Vanaja

Like most teenage girls, Vanaja is just a little too eager to grow up. After a mystic predicts Vanaja's future as a talented dancer, the ambitious young girl leaves her father, an alcoholic fisherman, to pursue the prophecy. Before long, Vanaja finagles her way into a job at the house of Rama Devi, a former master of kuchipudi (a South Indian dance usually only performed by high-caste Brahmins) who also happens to be the richest woman in this rural Indian town. Though merely a farmhand, Vanaja uses her exuberance and charm to earn a position inside the house (and closer to Rama Devi). Soon after, despite her social standing, Vanaja begins to learn kuchipudi from the boss herself. When Shekhar, Rama Devi's philandering son, returns home from the United States, he quickly warms to his mother's new prot̩g̩. But Vanaja's caste cannot be ignored forever. VANAJA beautifully and skillfully tells this gripping coming-of-age story in a world of ancient art and social segregation. (In Telugu with English subtitles) РE.J.B.