Tollywood short film at Cannes
Young T-town producer Priyanka Dutt’s three-minute short film, is listed for special mention Our film tells the tale of a child who is disturbed by the frequent quarreling between his parents
Tollywood is all set to have a fantastic year at the Cannes film festival. After news of Ram Charan Tej’s planned appearance at the venue emerged, it’s now the turn of young Tollywood producer Priyanka Dutt and her team to visit the prestigious event.
Their three-minute Hindi short film, Yaadon Ki Baraat, has been selected for a special round at Cannes — the short film corner — fighting off stiff competition from over a hundred countries. Yaadon Ki Baraat, during its short length, tells the tale of a young R.D. Burman fan.
“It’s a fantastic honour for our production house as well as our crew. The Cannes film festival is highly revered and is known to be extremely competitive,” said Priyanka, who has produced other Telugu films such as Baanam and Om Shanti.
“I like to experiment with different genres. Also, I have always dreamt of taking a feature film to the festival but now, it’s a short film. Nevertheless, I’m pretty excited,” she said.
The young producer also described her trips to other film festivals. “I have been to a few events like the Sudan fest, but I have always wished to visit Cannes, not just as a fan but as a filmmaker. It is is the Mecca for filmmakers.”
And why the sudden international interest in Yaadon Ki Baraat?
“Our film tells the tale of a child who is disturbed by the frequent quarreling between his parents. The kid keeps singing R.D. Burman’s evergreen number, Yaadon Ki Baraat, to pacify the adults and then slowly begins to admire the other songs by the famous filmmaker.”
Also, Priyanka doesn’t want to take sole credit for what she considers a “fine effort”.
“My team, every member, have done a fabulous job and the credit for taking the film this far obviously should go to them,” she said.
She also had words of appreciation for her director, the young and upcoming Naga Ashwin, who trained in film craft at the Oxford University and California.
“He is a bundle of talent and was trained in niche film schools. And I’m also taking this opportunity to congratulate cinematographers Nav Yav and Rakesh Erukulla,” the proud producer said.