HYDERABAD: When Konatham Dharani Kumar started making films, it was merely love for editing. “I made my first short film in 2008. It was after joining an editing course that I decided I will make a short film. I met people who are equally passionate about making short films at the class and that is when we decided to make one,” Dharani shares adding “It was sheer thrill that drove us to making our first short film.”
He recently released two other films – Dear Brother and LIE (Love is Everywhere). He tells more about his films: “After a break of six long years, my passion for short filmmaking drove me back to it. I decided to make a comeback with a short film that will touch hearts. I chose eve teasing as the theme and showed how every guy is responsible for safety of every woman around them and not only their family members.”
The film proved to be a grand comeback as it received appreciation from former Deputy Commissioner of Police, G Pala Raju and Additional Commissioner of Police Swati Lakra. “Apart from appreciating the film, they also shared it on the SHE TEAM Facebook page. I felt encouraged,” beams Dharani.
Love is everywhere and the 33-year-old tried to show the same through the film he made. He says, “The four-and-a-half minute film, which released on February 14, is a compilation of six short videos where I tried to show people that love is not confined only to one partner, it is everywhere around you.” In the film, there is a child’s love for favourite fruit, man’s love for his bike, a girl’s love for birds, sister’s love for brother, etc.
Without a degree or a certificate in filmmaking, Dharani, an engineer, says that he only had one thing in mind while making short films and that is connecting to audience. “It doesn’t matter which camera or what techniques you are using to make films as long as audience is able to connect to it,” he informs.
The short filmmaker is also a restaurateur and is working on the script for his third short film titled Kinnera which talks about a street photographer and her passion for her profession. “She gets sexually assaulted one day while moving around clicking pictures but the incident fails to shake her. She fights against it and goes ahead with her profession,” he says and adds, “Through the movie I tried to show that women are not safe in any sector, be it corporate or something vocational. The only thing that can safeguard them is their desire to fight back and be strong.”