Vanaja

Director: Rajnesh Domalpalli
2006, India, USA
Telugu, with English subtitles
Narrative feature / 111 minutes / PG 13

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Vanaja, the 15-year-old daughter of an impoverished South Indian fisherman, is sent to work for the local landlady in hopes of learning the Kuchipudi dance. She excels at the art, and all is well until the landlady’s adult son returns home from the US. His eye falls on Vanaja, who insults him publicly. Matters escalate, and Vanaja is pitched into a maelstrom of class, family and animus from which there is only one escape.

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Rajnesh Domalpalli was born in Chennai, south India. He studied electrical engineering in India and the US, and worked as a software engineer in California before deciding to take up film. Vanaja, his first feature, was also his thesis film at Columbia University, from which he graduated with an MFA in 2006. He lives in Hyderabad, India.

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Wed 28 Sept 7.00pm + Sun 02 Oct 2.00pm, MovieTowne
Sat 01 Oct 4.30pm,  Centre for Language Learning, UWI
Tue 04 Oct 7.00pm, San Fernando Hill