TELUGU...a language sweeter than honey

Award is for excellence in maiden venture

Mohanakrishna chosen from among 15 nominations
The award carries a cash prize of Rs. 1.5 lakhs and a memento
It will be presented on August 12 in Chennai

TIRUPATI: The Chennai-based గొల్లపుడి శ్రీనివాస్ మెమోరియల్ ఫాఉండేషన్‌ (Gollapudi Srinivas Memorial Foundation) has announced its national award for the year 2005 to ఇంద్రగంటి మోహనకృష్ణ (Indraganti Mohanakrishna) for his Telugu film గ్రహణం (Grahanam).

The award was instituted by noted film writer and actor గొల్లపుడి మారుతి రావు (Gollapudi Maruthi Rao) in memory of his son G. Srinivas who died in an accident while directing his maiden film, and is hence given to film directors for excellence in their debut venture.

This is the ninth consecutive year that the foundation is giving away the award that carries a cash prize of Rs. 1.5 lakhs and a memento.

Mr. Mohanakrishna, a journalist-turned-documentary filmmaker, was chosen from 15 nominations, including films made in Hindi, Malayalam, Bengali, Tamil and English, by a panel of film critics and personalities like Gowri Ramnarayan, Singeetam Srinivasa Rao and Kalyana Raman.

గ్రహణం లో తనికేళ్ళ భరని
Tanikella Bharani in 'Grahanam'

"The film is an adaptation of దోషగుణం (Doshagunam), a literary work by noted writer చలం (Chalam), that explores the complex ways in which female sexuality is controlled in a patriarchal society. In this homogenous narration, the sensitivities of the characters were brilliantly maintained all through the film," Mr. Maruti Rao said in a release, appreciating the director's care for nuances in shot taking and screenplay.

The previous recipients of the award included Leslie Carvalho (English), Shyama Prasad (Malayalam), Manju Borah (Assamese), Subrata Sen (Bengali), Janaki Viswanathan (Tamil), Anup Kurian (English) and Shonali Bose (Bengali). The award would be given on August 12 in Chennai - the day Srinivas passed away, the release added.

Courtesy: The Hindu

*****

York Film Grad Wins India's Prestigious Golden Lotus Award

In mid-July, York film graduate Mohan Krishna Indraganti (MFA ‘00) found himself under the spotlight of the glowing Indian sun. His debut feature film, Grahanam (The Eclipse), won the prestigious Indira Gandhi Award (Golden Lotus) for the best first film by a director at the 52nd National Awards in India. The Golden Lotus is the Indian equivalent of the Academy Awards' Oscar or Canada's Genie Award.

An elated Indraganti summed up his feelings: "I am thrilled to bits because Grahanam was made on a shoestring budget and it was among some of the toughest entries this year."

Grahanam is based on the short story Dosha Gunam (The Disease) by G.V. Chalam, one of the most famous and controversial writers in the Telugu literature of southern India. Indraganti's adaptation, a 93 minute, black and white production with a one-minute sequence in colour, spoken in Telugu, marks the first time Chalam's writings have been brought to the screen.

"The main character is Raghu, a doctor in his early forties who is well known in his profession. One day, while on his rounds at the hospital, he witnesses one of his patients turning hysterical at the sight of an old woman who claims to be his mother. That evening, Raghu meets his friend, Srinivas, for coffee and tells him a childhood story that is rich in detail of place, character and humanity," said Indraganti describing a few frames of his award-winning film.

Full of dramatic irony and poignancy, the story unfolds towards a startling revelation about Raghu, the patient and the old woman.

Grahanam has been screened at several national and international film festivals, including those in Seattle, Washington, and Calcutta and Thiruvananthapuram, India.

Born in India, Indraganti was raised on a rich diet of Telugu culture and literature. Before coming to York, he obtained a Master's degree in English literature from the University of Hyderabad. "Cinema is his passion, literature a religion," wrote reporter K.V.S. Madhav in The Hindu, India's national newspaper, on July 15.

"If translating literature into cinema is in itself a daunting task, doing complete justice to one of Telugu's greatest works was all the more difficult," said Indraganti. "Literature gives one a large canvas on the silver screen and a wealth of emotions that need to be plumbed fully. My ambition is to make as many literary classics as possible into films."

With an appetite whetted for more, Indraganti's next project is the film adaptation of another Telugu classic, Buchchi Babu's చివరకు మిగిలేది (Chivaraku Migiledhi).

Courtesy: York University