Remember Raam Reddy’s Thithi? Meet the man who wrote the story and the script for the film — Ere Gowda. He is making his directorial debut with Balekempa (The Bangle Seller). The film has won accolades at international film festivals and is now chosen to be screened at the 20th Jio Mami Mumbai Film Festival on October 25. It won the Work-in-Progress Lab 2017 Award at Film Bazaar in Goa (2017) and the FIPRESCI Award at the 47th International Film Festival, Rotterdam, recently.
Gowda says the story revolves around Kempanna, a bangle seller and his wife Soubhagya. “I always wondered if extra-marital affairs were confined to cities. I came to a conclusion that it happens everywhere. Certain observations and discoveries made me look at my village, Nodekuppulu, in a new way and Balekempa was written.”
Unlike Thithi, which Gowda says, was based on characters he had seen and grown up with in his village, Balekempa, is a story birthed completely from his imagination. “Few characters draw from certain stories I had heard as a child,” says the man who won the Asia New Talent Award 2016 at the Shanghai International Film festival for the Best Screenplay and the Karnataka State Award for the best dialogue writer for Thithi.
Having started from humble beginnings, today Gowda enjoys his share of fame. He started off by working as a security guard in Bengaluru and slowly climbed the ladder of success with “sheer determination. I don’t see my journey as tough, but as one of a joyful learning,” says Gowda.
As of now he is busy shuttling between film fests. “Jio Mami Mumbai film fest is a popular one. Being a part of such fests give me a chance to meet international directors and filmmakers. I get to learn much from them and their style of storytelling.”
How does he rate our cinema on the international platform? “I will not say we are ahead or backwards, but our style of narrations, culture and lifestyles are very different. Their approach to depicting violence or romance is very different from ours. Each has its beauty.”
Gowda now looks forward to release Balekempa in theatres. “Finding a distributor is challenging. I want to share my story with people. I have learnt that releasing a film is as challenging as making one.” He adds that Thithi helped him find a foothold and opened doors for new opportunities, but he looks forward to working with every actor and telling all kinds of stories through his films.