A dream called cinema

Telugu film, 'Johaar' is a tribute to the lives of common people, of farmers, young marginalised Indian kids who have dreams in their heart and resolve in their spirit but are bogged down by the system that is unfriendly. It is about policies and decisions at the political level affecting lives and livelihoods and countless dreams. A Chief Minister takes a decision to build an obnoxiously tall statue of his dead father; not so uncommon in our statue obsessed politics. And to garner funds for the statue, several welfare funds are pinched and in the process, indirectly, affecting four different people. Debut director Teja Marni, when he first thought of this issue and how leaders are obsessed with statues at the cost of welfare, he wanted to make a film, as he felt there cannot be a more powerful medium to say it.

Subhalekha Sudhakar, Eshwari, Ankith and Naina Ganguly play the characters in the four stories that run as parallel streams. The aged soldier from Subhash Chandra Bose's Azad Hind Fauz runs an orphanage and wishes to get government funds to repair the damaged building where kids find it hard to sleep when it rains and water seeps in. Naina Ganguly plays this young girl, who earns a living by doing road-side circus, but aspires to be an athlete, she even gets herself trained with the help of a good-natured coach. Ankith and Esther play this innocent young couple; they run away from Varanasi. The girl grows up in a brothel and runs away to study. Eshwari plays the hardworking woman, who is battling to support herself and her daughter's treatment, and also is affected like several others by the polluted water in her village. Chaitanya Krishna plays the character of the chief minister's son. Teja says his film is not about politics. "If you see there is very little focus on the actual politics. It is about the statue culture we have, and how innocent people get affected by big decisions."

When was the last time a debut director took up a social cause as subject for his film and tried to make it mainstream? "It was indeed a brave decision, but I believed in it and to make it happen, I decided we must take up production. We sourced money from here and there, and my brother and cousin helped me by taking care of the production. There are a few portions I feel I could have done better if there was more money; but I am satisfied with what we could make happen. Appreciation we are getting for the film is giving us a great kick," shares Teja Marni, whose film 'Johaar' was shot mostly in East Godavari, Vizag and a short schedule in Varanasi.

"When I was watching the climax song for the film, I had tears in my eyes. It was when I thought to myself, we made it well," he adds.

Johaar was made for the theatre release, but due to the pandemic situation, it was released on Aha the OTT platform, and the film is garnering much appreciation from the audience and critics.

"We did not take long to choose senior actors Eshwari and Sudhakar garu; they fitted perfectly for the role. We chose Esther because we needed some looking very young, and Esther acted in "Drushyam' and audience knew her as this little girl, and we thought it's easier for them to relate to her as a kid. I worked with Naina during 'Vangaveeti' (Teja was the assistant director working with RGV for the film) and she is a tough girl. For the film, she ran on the road without her shoes on during hot summers of Vizag. As far as Ankith was concerned; we did look at others but no one had the right attitude for the film. Ankith has amazing screen presence and he was a great choice for the role," explains Teja.

Currently, Teja is basking in the appreciation for 'Johaar' and he is surely going to release the film in theatres when they open, he states. Meanwhile, he is already working on the script of another film. I have made the audience cry a little for this film, the next one is going to be an entertainer with a lot of comedy," he shares.