The Kannada movie Dollu, directed by Sagar Puranki has received the Dada Saheb Phalke Award for the Best Kannada movie at the Innovative International film festival. The respective movie starred Karthik Mahesh and Nidhi Hegde in lead roles, which marked their debut in Sandalwood. The project produced by Pawan Wadeyar has got a U certificate from the censor board.
The movie Dollu is based on Dollu Kunitha which is a popular drum dance in Karnataka. The director, Sagar also mentioned his interest and infatuation with folk dance and culture which inspired him for the movie. It illustrates how the dance was slowly vanishing due to urbanization. The Dollu was selected to premiere at the prestigious Dhaka Film Festival. The film was produced by Pavan Wadeyar and Apeksha Purohit.
In an interview with Bombay Times, Sagar said “Over the years, there has been a steady stream of migration from Karnataka’s rural areas to big cities like Bengaluru or Mumbai, as people seek improved standards of living. This, in turn, has led to us forgetting our roots, which lies in folk art forms like Dollu Kunitha.
Due to rapid urbanisation, our folk arts and village culture are vanishing, which is what we have tried to portray without adding commercial elements, but with an adequate entertainment quotient. We have shot extensively in areas like Shivamogga and Chitradurga.”