The tall claims of the big men of Tollywood of encouraging good cinema seem to be hollow. Or else how can Naa Bangaaru Talli (My Dearest Daughter), a film that won three awards, including the best regional film award at the 61 National Film Awards (2013), not find a distributor or a theatre to be released.
This is the agony of the film’s co-producer Sunitha Krishnan and director Rajesh Touchriver. They have been scouting for a distributor for the last eight months, but are utterly disappointed. “None of the bigwigs have responded and their silence is deafening,” said Sunitha Krishnan.
Ms. Krishnan said the film, which won acclaim from several filmmakers, is based on real-life stories of sex trafficking. Interestingly, when the film was released in Malayalam as Ente , it found an audience.
Mr. Touchriver said such films get branded as art films or parallel cinema, but this film was made in a format that the masses could immediately relate to.
“With true cinematic perfection, the film is an example of a powerful social message that can be given in a visual format.”
Apart from the best regional film award, Shantanu Moitra won the award for best background score, while actor Anjali Patil also got a special jury mention.
The film was also declared ‘Best Feature Film’ at the Trinity International Film Festival in Detroit and received four awards at the Indonesian Film Festival. The film’s cast include Siddiq, Anjali Patil, Lakshmi Menon, Rathna Shekar Reddy and Neena Kurup.
