Jeevi Films: Caution the Wind of Change
We are storytelling creatures who seek to report experience, clarify tangled emotion, define and amuse ourselves through narrative: jokes, anecdotes, myth, romance, parable, folktale, history, fiction. Stories, it is argued, inspire, heal, inform, and empower: forms of consciousness, ways of thinking that help us to deal with the unexpected, to imagine other possibilities. The entire multi-billion dollar filmmaking industry is built on the insatiable human desire to experience, tell and see stories through film confirming the importance of learning storytelling.
Hailing from a modest family, Bhavana Goparaju too is a storyteller at heart. However, her journey in the film industry was not a cake walk. Bhavana prioritized necessities over her personal ambitions. While writing requires the creative space, Bhavana had put aside her passion for some time, but not for long. Soon after she finished her engineering degree followed by Master's degree in Computer Science and big data specialization, Bhavana decided to feed her passion for writing and stepped in the production domain of the Indian film industry.
Bhavana Goparaju started her career writing lyrics to a Telugu film `Priya Premalo Prem'. She has worked with veteran Malayalam director Anil Kumar for his script 'Maiya' and was the Associate Producer of the movie 'Mantra' Starring Kalki Koechlin, Rajat Kapoor which had its world premiere in US and was selected for Indian Panorama at IFFI, Goa. In 2017, she produced the Bengali short film 'Ek Poshla Rupkatha', an international collaboration between India and Russia which won six international awards and 15+ Official selections around the globe. She Co-Produced `Maadathyan Unfairy Tale', a Tamil Feature film with Director Leena Manimekalai which had world premiere in Busan Film Festival, Latin American Premiere in 60th Cartagena Film Festival, Indian Premiere at IFFK, Won Best Feature Film Award, FIPRESCI Jury award, Best Cinematography, Best Actress award at Aurangabad International Film Festival and programmed in few other international film festivals released digitally on Neestream, Mubi India and set to release in other OTTs world wide by the end of 2022.
Means to tell the World
Bhavana derives her inspiration for film making & stories from the very lives that she has witnessed or experienced firsthand. She says,”Film making for me is the means to tell the world what I want to tell. A story of survival or struggle for livelihood, without giving up on hope, love & warmth, is a story worth telling. Such stories seldom make it to the mainstream. Yet, these are the very stories that kept me and still keep me moving ahead. So, I wanted to tell that story about life and how you can find it in every corner of this world and in any bizarre situation”. Bhavana believes every emotion should be experienced and explored to be able to truly love & live life.
The Challenges that Made a Filmmaker
Bhavana had her share of challenges, as would anyone, while venturing out on their own. However, given an industry that is swarmed with star-kids or relatives of industry veterans, Bhavana found it particularly difficult with absolutely no prior connection to the film industry. Nevertheless, her passion and desire to make compelling films did not let her down. Bhavana steered her way through several other problems related to sexism and ageism to finally build a career in the film industry. Now, she has her own production house called 'Jeevi Films'.
Exceptional Works of 'Jeevi Films'
Jeevi Films is currently producing the feature length Hindi film In the Belly of a Tiger. The film is directed by Jatla Siddhartha, and has grabbed the attention of several notable organizations. It was the only Indian Fiction feature to receive Busan Asian Cinema Fund's Script Development Fund.
Additional, In the Belly of a Tiger was the only Indian Fiction Feature selected for Le Groupe Ouest's Less is More script lab, Script Pool Tallinn, HAF (Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum). It is one of just five films worldwide selected for the Script Pool Tallin. It was named in the Top 6 scripts selected for the NFDC script lab. The movie is also a finalist awaiting results for the NFDC Co-Production grant.
Bhavana has maintained a stubborn attitude towards challenges and that has kept her going. She mentions how failing was never an option, because she did not have a safety net to catch her. Therefore, a fall in the industry could have ended her career. This zeal to never give up and always march ahead has bestowed her with a fruitful career in the Indian Film Industry.
Life is Art & Science together
As an undergrad in Engineering, Bhavana took a liking to technology in the form of robotics. “My despise for engineering (laughs) was overpowered by love for learning new things. I loved assembling & dismantling things. Building robots had become a hobby for me wherein I built an off-road vehicle with my friends in college. Problem solving was kind of a forte to me” adds Bhavana. Bhavana derives her connection to film making and science through such past experiences. She believes that life is nothing but art & science together.
