Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi   

Her beliefs shine through on the screen

Prathibha Parameswaran

"I am inspired the most by those poor women who suffer, endure and fight."

TIRUCHI: A woman behind the lens doesn't always make a scene different. But, in the case of R. Bhuvanaa, things do seem a little different. Her quest for a form powerful enough to express her varied passions without sounding too virtuous made her take up the camera, which has been her companion ever since. Ms. Bhuvanaa was in the city recently screening her films at a function organised by Velicham Kalaikoodam.

Hailing from the neighbouring district of Pudukottai, she finished her graduation at Government Arts College, Pudukottai. The stream of life later took her to Chennai, where she worked for a few years as a freelance journalist covering a gamut of topics including cinema. Later, she worked as a press secretary and public relations officer under the Sheriff of Madras during 1994-`95.

"Though journalism was a field I have always loved, deep within there was a search for something else," she recollects. It was then that the much-awaited break came and she joined a popular TV channel. Before she entered the world of filmmaking, she decided to make a few telefilms. That was how the two-episode long Adu Oru Samrajyam, and a couple of serials titled Meera and Mahalir Mattum came about.

However, it was her short film, Ayesha, a short film about women's education based on a popular story by R. Natarajan, which brought her into the limelight after she bagged an award at an international film festival. Since then, Thedal, a film on childcare was screened at the Mumbai International Film Festival and Ini won the Indian Panorama National Award.

"When it comes to films, I identify myself more with artistes of the likes of Balachander. Though it's a big risk, I prefer doing short films and popularising them someway," Ms. Bhuvanaa explains.

She is not entirely without a desire to experiment with the celluloid screen, for soon Righta Thappa, her first real directorial venture, is going to hit theatres. "It's a youth-oriented film on women's abuse, based on a true incident that occurred in Kanyakumari," she says. "It's a low budget movie set in a rural backdrop."

Making short films is risky, and making mainstream movies is all the more so. "I have taken a lot of risks in my life. If at least 10 among those who watch the movie would ponder on what I mean to say I would consider it a success," is her conviction.

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