Vanaja: A Movie That Moves Your Heart

It all started off as a Columbia University Masters Degree (MFA) project. But by the time that former Silicon Valley computer engineer Rajnesh Domalpalli was done with making his Telugu language film Vanaja and had subsequently shown it to the critics, it continued to create quite a stir here in the US amongst the mainstream connoisseurs of fine filmmaking. And after watching its screener (courtesy of Emerging Pictures), I found that there is certainly a good reason for all of the attention that this production is getting.

Reported to have been made on a shoestring budget (in this case almost a shoeless budget if there is such a term) this movie exposes and traverses class/status/caste and other distinctions. It also incorporates the often troublesome relationship between the sexes. The limited choices made or available while living in poverty also come into play. And last but not least Vanaja brings out the strength of women, especially of one motherless young girl and her dream of becoming a great dancer (who in the process of learning dance also learns a great deal more about life).

When all is said and done Vanaja moves your heart. The lack of a viewer’s Telugu language skills here is no barrier (subtitles are all one needs) because this movie will appeal to all especially South Asians. But there remains a cautionary for family viewer ship of this film because the subject matter here is certainly of a mature nature.

Vanaja’s story is directly related to her pursuit of learning the art of Kuchipudi, a classical dance form of South India which carries some similarities with Bharatnatyam, Kathak and Odissi that some of us are more familiar with. Kuchipudi through the main character in this film is the main focus of its story. Vanaja starts from being a novice and evolves into a serious performer. But it is her journey through life that accompanies her maturity as a dancer that is the strength of this movie.

The film starts on the set of a dance/theatre performance as Vanaja (Mamatha Bhukya) and her friend Lacchi (Bhavani Renukunta) two giggly teenage girls watch a theatrical performance opened by former Kuchipudi dance great Rama Devi (Urmila Dammannagari) also known as Zamindarni/“Landlady”. During the event, one of the performers loses her ankle bell (ghungroo) which Vanaja is lucky enough to retrieve. The two teens take the bell back to its owner who is also happens to be a sooth-sawyer. She gives Vanaja a free consultation and on reading her palm “predicts” that she will one day be a great dancer. She also requests the teen to keep the bell that she came to return.

The need for Vanaja’s absent mother is felt as the rapidly diminishing fishing fortunes of her father Somayya (Ramachandriah Marikanti) as we see him losing his livelihood (to trawlers and moneylenders) and turning to alcohol which he can no longer afford. Her father also suggests that she start working and she agrees on the condition that it is at the Landlady’s house. The job interview is hilarious as added to her qualifications is that she can read and write in Telugu and English plus she can milk goats too. The Landlady remembers her fighting with boys and asks her whether she is the same girl? Vanaja is such a bad liar that she makes the Landlady laughs. But in the process she gets her the job of doing various tasks around the house including tending to chickens, while the main reason for her being there (as we aware) is that she hopes that the Landlady can teach her how to dance.

There are two other important relationships that Vanaja develops at the house. The first is with the cook Radhamma (Krishnamma Gundimalla) who becomes a sympathizer, reluctant confidante and advisor. Their relationship starts off as a turf battle because Radhamma is the closest person to the Landlady in the household or her inner circle. It later develops into a lot more. The other person she has a “relationship” with is with the Landlady’s son Shekhar (Karan Singh playing this role is the only actor in this film who was not previously completely unknown). Shekhar has come back from America to take his place in local political scene and society. He is also a part of the plot of this movie that gives it a unique twist that just has to be discussed.

The uniqueness of this film is that all the female characters in it are depicted as strong and as survivors. On the other hand the male characters here are deeply flawed. Shekhar and the Postal worker Ram Babu (played by Krishna Garlapati) who are vying for Vanaja can never seem to decide between affection and lust as their motivation. Vanaja’s father Somayya uses her savings to buy alcohol and is shown as a generally weak person who does not really know what to do with his daughter. It seems like “Vanaja” is about female survival (almost like a serious “Vagina” monologue) in which females do their best to carry on in spite of having a few problem creating and weak males around.

From the time of Vanaja’s winning her wish to become a student of the Landlady by purposely losing a board game to the incredible intensity of her final dance in the movie,
she faces many trials and tribulations. Things take a very serious turn when she is forced into a physical relationship with Shekhar. The comical opening changes to a deep seriousness as Vanaja learns about power, status and what women sometimes have to cope with. That includes amongst other things faking being blessed by a pregnant elephant to get help.

