HYDERABAD: Documentary films might be considered the most honest form of the art but for this three-films-old communication student, films are a by-product of physics and her passion for the telling stories of unheard and most oppressed people – dalits, tribals and women.
Tejasvi Dantuluri, a graduate in physics, who undertook training in audio-video production along with a course in cinematography, and currently specialising in media and communication from University of Hyderabad vehemently disagrees that she switched the path from physics to filmmaking. “I don’t feel I have left physics. There is physics in camera and lighting used in the films. I love the subject and its has helped me in integrating science with this art,” she explains.
A self-proclaimed photography enthusiast, Tejasvi says she has always been the camera person. But she was clear in her head that photography would be used only as a tool to aid her in her ultimate goal – telling untold stories – which are either screened at film festivals or uploaded on YouTube.
Besides the content, Tejasvi is also particular about the technique aspect. She says she tries to break the notion that documentaries are boring to watch and do not involve much cinematography in their making.
While her first film Devdasi was made as part of her graduate programme at the Fergusson College, Pune, it was the second one Radio Woman of Patara that pushed her to take the plunge headlong in documentary filmmaking. Radio Woman..., in which she worked with her friends NC Fazil and Shawn Sebastian won an award in UNESCO-CEMCA (Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia) in 2014, a year after she made her first film.
“Women or marginalised communities are the focus in all my stories. Radio Woman..., too is a profile documentary of a tribal woman Ramvati from Madhya Pradesh and her journey in making community radio a tool of empowerment,” she says.
While calling the laurels as a major achievement in her smallish career spanning two years and three movies and another two in pipeline, Tejasvi says its her third documentary Mariamma that is very close to her heart. “This is also profile of Mariamma who is a canteen sweeper in UoH. I feel more for this film because its about her struggle to make her ends meet,” she explains.
But being a student filmmaker, Tajesvi finds time management challenging. “It is difficult to do films while studying because it involves traveling and money too. I hope to make more films once my course is over,” she adds.
The aspiring filmmaker and an avid traveler, Tajesvi also wants to try hands at travel documentary. “I recently visited Ladakh and someday I will document it,” she says. For now, however, the gutsy youngster’s path ahead is well charted, “Learning about women, dalits and tribals and then documenting it,” she explains.
Calling these the most oppressed classes, Tejaswi feels her films are a way she wants to work for their upliftment. What also makes this young lass stand out in the crowd of young filmmakers is that apart from making films on sensitive issues, Tejasvi will soon start working with Deccan Development Society (DDS), an organisation that works with village-level women groups.
“The decision to work with DDS was a conscious one as it would allow me to be on field, do research and parallely make films on these issues as well. Films are my priority,” she says on a parting note.