Independent films are named because of their independence on the “industry”, either for financial support or for the stylistic tendencies. However, a 2004’s Indie film, Bommalata directed by Prakash Kovelamudi, bought all the industry forces together and made an honest attempt at making an educative film about child labour.
Prakash is son of high-reputed Telugu Film director K Raghavendra Rao. Bommalata is his sophomore film after Neetho (2002). It was produced by Rana Daggupati’s Spirit Media. It features Allari Naresh, Shreya, Thanikella Bharani, SP Balasubramanyam (voice-over) and also Peter Haines as stunt man. Despite all the big-names, the protagonist of the movie is Sai Kumar who played the titular role of Ramu.
Ramu’s parents are puppetry artists played by Surya and Shravani. Both are addicts of gutka (tobacco) and alcohol. Oftentimes, the children in children films behave like adults. In this film, Ramu had to become the adult and be ‘the man of the house’ as the parents lay doing nothing except waiting for the child to bring them food and beedis (handmade cigarettes). Ramu is a rag-picker earning nominal money for his hand-to-mouth existence with lots of big dreams starting with going to school.
The playful ambitious Ramu questions the hypocrite opportunist politician for using them for a rally for eradicating child labour promising them a wage only to ditch them in the middle of the road. The story of Bommalata is the struggles of Ramu to enter the school and the hiccups he had to face.
Bommalata is a decent children’s film with a message of education for all. Bommalata is available to stream for free on Youtube.
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