Vanaja is a movie that is not only culturally enriching, but crosses social and economic boundaries that face oppressed communities of India. This is done artistically through the passion and will of a young 15-year-old girl who goes by the name of Vanaja. She lives with her father on a compound that is primarily owned by a landlady. The landlady herself is considered to be a legend in the Kuchpudi dance artform. After Vanaja's interests peak in this form of dance, she gives her father an ultimatum that she would only be willing to work in the house of the landlady. She eventually persuades the landlady to teach her, but is done so under the strict understanding of where her social status really lies. Vanaja masters the art so intricately that she attracts the attention of male suitors.Vanaja is seen exploring her sexuality in very innocent ways during the movie. She does this very coyly with the local mail boy. She is caught in this action and is scolded by the landlady for having such curiosities. The landlady tells her that people would call her nasty names if this got out concluding that no one would marry her.She explores her interest in men further, when the landlady's strikingly handsome son returns from America. She is fond of his masculinity, peeping at him while showering. Shekar Babu, as he is known, is of a much higher class than Vanaja but it does not stop him from unexpectedly raping her while feeding the dogs in the barn. It was a horrific experience for Vanaja, more so because she became pregnant with his child.
She was now faced with a host of other social problems. Carrying a child that Shekar Babu may highly oppose since he would not want to admit to having sex with a girl of a lower class, Vanaja was also facing the challenges of dealing with her alcoholic father whose health was rapidly declining. The Landlady was furious with her son when she found out, and demanded an immediate abortion however she ran off and weaned the baby on her own.The rights of the child was eventually sold off to the landlady at a cost of 600,000 dollars, however after the word got out that her son had impregnated a girl of a lower class, he was considered ineligible to run for a political post. This destroyed Shekar Babu's hopes and aspirations.Vanaja faced a serious decision of whether to leave her son with Shekar or to take him for herself. She made the ultimate sacrifice as a young mother to leave him in the hands of his father who would be able to better provide for him. She was devastated but in the oppressed social structure of India she made a choice that any mother would have made.
Shahad Ali
Senior Press Pass Correspondent
University of the West Indies