Art films should reach common people: Champa P Shetty

First Kannada movie to win BIFFes in the Indian competition awaits theatrical release, writes Shree D N

Huchheeri (played by Akshatha Pandavapura), a village woman married to a drunkard, has to look after three people by doing odd jobs. Her daughter loves chicken curry and she decides to get some for her when she gets a waft of it from a neighbour’s house. She sets out on a quest that sees her going through a series of tricky situations to get the curry. When she returns home, her husband accuses her of infidelity. What does she do?

Huchheeri’s journey towards freedom makes for a gripping watch in the movie ‘Koli Esru’, which won the first place in the Indian competition section of the Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes). This is the first Kannada movie to win in this section in 14 years of BIFFes.

Directed by Champa P Shetty, the movie, set in the K R Nagara area, is based on the story ‘Huchheeri Esarina Prasanga’ by Ka Ta Chikkanna, who was the director of the Kannada and Culture Department, years ago. Champa won prizes for performing Huchheeri’s role 30 years ago, in college. “The character stayed in me as it represented women’s unspoken struggles,” she adds.

“The original story represents poverty and hunger,” she says. Expanding it to a full-fledged feature film was the only challenge she had, which she did by adding a feministic and social outlook to it.

The movie, shot near T Narasipura in Mysuru, captured the local language beautifully. “There were many non-artistes in the film. If we dub for them, the effect will be lost, so we used sync sound,” she says. The movie has powerful frames that capture the essence of village life in detail.

“The girl (Apeksha Choranahalli) who played Lakshmi faced the camera for the first time in our movie and later became part of a reality show. We wanted raw artistes and acting,” she says. Performances in the film were critically acclaimed. Akshatha and Apeksha got the best actress and special jury mention awards respectively, in the Ajanta Ellora International Film Festival last year.

“I knew it would impress the festival audience. The response to the New York Indian Film Festival premiere gave us confidence. Later it got selected for the Ajanta Ellora International Film Festival and got a standing ovation in the end. It was screened at the Thrissur International Film Festival too,” she says, explaining the journey of the film.

Shift from first film

This movie was a shift from her first film ‘Ammacchiyemba Nenapu’, based on Kannada story writer Vaidehi’s works. This film was a bridge film that tried to break stereotypes. She says the experience helped her handle ‘Koli Esru’ better.

“Both films are female-oriented, that’s where the similarity ends. ‘Ammacchi...’deals with a Brahminical set-up in Kundapura, but ‘Koli Esru’ deals with women from the Kuruba community in K R Nagara, Mysuru. Every woman’s way of protesting is different,” she explains.

“We introduced songs in ‘Ammacchi...’ in order to reach a common audience. It ran for 31 days in the theatres and was a success, but it was not considered a commercial movie by many. It was also not considered an art film in film festivals due to its songs and other elements. I learnt a lesson from this. Huchheeri was a 100% art film subject and we stuck to it,” she narrates.

The team is trying to send it to a few upcoming film festivals. Champa believes that an art movie should not be limited to film festivals, and that “it should reach common people”. A theatre release is also planned for June. “In Malayalam cinema, such feel-good movies are accepted by common people. Kannada does not have a platform and audience for such films, so it is difficult to sustain such films. But if we stop doing such films, only fight-dance formula films will prevail. I want to give good films to people,” she says.

Champa is currently busy with a play and a screenplay for a movie to be directed by her husband Prakash Shetty. She wants to take up an anthology based on stories by various Kannada women writers.