Sagar Puranik’s multiple award-winning film, Dollu, to release in July

Dollu, is director Pavan Wadeyar’s first project as a producer, a film that he and wife Apeksha backed as part of their plan to support parallel cinema. Pavan had seen director Sagar Puranik’s National Award winning short film Mahaan Hutatma and wanted to collaborate with him and that’s when the story of Dollu was narrated. “We wanted to make a good movie, and never imagined it would be recognized the way it has been. Since its first outing at the Bangladesh Film Festival, Dollu has travelled across the globe and won several accolades, including Best Indian film and technical excellence at the Boston fest, and, Best Regional Film and Best Director in Rajasthan,” Pavan had told us earlier.

Although Dollu has been doing really well at the festival circuit, both Pavan and Sagar have been clear that they want to give it a theatrical outing too and bring it to a larger audience. While they had planned it for May this year, that did not pan out and they have now announced a July release. A date is yet to be fixed, though. Explaining what the film is about, Sagar says, “This is a fictional story about how urbanization affects a local Dollu Kunitha team and how the group then falls apart. This in turn has other repercussions, when a yearly tradition is stopped because the group has disbanded. What the protagonist sets out to continue the tradition is what Dollu is about.”

Also read: Exclusive! Dollu will continue its festival run, but will release in theatres in May: Pavan Wadeyar and Sagar Puranik 

Dolly has a mix of professional actors and Dollu Kunitha performers as a part of the film. “We got the actors to train in Dollu Kunitha for a while, while we also got on board national-level performers, with a touch of drama in them. We rehearsed for camera, so the performers got acting lessons, while the actors got Dollu Kunitha training. Even veteran choreographer Chandra Mayur took time to learn the folk-dance form,” adds Sagar.