Raam Reddy was practically sleeping off his jetlag on Monday morning when he got the news of his debut film, Thithi, winning the National Award for Best Kannada Film 2016. “I thought the award announcements were coming a bit later. So it was completely unexpected. I had just got back from New York where we'd shown our film in the New Directors New Films Festival. The national award has come at a nice time as we are heading to release Thithi next month, and it will help the movie. It feels nice a film like ours has won, especially considering the slate of big, commercial movies that the jury has awarded this year,“ says Reddy. Excerpts from an interview:
The response Thithi received at the Bengaluru International Film Festival was unbelievable.I have been taken aback at every step of the film's journey.For a first film to get this reaction, I must say we have been lucky . We didn't expect Locarno to like it; Locarno wasn't even a part of the plan. Then to have Swiss people laughing along to a Kannada film...being there was a dream.We've never been to a film festival where Thithi hasn't come back without winning an award. The National Award is the 9th award the film has won in eight competitions it has been to. Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, who watched it, had good things to say about the film (Coppola was jury president at Marrakech Film Festival, Morocco, where Thithi was screened as part of the main competition. The film won a joint jury award).
How planned was the idea to make Thithi?The decision to make the film was impulsive. We didn't start with writing the film, as is general ly done. We went the opposite way. We started from the place (Mandya) and want ed the story to evolve ry to evolve organically. We wanted the place to be a character in the film. I should say that the heart of the film is my friend and co-writer Ere Gowda, who is from Mandya. I think what has worked in favour of Thithi is that it was made by a team comprising an insider and an outsider. That made for a balanced approach.
Did you feel like giving up ?No. I didn't.When you have invested in the film you have no option to back out. I was also lucky to have a strong team. Ere Gowda and the director of photography, Doron Tempert, were such pillars of support. When I was down, they stood strong and held it together. The biggest reward for us was to see trailers from the movie featuring Century Gowda splashed across New York City . To have people of the busiest city in the world see an almost 100-year-old untrained actor deliver a memorable performance was an unforgettable moment.
What's it about the film that draws the audience?For the larger audience, be it international or urban, the film is a journey into a world they have never been to before. It's a world unique enough to captivate the viewer. The other thing is we never intended to make Thithi a laugh-out-loud movie. We thought it'd be one that would have you laugh silently, but no matter where it has played, we have had people laughing out loud. I think the comic element, the lightness of the story are what people are liking about Thithi.
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