Nostalgia for schooldays or adolescence, while seeming obvious or omnipresent, is a privilege reserved for a few. For many, school is a space of ostracisation; a place that has aggravated their biggest insecurities, and caused irreparable damage to their selfhoods. Manohara K’s debut film Mikka Bannada Hakki (Bird of a Different Feather), adapted from Sonia S’ autobiography of the same title, is a film that explores precisely that. The film, set to be screened at Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival in May, has already received global recognition with five nominations at the Shanghai International Film Festival, the Best Kannada Film award at Bengaluru International Film Festival and the Spotlight award at the Alternativa Film Awards, Indonesia. With its protagonist, Sonia, being a young girl with albinism, Manohara explores how familial complexities and social stigma collude to target deviation, physical or psychological, at a very young age.
Manohara is no stranger to the film industry, despite this being his debut directorial outing. Previously, he received the prestigious National Film Award for Best Child Artist for his starring role in
Railway Children by Prithvi Konanur, who continues to be his mentor. When one watches Manohara’s film, its sheer depth often clouds his precocity, making it easy to forget that the depth came from someone who’s just 22. Commenting on his journey so far, he says, “Prithvi [Konanur] sir is an inspiration to me. He suggested the story to me around 2019,” he says.
An integral element of Mikka Bannada Hakki is its non-professional cast. Finding the correct candidate for the lead was an arduous task, as Manohara recalls, “I found one girl but she wasn’t allowed by her parents to be in the film. By God’s grace, when I was scrolling through Instagram reels one day, I saw Jayashree who ended up playing the role; she was perfect,” he confesses.
Manohara, who co-wrote the film with Sonia, explains that it turned out to be beyond the latter’s autobiography, including elements of his own experience as well. Born to a farming household with skin that is, unlike Sonia’s, dark, Manohara’s childhood and schooling was riddled with bullying on socioeconomic and racial grounds. A buoyant Manohara, who believes that ‘the work’ offers more satisfaction than recognition itself, bares his heart, reflecting his values and work ethic. “I didn’t get many opportunities as an actor following the national award. I realised I had to stop chasing opportunities and start creating them,” he says. While Mikka Bannada Hakki does not have a public release yet, the team is hard at work to make that happen. “We are planning. Schoolchildren and parents should watch this film. The government should also support this film and screen it all over Karnataka,” he says.