Originally published September 28, 2007 at 12:00 AM | Page modified September 28, 2007 at 2:01 AM
Movie review
"Vanaja" | Short takes
Castes, dignity in India
"Vanaja," with Mamatha Bhukya, Urmila Dammannagari, Karan Singh. Written and directed by Rajnesh Domalpalli. 111 minutes. Not rated; for mature audiences (contains some sexual content). In Telugu with English subtitles. Varsity.
"Vanaja" has the otherworldly feel of a fairy tale but the bitter content of a drama about class and female exploitation. The odd little story set in southern India — about a girl who watches her once-bright hopes for the future dissolve into something worse than servitude — stars Mamatha Bhukya as the film's titular, lower-caste heroine.
A slender teen left unprotected by a drunken father, Vanaja captures the attention of the village landlady, Rama Devi (Urmila Dammannagari). She moves onto Rama Devi's estate and becomes a student of Kuchipudi dance, her coltish body jerking along to the form's complex choreography.
But it isn't long before the landlady's hunky son (Karan Singh), an aspiring politician, alters the course of Vanaja's life, ultimately chaining her to a raw deal in which her class limitations eclipse every other consideration of her humanity.
Writer-director Rajnesh Domalpalli — working with a nonprofessional cast and in dreamy, exotic hues — has managed to blur the line between stylized fantasy and dreary realism, coming up with a movie that seems both contemporary and quite old. "Vanaja" is a timeless story of dignity maintained against all odds.
— Tom Keogh, Special to The Seattle Times
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company
'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
Director John Woo's 'Red Cliff' is an epic whose time has come
An epic revival for 'Gone With the Wind'
At a Theater Near You: Polish, Italian festivals lead weekend's films
Movie review: Bella + Edward + Jacob = a pale 'New Moon'

PNW Magazine | Easy As Pie
A little friendly competition between professional pie-baker Kate McDermott and The Seatttle Times' Kathleen Triesch Saul is handled with great taste.
general classifieds
Garage & estate salesFurniture & home furnishings
Sporting goods
just listed
42" Hitachi Plasma 1080i - $500
8 Drawer Dresser with Attached Mirror - $200
8 seat pecon formal dining table and china hutch - $1500
More listings
POST A FREE LISTING
shopping
events for Monday, Nov. 23
- Contractors equipment and vehicle auction
- $100 Holiday Blitz at Ella Mon
- Furnishments Thanksgiving Weekend Sale
- Black Friday Sale at Merge
editors' picks
More shopping guides- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Tugboat sinks at Seattle waterfront pier
- Illegal workers quietly let go
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
- Craigslist adoption ad: A plea by young mother-to-be? A scam?
- Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
- Woman stabbed by stranger in North Seattle
- Snow piles up on Cascade slopes
- Denny Triangle gains skyline, but tenants slow to come
- Illegal workers quietly let go
394 - Climate change speeds up since 1997 Kyoto accord
213 - Metro won't cut bus service after all
159 - New Husky recruit: Enes Kanter
101 - Tattoos at Mill Creek Church pierce skin, soul
85 - Middleton says Huskies "plan on scoring at least 50 points'' Saturday
82 - Jerry Brewer: Seahawks can't lean on the Hutch Crutch now
75 - Seattle woman charged with knife attack on boyfriend's ex
71 - UW, WSU once again meet to see who's worse
68 - Bellevue residents blast new bikini espresso stand
66
- Sprouts, raw fish on attorney's 'do not eat' list
- Tattoos at Mill Creek church pierce skin, soul
- Food-safety lawyer's wish: Put me out of business
- Illegal workers quietly let go
- Architects, chefs find 'kid' within to build Gingerbread Village
- Rediscovering Moab, 'the most beautiful place on Earth'
- It's possible to recover a life lost to hoarding
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Taste | The Great Pie Bake-off pits friends and fruit

