Vanaja (Telugu movie)

Vanaja is a 2006 Telugu movie directed by Rajnesh Domalpalli. Rajnesh made this movie as part of his thesis when he was studying at Columbia University. The budget of the movie was very low. I read somewhere that it was 20,000 USD. Most of the actors, including the protagonist, were first-timers. This is a story of Vanaja, a 14 year old girl who turns 15 and then 16 during the course of the movie. We get to witness two years of her life and what may have happened later is left to our imagination. 

The actors have acted flawlessly.  The girl who played the protagonist is a delight to watch. She's ambitious, smart and hardworking. She's in her teenage, so her innocence is evident. But she has a fiery temper, which, I think, is necessary for her survival. She lives in a village, belongs to a lower caste family and has a girl best friend named Lachhi. She goes to school with Lachhi. Lachhi shares her books with Vanaja if Vanaja can't afford to buy books. The beautiful way they giggle makes you smile. Lachhi helps Vanaja in whetever ways she can. 

An old woman dancer, whom Vanaja watched performing in her village during a function, reads her palm and tells her that she will become a famous dancer one day and will earn a lot of money. Vanaja starts believing this prediction and convinces her father to let her work for the village landlady, who was quite a famous dancer when she was young. The landlady is amused by the way Vanaja talks to her when she comes to ask for work. Later Vanaja, by putting some efforts, gets the landlady to give her dance lessons. I, as a viewer, think that our Vanaja is actually going to become famous and earn a lot of money. I foolishly think that it's a journey of how the protagonist becomes great at her craft. What I forget here is the fact that she's a fourteen year old village girl living in a casteist patriarchal society that commits grave crimes against women on a daily basis. She gets raped in the movie. She gets raped multiple times. She gets pregnant and delivers a child when she's just 15. This is a drastic change that no one wished for. But this is life. You have to deal with whatever happens. Vanaja tries her best to turn everything to her advantage, so that she gets some semblance of justice.

 Remember that she's just 15. The only relative she has is a father who has a drinking problem. Ultimately, she has to look after this father as well. So, all she has is she herself. She continues to struggle with her mind and her emotions. She continues to think of the options she has. And then, the father also dies. She's literally alone in this cruel world. What happens in the end is heartbreaking, but it isn't surprising. What happens is one of the things that could happen to a 16 year old girl stuck in a situation like that. What hurts the most is that she's still an innocent girl who believes whatever she's promised.  

I was conflicted while watching this movie. I couldn't stand watching the rapist. I couldn't stand watching him trying to be nice to her in a few scenes. I kept thinking, but all those thoughts were useless. I don't get to decide what she should have done. I just get to watch one of the things that happen every day in our society. I get to watch her journey. I get to watch injustice. I get to feel heartbroken. And, I get to think about everyone Vanaja represents.