‘Cinema Bandi’: A camera and a village
The Hindu
Debut director Praveen Kandregula’s talks about the Telugu film ‘Cinema Bandi’, in which village folks chance upon a camera and try to make a feature film
“I was in Class VII when I tried making films using my dad’s video camera,” says Praveen Kandregula, “My friends and I did all sorts of jugaad. There was no YouTube back then; but we made short films and watched them.” Praveen makes his directorial debut Kandregula with Cinema Bandi, which will stream on Netflix from May 14. The film is about an autorickshaw driver who chances upon an expensive video camera and tries to make a feature film with the help of folks from a nondescript village. The trailer of Cinema Bandi indicates a story laced with humour that looks at how a village pins its hopes on a film that could bring attention to the drought-hit region. Praveen pitched the story to filmmaker duo Raj and DK at the NFDC (National Film Development Corporation) Film Bazaar in 2018. He concedes that the documentary Supermen of Malegaon (2008) was one of the inspirations: “I thought it would be interesting to make a Telugu film on those lines. Raj and DK liked the story and suggested that we first make a short film,” he recalls.
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