Ere Gowda's enthusiasm belies his life story. He began working at the age of 16 to support his family. He worked as a security guard, cleaned water tanks, washed cars, loaded and unloaded trucks, and ate leftovers from restaurants to earn his livelihood. Adding to his miseries was the fact that he was never treated with dignity anywhere.
When we meet for coffee, none of those hardships show on his face. What I find, instead, is a man with an ever-smiling demeanour, and immense zeal for life. He begins the conversation with, "Won't the background noise affect our recording?", and holds the phone close to him so that it catches everything he says. And this young film-maker has a lot to share.
Ere Gowda is the man who presented the audiences with the endearing film Thithi. The simple story of the funeral of a centenarian, his nomadic son, his money-hungry grandson, and his irresponsible great-grandson, stemmed from Ere's roots and earned numerous awards and accolades.
Behind the scene
The son of a farmer, Ere Gowda stumbled upon film-making when he came to Bengaluru in search of a job. Just like all cinema fans, Ere too visualised film stars as superheroes. "But when I went to a film shoot, I realised they were just like us, ordinary people. What actually caught my eye was the director and his camera. It was interesting to watch him shoot and direct," says Ere.
This sparked something in Ere. And the spark only grew bigger and brighter till it became a raging fire that he could no longer contain. When he landed a job as a security guard at producer Pratap Reddy's office, he formed an unlikely friendship with his son Raam. Ere was 19 and Raam, 11. Ere didn't know English and Raam, Kannada. But still, they bonded. When his mother passed away, a distraught Ere wanted to go back to his village. But Raam wouldn't let him. He got him a higher-paying job with an NGO to make him stay back in the city.
Technically, Ere was the 'office boy'. But soon, he started to take on more responsibilities and earned a good name. "Here, I learnt to use a computer, and a camera. I even taught myself Photoshop and CorelDraw," says Ere.
Soon, it was time to do something concrete with his newly acquired skills. He and Raam, who was also interested in film-making, made a 15-minute film called 'Eka', which went on to win many awards and was even screened at many international film festivals. This gave the duo confidence to take on filming in a big way.
"I would always narrate stories from my village to Raam; the stories were all real, albeit with some drama. He was impressed with them. We decided to base our first story in my village, Nodekoppalu in Mandya district. That's how Thithi was born," he states.
For this young film-maker, the story is the real hero. He reveals he can't visualise a film in the age-old formula of 'hero-heroine-villain', or even in the popular distinctions of commercial and art cinema. "I can only think of cinema in terms of stories and characters. My kind of films should be realistic with believable characters and good performances. People still remember Thithi's characters, no matter how small or big they were. I feel such films will remain in the minds of people for a long time."
A universal story
Which is why when he set out to make his next film, he decided to finalise the script first. Balkema, his directorial debut, is the story of the secret relationships and desires of normal village folk living in a patriarchal society. Ere explains, "It has been my intention to show how, despite the constant scrutiny and gossip among the extremely close-knit communities, there's a lot that's hidden under the surface. There are stories that many people take with them to the grave."
Just like Thithi, Balkema is also winning accolades around the world. It won the FIPRESCI Award at the International Film Festival in Rotterdam, and also the Work-in-Progress Lab 2017 award at Film Bazaar in Goa. "Honestly, I can't believe it's happening. I"m a lucky man," he exclaims, adding, "But, all this wouldn't have been possible without the support of the cast and crew of the film."
When it is time to end our conversation, Ere talks excitedly about his first-ever photo shoot. He fishes out his phone and shows me pictures of him posing like a hero against a tree, and grins like a kid. After all the talk of his life, struggles and cinema, all that remains with me, in the end, is his laughter.
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