Ayodhya Kumar Krishnamsetty has been making waves with his debut film Minugurulu (Fireflies) for some time now, and created a stir even at the 18th International Children’s Film Festival. Narrating the story on a 13-year-old child who is passionate about films and aspires to be a filmmaker but loses his sight in an accident, Minugurulu conveys a depth in its storytelling through performances by visually-challenged children. The director takes us through the process of his film making.
On the movie
The movie focuses on children’s problems and those who are visually impaired. The point I was trying to make through it is that it’s not just about the lack of sight. It is the intensity of experience that these visually challenged kids live in order to see beyond sight. The film is about Raju’s (13-year-old child) journey, who loses his eyesight and later joins a blind orphanage. The film not only addresses his problems but also those of disabled children. It is a mere example of what a visually challenged person can do; they prove that that they can do anything with their will power and expose the unsocial elements happening in their orphanage on their own.
The process
It took me three years to make this movie. I had to go to every school for visually impaired children in Andhra Pradesh. I conducted auditions in the US as well. I went to Perkins School for the Blind in Boston. I tried to pick children who were inclined towards artistic fields. In the end, we short-listed 46 children after the auditions who acted in the movie.
The children
A lot of people have asked me how difficult it must have been for me to act with visually disabled children. I can tell you that it was actually pretty easy to work with them – they were were very energetic. They did not mind working for long hours and were co-operative. Also, these children were the best dubbing artists. We were apprehensive as to how they can dub in different languages without looking at the screen and being able to read from it, but they turned out to be the best dubbing artists. They just had to listen to it once and were perfectly able to speak. Also, we chose children who were more energetic and who liked acting or filmmaking or singing. That was the whole point of the auditions, to decide who will be able to do it and who will not.
Other cast
Though the focus is on the visually challenged children, nothing must be taken away from some of the other adult actors who delivered excellent performances. The movie features seasoned actors like Suhasini Maniratnam, Ashish Vidyarthi and Raghubir Yadav and they all played their part very well.
The response
Minugurulu is the only Telugu film to be screened at this festival, so it is a proud feeling. The response has been great so far. It was very difficult for me as a producer as it was tough for me to get people to work in such movies, but I’m happy that it has worked out well. I am also working on other projects which will come out soon.
Catch the screening of Minugurulu at Prasads Imax on November 19 at 12 noon.