Special jury mention for Raj & DK’s Telugu indie ‘Cinema Bandi’, produced by Raj & DK, at IFFI

The ‘Cinema Bandi’ team at IFFI, Goa
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Cinema Bandi, the 2021 Telugu indie comedy movie directed by Praveen Kandregula and produced by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK — popularly known as Raj & DK— caught attention at the 53rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa. The film, which was a part of the Indian Panorama section, received a special mention by the jury for the debut feature film of a director.

The indie film follows the journey of an autorickshaw driver who finds an expensive camera left behind in his auto and turns a filmmaker, with the help of a group of villagers who are driven by a passion for cinema but know nothing about filmmaking.

Cinema Bandi’s cast and crew included a number of first-timers – director Praveen Kandregula, writers Vasanth Maringanti and Krishna Pratyusha and music composers Satyavolu Sirish and Varun Reddy. Starring Vikas Vasishta, Sandeep Varanasi and Rag Mayur, the film was set in a village on the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border.

The project was mentored and produced by filmmakers Raj & DK, best known for The Family Man series, Hindi films Shor in the City, Stree and Go Goa Gone. The filmmakers took to social media to relive their journey of making Cinema Bandi: “We have come full circle with Cinema Bandi. A couple of years ago, two filmmakers were secretly stalking us at the Film Bazaar, IFFI, Goa. They were persistent because they believed in what (content) they had. We were sceptical but we decided to make it if they retained the completely unknown cast and kept the authenticity and the rawness they had in their short film. This hopeful innocence is the heart of Cinema Bandi.”

Raj & DK mentored the film from the scripting process and launched the production house D2R Indie with an intention of supporting independent filmmakers. Cinema Bandi was the first initiative. The film streamed directly on Netflix and was widely appreciated.

Director Praveen Kandregula dedicated the IFFI award to his team and stated that the project was made possible only with the support of Raj & DK.