Documenting farmer issues

In an attempt to reveal the reality behind farmers conditions in the country and to encourage them, Nizamabad-based, A Ganga Reddy is making short films. Until today, he has made short films on farmers ‘Missing’ and ‘Photo Frame’. His film ‘Missing’ was recently screened at the New Jersey International Film Festival-18. The two films jointly crossed the 1 crore view mark on social media. Speaking with The Hans India, Ganga Reddy shared what drove him to make the films.

“I was interested in writing and storytelling since my childhood. I did my MBA from UK in 2007. At that time, I did my project work on ‘Advertisement Communication and Film Production’. That is the time when I decided to enter films. When I was in UK, I was exposed to world of cinema and that inspired me to enter the film industry,” said Ganga Reddy.

Ganga Reddy quit his well-settled job in Amazon and came back to India to pursue his passion. He took up the course ‘Direction and Screenplay’ in Film Institute at Ramoji Film City.

Later, he started doing advertisement films for different companies.
“When I was in Film School, director Deva Katta came to the institute and gave me an opportunity to work with him after watching my talent in screenplay and direction. I have worked with him as an associate director and writer for five years. I strongly believe that no human is individual and always relates to a society and lives according to it,” he shared.

He did his first short film about farmers with Kisan Raj, a Bangalore-based organisation. “After watching my advertisement videos, Suresh, co-founder of ‘I For Farmers’ asked me to do a short film ‘Missing’ on farmers suicides. 'I For Farmers' is helping the farmers children in education and more.

He gave me a concept and we did it in four minutes in a village in Ranga Reddy district. The film has only two characters, but it touched more than 6.5 million hearts in a short time due to the reality of the film,” added Ganga Reddy.

Ganga Reddy is also a great photographer and is appreciated by many national level photographers for his work. His film ‘Missing’ was recently screened at the New Jersey International Film Festival-18.

Ganga Reddy informed that according to National Crime Records Bureau, more than 12,000 farmers commit suicide every year all over India and in the past 20 years the count is more than 4 lakhs.

He also directed another short film on farmers titled ‘Photo Frame’ recently and it has crossed 4 Million views within no time and its viral on social media. “After the short film ‘Missing’, I wanted to do a film on farmers which gave them encouragement despite many setbacks in the agriculture industry in India. I was very happy, that after watching my films, many people came forward to help the farmers.

He informed that his main dream is to direct regular films and has many scripts for it.He concluded, “As a son of a farmer, I know the difficulties of farmers. Farmers suicides are happening due to the issues like water irrigation and no proper rate for the crops. Most of the farmer's suicides are happening in four states including AP, Telangana, Maharashtra, and Karnataka. It is a big issue and it will take a lot more time and effort to be resolved.”