Being born to teachers, Bhavana is fed with values that has helped her stay strong, bold and determined in her journey.
Far from Reality
Bhavana, expresses her confusion about the stories that have grasped the film industry today. Rightly so, what once was an authentic account of people's lives, has now become only 'fantasy', as Bhavana puts it. “Growing up, I watched movies that were relatable to any average Indian back in the days. Movies that taught us to fight back for life, for livelihood, for existence, were mainstream movies then. Those movies were critically acclaimed and did well revenue wise too. Today, there is little scope for such movies going mainstream. There is a clear inclination towards unreal or fantasy”. Bhavana strongly opines that cinema as an art has now changed to cinema as a business.
Choosing the Script
With Jeevi Films, Bhavana feels that she has done justice with the process. She has always been conscious in taking decision with every script. Every project she has invested her time &energy in has been a moving story of a character having a 'character'. “If a script invokes an emotion in me, I will go through with it and that's how I select my stories” adds young filmmaker.
Breaking the dogma, Bhavana has been adamant on telling stories that touched her personally. Although a film requires to accepted by people to do business, Bhavana advocates the fact that people will always love a story if its relatable to them, if they can see themselves in the character. Even so, while making the film, Bhavana ensure to onboard people who draw from their person life experiences. This ensures that the final outcome is personal to the makers and influences & moves people's lives too.
Bhavana brings in her experiences from her days working in a startup. The technical & organized nature of corporate has a lot to offer to young filmmakers venturing out in a highly subjective industry. Bhavana says, “I take utmost care in terms of selecting a script or screenplay and ensure to reduce the level of risk in terms of investments”. Bhavana demonstrates ingenuity in striking the right balance between a storyteller and a producer. As a storyteller, she ensures that she picks a story that she herself believes in, and as a producer she picks the right audience to tell it to. Thereby reducing the risks associated with investors.
However, one thing remained constant throughout Bhavana's career; she never compromised on the story telling process just to make revenue. “For me, even if a single individual comes to me to discuss a film I made or tell me that he or she loved that film, that is my award. That is the justice I did with my work”, concludes Bhavana.
Hailing from a modest family, Bhavana Goparaju too is a storyteller at heart. However, her journey in the film industry was not a cake walk. Bhavana prioritized necessities over her personal ambitions. While writing requires the creative space, Bhavana had put aside her passion for some time, but not for long. Soon after she finished her engineering degree followed by Master's degree in Computer Science and big data specialization, Bhavana decided to feed her passion for writing and stepped in the production domain of the Indian film industry.
If you are connected to, and inspired by the story, you become one with it, and working on it becomes second nature
Bhavana Goparaju started her career writing lyrics to a Telugu film `Priya Premalo Prem'. She has worked with veteran Malayalam director Anil Kumar for his script 'Maiya' and was the Associate Producer of the movie 'Mantra' Starring Kalki Koechlin, Rajat Kapoor which had its world premiere in US and was selected for Indian Panorama at IFFI, Goa. In 2017, she produced the Bengali short film 'Ek Poshla Rupkatha', an international collaboration between India and Russia which won six international awards and 15+ Official selections around the globe. She Co-Produced `Maadathyan Unfairy Tale', a Tamil Feature film with Director Leena Manimekalai which had world premiere in Busan Film Festival, Latin American Premiere in 60th Cartagena Film Festival, Indian Premiere at IFFK, Won Best Feature Film Award, FIPRESCI Jury award, Best Cinematography, Best Actress award at Aurangabad International Film Festival and programmed in few other international film festivals released digitally on Neestream, Mubi India and set to release in other OTTs world wide by the end of 2022.
Means to tell the World
Bhavana derives her inspiration for film making & stories from the very lives that she has witnessed or experienced firsthand. She says,”Film making for me is the means to tell the world what I want to tell. A story of survival or struggle for livelihood, without giving up on hope, love & warmth, is a story worth telling. Such stories seldom make it to the mainstream. Yet, these are the very stories that kept me and still keep me moving ahead. So, I wanted to tell that story about life and how you can find it in every corner of this world and in any bizarre situation”. Bhavana believes every emotion should be experienced and explored to be able to truly love & live life.
