Director Raam Reddy’s debut feature film Thithi, which released in theatres on May 6, got such a positive response on social media from audiences and the film fraternity, that the film was given three extra shows on Saturday. The movie ran to full houses for all its 10 shows in Bengaluru on Friday.
The movie had won the national award for Best Kannada Film in 2015, and reportedly, will soon have a theatrical release in the US, which would qualify it consideration at the Oscars. The film also won two awards at the 68th Locarno International Film Festival in August last year. Hollywood stalwarts like Francis Ford Coppola had showered praises on the film. Coppola, in a personal review, wrote that Thithi was a “joyous view on life in a village in India with unforgettable characters”.
The movie was the only Indian movie featured in the International Category at the Jio MAMI Film Festival 2015 in Mumbai. Director Anurag Kashyap, one of the celebrities the film impressed, said that Thithi was the funniest film he had seen in recent times. Kashyap also tweeted:
“THITHI” is that one film that I have seen thrice and I can see it any number of times. Don’t miss this gem
— Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) 6 May 2016
Written by Ere Gowda and directed by Raam Reddy, the film features mostly unseasoned actors, picked up from Gowda’s village, Nodekopplu, in the KR Nagar taluk of Mandya district in Karnataka. The film was shot in the same area. Ere Gowda, formerly a security guard at Raam’s father’s office, partnered with the 25-year-old director to make a short film a few years ago. Subsequently, the duo made Thithi, a movie set in a village and its characters, and revolving around the funeral of a 101-year old man, named Century Gowda.
The movie was co-produced by Pratap Reddy and Sunmin Park. Sunmin Park has been associated with several Hollywood projects, including the Nicole Kidman film, The Others (2001).
