'You Don't Know If The Rebellion Will Be Successful'

'It is daunting, for sure, because you're rowing upstream.'

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In the age of high-speed entertainment, some films compel you to slow down to take notice of their beauty.

Raam Reddy's Jugnuma: The Fable is that kind of film.

Reddy is a true indie darling, whose debut feature Thithi set him apart as a standout talent and won him a National Award in 2016.

His muted and introspective style is once again on display in his second feature, which tells a story about an orchard owner whose peaceful life in the Himalayan foothills is disrupted when a mysterious blaze engulfs his sprawling fruit estate.

Headlined by the ever dependable Manoj Bajpayee, alongside Deepak Dobriyal, Priyanka Bose, and Tillotama Shome, the film is brought into mainstream view by Guneet Monga and Anurag Kashyap.

“It was very challenging for all of us working independently to get things out but now, that support has started coming through via champions. My film is being presented by Guneet (Monga) and Anurag (Kashyap), and they were keen that it was seen on a big screen. That's not always the easiest thing for an Indie film,”

Tillotama Shome, who acted in Jugnuma, described the film as 'Dum Biryani'.

(Laughs) Yeah, she did.

The film has been in the making for about eight years.

It dissolves the moment you have it out.

The dream is kind of fulfilled, and then all the struggles dissolve into that positivity.

I've been carrying it for so long on my shoulders.

I feel light.

All of it was quite hard.

I think maybe it was getting the VFX to blend seamlessly with the 16mm impressionistic style. VFX is very hard to turn invisible.

The world building was always one of the key aspects for me.

Then we had to shoot season specific. The dream was to go and shoot the blossoms in the orchard.

The blossom in the orchard in Uttarakhand is such a dicey thing because you don't know when it's going to happen as it happens differently every year.