Kannada film set in ’90s Bangalore goes to International Film Festival

Anoop Lokkur’s debut Kannada feature, ‘Don’t Tell Mother’ (‘Ammange Helbeda’) will premiere at the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) in the ‘A Window on Asian Cinema’ category. It is a non-competitive category, which features “new and/or representative films by Asian filmmakers”. The festival begins on September 17.

‘Don’t Tell Mother’ unfolds in the bylanes of south Bengaluru of the ’90s — when children played on the streets, stole raw mangoes from their neighbours’ trees, and watched Cartoon Network to entertain themselves.

It is a coming-of-age drama and a sweet nostalgic account of incidents inspired from the director’s childhood, poignantly portraying how seemingly harmless, innocent acts can lead to a lifetime of guilt and regret. The semi-autobiographical film follows a young boy who goes through corporal punishment at school. It also makes a commentary about the women of the ’90s who desired to be more than just mothers and wives.

The film centres on corporal punishment in school, which the director faced growing up in Bengaluru. “It was really bad and I never
told my parents because I was worried they’ll think I’m to blame,” Anoop tells Showtime.

The idea of making the film came to Anoop while having a conversation with his wife about raising children. “My wife grew up in the US. I saw that we both had opposing views. I realised corporal punishment is cyclical — my grandparents hit my parents, my great grandparents hit my grandparents. I wanted to explore that angle — how systemic corporal punishment was normalised, at least in the 90s, the impact it had on kids and what they learn from the hurdles.”

Anoop, who lives in the US now, briefly moved to Bengaluru for two-and-a-half years to shoot the film. As it is an independent film, Anoop found it very difficult to recreate the ‘90s on screen because of budget constraints. “Writing it was very nostalgic and emotional. There were certain parts that I hadn’t thought about in a long time. It was like travelling back in time,” he shares.

What does he want to say through the film? “I’m not the type of filmmaker who aims to make a statement through my films,” he remarks. From the get-go, he wanted it to be an observational film. “I wanted the audiences to watch someone’s life unfold in front of them as if they’re watching through the window of someone’s house — as if life was simply being captured on camera,” he adds.

“And at the same time, you’ve got the mother’s story, which portrays how she had to give up her dreams to look after the family. The father is praised for a kid’s achievements, but the mother is blamed for the kid’s mistakes.”

Anoop’s interest in photography developed during his family vacations. He enjoyed capturing those special moments on camera. He then signed up for a photography course in Bengaluru. “I didn’t take it very seriously; there was also a lot of pressure from my parents to pick a subject to study,” he says. When he was pursuing his masters degree in Australia, his flatmate noticed his keen interest in photography and cinema and suggested he get into filmmaking. “That’s when I thought ‘oh, maybe that’s what I should do in life’,” he recalls. In 2015, Anoop did a filmmaking course at Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne. He made a few short films before this feature. 

Describing the Busan selection, Anoop says, “Many filmmakers go through one rejection after another and one just wants to hide. It makes you doubt your capabilities. When we got the email from Busan, it was a surprise. It gave us validation and the team was excited.”