varsham on January 21 at the Prasads Lab preview theatre, Mahesh is keeping his fingers crossed because more than the success of the film, it is the success of the idea that counts at this stage.
It remains to be seen whether the idea of cooperative production and alternate Telugu cinema as a genre will be as ephemeral as a desert rain or if it is here to stay.
about The Film
Edari Varsham is inspired from poet and writer Devarakonda Balagangaadhar Tilak’s short story Vuri Chivara Illu.
It revolves around a female protagonist who leads a lonely life in the house at the outskirts of the village and how a young man passing by brings with him renewed hope in her life, only to fade away as quickly as he came.
The film is set in the 70s with cinematography by Kamalakar and music by Rajasekhara Sarma