Reaping the benefits
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Mohana Krishna's debut movie `Grahanam' has won him the Gollapudi Srinivas national award as well.
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THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL! Mohana Krishna receiving his award
Sounds clichéd, but winning awards and accolades has become a way of life for this young filmmaker. Nine awards for best debut director that include a national award, a State award and now a Gollapudi Srinivas national award presented to him this week. No wonder, renowned filmmaker Sudhir Mishra as the jury chairperson at the national film awards called Mohana Krishna `a filmmaker to watch.' M.S. Sathyu waxed eloquent praises on him.
Like he had done before at the National awards, Mohana Krishna had to beat 15 other debut directors from across the country to bag the prestigious Gollapudi Srinivas national award given every year to a debut film director. The award carried a cash prize of Rs. 1.5 lakh and a memento designed by veteran filmmaker Bapu. A visibly moved Mohana Krishna dedicated the award to his mother and popular writer Indraganti Janakibala and to Chalam whose short story Doshagunam was translated on to the celluloid as Grahanam.
"I particularly cherish this award for three reasons. For giving the awards impartially over the years committed to certain values, for being the first Telugu debut director to bag this award, and for letting me be a part of the select club of debut directors like Manju Bora, Anup Kurian and Leslie Carvalho whose works I admire. Moreover no Telugu director has dared to make a film out of a Chalam short story or novel in these 75 years since the advent of the talkies. I consider his literary works as equivalent to Tagore's."
He expressed his happiness at receiving the award from no less an actor than Aamir Khan. "My friends were surprised that the ace actor was flying down to give me the award," said Mohan like any other star-struck fan. "It is amazing that a small film is reaping a rich haul of awards." Grahanam was made on a shoe-string budget of Rs.7 lakh on digital format and then transferred to film. "It was well received when we screened it at Prasads Imax but unfortunately due to the non availability of theatres (for such meaningful films) we could not screen it elsewhere in the State," quips one of the film's three producers, P. Venkateswara Rao. The partners of Kanakadhara Art Creations are interested only in avant-garde cinema. "But Mohan also needs to be exposed to the commercial circuit to have a long innings as a filmmaker. But we will come back soon with him."
"I do not believe in dissecting cinema as art and commercial. There is no such classification. Satyajit Ray made Pather Panchali and he also made a highly successful musical, Gopi Gaya Bagha Bayan. I enjoy all sorts of music. Now I am making a musical socio-fantasy, without resorting to cheap gimmicks. I want to make clean films with aesthetic values. B. Sathyanarayana who produced Mayabazaar shares similar thoughts. Its music (K. M. Radhakrishnan) is the celebration of a genre. The story is much simpler. Much less complicated and much like what you call archetypal - good Vs. bad, funny Vs. serious. Grahanam has a grey area in its content but Mayabazaar is a new experience for me and I am enjoying its making.
He feels the producer is investing so much money by trusting his sensibilities.
"The producer invests so much money on you. Sometimes this thought makes me a little nervous. You have his trust but the audiences at the theatres are the ruthless judges. Their verdict is final."
Laurels galore
Among the compliments he cherishes most was the one given by M.S. Sathyu.
"After watching Grahanam he hugged me and said `I used to get depressed about Telugu films as at the national or international film festivals, we could never select a film in recent years. Now you have made a very commendable piece.' Coming from a man who made Garam Hawa what more do I need?"
But after his debut work has he moved to mainstream cinema? "I do not want to get rusted. It is a constant learning process here. I assure you that I am committed to good cinema. I have plans to bring to celluloid the works of literary giants like Kodavatiganti Kutumba Rao, Sripada, Buchibabu and others. Mayabazaar is like a page-by-page fairly tale. I will never compromise on my sensibilities as a filmmaker.
Here I would like to quote Goddard. "We all made very interesting films but it is also good to sell a lot of tickets."
M.L. NARASIMHAM
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