In keeping with a reviewer’s policy of not revealing what happens at the end of the movie (the bell returns along with a tooth) the passion of Vanaja as mentioned earlier is captured during her final dance in which lead actress Mamatha Bhukya gives her role a superb adult intensity. One need not be reminded that there is no Bollywood glamour in this movie, just serious acting. But everything works in this film, and one can hazard an explanation as to why? Either Writer-Director Rajnesh Domalpalli is one of the luckiest first filmmakers around or true contender for future international movie fame. Vanaja is one of the best seminal efforts at making serious films about women that South Asia has encountered in the past few years.


I took the opportunity to send Rajnesh Domalpalli (RD) a few questions about his effort. He was certainly not one to hold back on answers which are presented below:

Q1: "Vanaja" did not appear to be about triumphs but about survival. Was that your intent?

RD: I’ve always felt that it’s the journey that matters. That’s not easy to hang onto when life teaches you otherwise, but I think the right perspective is to look on it in hindsight. The question then is: By the end, what has she gained, in spite of having “nothing”. Symbolically speaking, when the Shot cuts to her eyes at the end of the Igiri Nandini dance, what does she see?

Q2: Women play the strongest roles in this movie. Was it difficult for you as a male scribe to write their roles?

RD: Although we’re remarkably dissimilar in several small ways, we’re remarkably similar in several big ways. That makes the task of writing that much easier, but the challenge is to get under the skin of characters that you’re not. Columbia emphasized this – the how of it, in a range of courses starting from Screenwriting to Directing the Actor. We spent a significant amount of time analyzing and constructing characters – much like cooking except that you not only have to infer the recipe, but you have to trust your instincts and taste as you go.

Q3: Why is it that all of the male characters in this film are flawed?

RD: If you look closely, you’ll find that all the characters in the film are “flawed.” But at a more basic level, don’t flaws imply that they’re that much more real? My principal focus was on arraying a range of antagonal forces around Vanaja – not to drive a point about masculine/ feminine characterization. Rama Devi is “strong” because she is the principal Antagonist to Vanaja. But doesn’t Somayya’s “weakness” make him an equally affective antagonist? Vanaja is forced to provide at an age when she should have been provided for. Ditto with Shekhar and the angst he engenders. But coming back to our world of flaws, isn’t Vanaja herself flawed? We continue to identify with her because we understand the reasons why she makes the choices she does. In her flaws, and in those of the others, we should recognize ourselves – at least I hope we will.

Q4: What kind of budget was Vanaja made on?

RD: Unfortunately, I can’t answer that. There are fallacious reports in the press about its budget that are off by more than an order of Magnitude, but all I can say is that we began small – shooting on Super 16mm instead of Super 35mm (which is what I was very keen to shoot on) finishing on Video etc. Only when I had a rough cut (done entirely on my mac laptop using Apple’s Final Cut Pro) and received a nod of approval from my professors at Columbia, did purse strings finally come loose. Post Production cost a lot, but a major mistake that many filmmakers make is in assuming that you’re “done” the minute you have a Print. You’re not. You’ve just begun. You can now step into the Big Bad World of Independent film distribution and fight with your teeth and nails while the Bug Guns fire their batteries of canons all around you.

Q5: You have a success in Vanaja on your hands. What has it inspired you to do next?

RD: I’m working on two scripts. One deals with rampant Deforestation that’s going on in the northern parts of our State and looks at Tribal Cultures and the impact of Modernization on them. The other has a very dysfunctional child in a very dysfunctional family. I’m not sure which I’ll make first – a lot depends on how Vanaja does theatrically. As long as we’re able to recover costs, I think I’ll be able to move on.

Q6: Why does a Computer Engineer give it all up and decide to make movies instead?

RD: What is “all”? It’s just Computer Engineering, right? If you’ve seen water lilies in a village pond and wanted to capture their image, if you’ve seen a red eyed boy whose father rubbed them with chili power, if you’ve heard M.S.Subbulakshmi sing “Veena Pustaka Dharini” when you’re down, if you love our folk arts, our old buildings, our traditions and the sound of bullocks, bumble bees and birds – despairing each time that the next generation will never know them, then I think, you’ll have the answer why.