When many watched films merely for entertainment, city-based teacher-turned-filmmaker Supriya Nippani watched cinema like a student studying a textbook. One viewing for the screenplay, another for editing, one more for performances, then background score. Somewhere between teaching in a classroom and taking notes on films at home, the dream of becoming a director began taking shape. Today, that dream has come full circle.
Her Kannada short film Rotti recently won both the Jury Award and Audience Choice Award at the Avala Hejje Kannada Short Film Festival, directed by Shanthala Damle – a platform dedicated to women filmmakers. But for Nippani, the victory means more than a trophy. It is validation for years of struggle, self-learning and persistence in an industry where she rarely saw women from North Karnataka behind the camera. “I never expected the award. We are happy because this story came from a rural subject,” she says.
Set against the backdrop of rural North Karnataka, Rotti revolves around women trying to build small-scale businesses and become financially independent despite social barriers. “Women in villages struggle a lot, but they also have confidence and ideas. I wanted to show that journey visually. When women watch the film, I want them to feel that even they can do something on their own,” she says.
The idea also stemmed from noticing that conversations about self-reliance and women’s empowerment often remained inaccessible in rural spaces. “Schemes like Aatmanirbhar Bharat are discussed everywhere, but visual documentation in Kannada is little,” she explains, adding, “When people watch something visually, especially in villages, they connect better.”
Ironically, Rotti was initially made only for the festival. Nippani completed the film within a short period after hearing about the competition and expected it to remain within that circuit. Instead, the film slowly travelled beyond festivals, finding audiences in training institutes and women-focused programmes where it began getting screened as a motivational film.
Her own journey into cinema has been equally unconventional. A former Hindi teacher, she left her job nearly eight years ago and moved to Bengaluru, hoping to work in films. Without formal film school training, she learned filmmaking through observation
and practice. After the pandemic forced her back to her village, she began independently making short films, including Raji and Saki, both centred around social themes and women’s experiences. The financial struggle, however, never disappeared. In Rotti, she ended up directing, producing and acting herself because hiring actors was too expensive. “Short films don’t bring returns easily, so finding investors is difficult. But if we have good stories, we should still try to tell them,” she says.
Talking about the lack of opportunities and representation of women in the entertainment field, she says, “There are many talented women, but they don’t get visibility. These platforms give them confidence and recognition.”
Now, with Rotti finding recognition beyond the festival stage, Nippani is already preparing for her next film – once again rooted in women’s stories, the world she knows best.