When it was canned by the end of 2011, but got noticed around the beginning of 2012, many eyebrows were raised. Some were perplexed, while others were amazed at the way the film was composed, the preference to using old-fashioned film, the camera angles and the music.
However, the filmmaker forged ahead with her devotion in promoting it, in which she firmly believed. That’s Ajita Suchitra Veera from Hyderabad, who left her stamp on the firmament of international cinema with ‘Ballad of Rustom’, a two hour full-length Hindi film with her original script and screenplay, with music by Andrew T. Mackay and Shanti Bhushan behind the camera. The film was short-listed and is in ‘contention’ as it is called for the Oscars.
In March 2013, she was the first Indian director to be invited to Prague, where Roman Polanski and Wim Wenders were also welcomed.
On Saturday, the first ‘sneak peak’ of the ‘Ballad …’ to filmmakers and the media here led to a spontaneous expression of appreciation, with all present pledging support to make the film as visible as they could. Filmmakers D.Suresh Babu, Tammareddy Bharadwaja, Nandhini Reddy, Mohan Indraganti, Sekhar Kammula, K.L. Prasad, M.V. Raghu and Ravi Varma were among those who watched the few clips.
The unanimous response was that it was satisfying and had left wanting for more. They said while Ajita had put all her creative energy into the film and had done her job. “Now its for us all - the media and the film fraternity, to give it greater visibility,” they said, adding that “to be in the ‘contention’ for an Oscar itself was an honour.” Asked about why Indian cinema is not making waves internationally, Ajita quipped, “We are unable to move beyond the formula,”. About the unique selling proposition of ‘Ballad of Rustom’, she said it is simple, but intense storytelling, the music and the fact that she used old-fashioned film.