The Challenges that Made a Filmmaker
Bhavana had her share of challenges, as would anyone, while venturing out on their own. However, given an industry that is swarmed with star-kids or relatives of industry veterans, Bhavana found it particularly difficult with absolutely no prior connection to the film industry. Nevertheless, her passion and desire to make compelling films did not let her down. Bhavana steered her way through several other problems related to sexism and ageism to finally build a career in the film industry. Now, she has her own production house called 'Jeevi Films'.
Exceptional Works of 'Jeevi Films'
Jeevi Films is currently producing the feature length Hindi film In the Belly of a Tiger. The film is directed by Jatla Siddhartha, and has grabbed the attention of several notable organizations. It was the only Indian Fiction feature to receive Busan Asian Cinema Fund's Script Development Fund.
Additional, In the Belly of a Tiger was the only Indian Fiction Feature selected for Le Groupe Ouest's Less is More script lab, Script Pool Tallinn, HAF (Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum). It is one of just five films worldwide selected for the Script Pool Tallin. It was named in the Top 6 scripts selected for the NFDC script lab. The movie is also a finalist awaiting results for the NFDC Co-Production grant.
Bhavana has maintained a stubborn attitude towards challenges and that has kept her going. She mentions how failing was never an option, because she did not have a safety net to catch her. Therefore, a fall in the industry could have ended her career. This zeal to never give up and always march ahead has bestowed her with a fruitful career in the Indian Film Industry.
Life is Art & Science together
As an undergrad in Engineering, Bhavana took a liking to technology in the form of robotics. “My despise for engineering (laughs) was overpowered by love for learning new things. I loved assembling & dismantling things. Building robots had become a hobby for me wherein I built an off-road vehicle with my friends in college. Problem solving was kind of a forte to me” adds Bhavana. Bhavana derives her connection to film making and science through such past experiences. She believes that life is nothing but art & science together.
Being born to teachers, Bhavana is fed with values that has helped her stay strong, bold and determined in her journey.
Far from Reality
Bhavana, expresses her confusion about the stories that have grasped the film industry today. Rightly so, what once was an authentic account of people's lives, has now become only 'fantasy', as Bhavana puts it. “Growing up, I watched movies that were relatable to any average Indian back in the days. Movies that taught us to fight back for life, for livelihood, for existence, were mainstream movies then. Those movies were critically acclaimed and did well revenue wise too. Today, there is little scope for such movies going mainstream. There is a clear inclination towards unreal or fantasy”. Bhavana strongly opines that cinema as an art has now changed to cinema as a business.
Choosing the Script
With Jeevi Films, Bhavana feels that she has done justice with the process. She has always been conscious in taking decision with every script. Every project she has invested her time &energy in has been a moving story of a character having a 'character'. “If a script invokes an emotion in me, I will go through with it and that's how I select my stories” adds young filmmaker.
Breaking the dogma, Bhavana has been adamant on telling stories that touched her personally. Although a film requires to accepted by people to do business, Bhavana advocates the fact that people will always love a story if its relatable to them, if they can see themselves in the character. Even so, while making the film, Bhavana ensure to onboard people who draw from their person life experiences. This ensures that the final outcome is personal to the makers and influences & moves people's lives too.
Bhavana brings in her experiences from her days working in a startup. The technical & organized nature of corporate has a lot to offer to young filmmakers venturing out in a highly subjective industry. Bhavana says, “I take utmost care in terms of selecting a script or screenplay and ensure to reduce the level of risk in terms of investments”. Bhavana demonstrates ingenuity in striking the right balance between a storyteller and a producer. As a storyteller, she ensures that she picks a story that she herself believes in, and as a producer she picks the right audience to tell it to. Thereby reducing the risks associated with investors.
However, one thing remained constant throughout Bhavana's career; she never compromised on the story telling process just to make revenue. “For me, even if a single individual comes to me to discuss a film I made or tell me that he or she loved that film, that is my award. That is the justice I did with my work”, concludes Bhavana.
