Dollu

As the drum beat echoes through the town, the empty homes echo back the absence of drummers. Yet the art lives on, for the hearts of those that beat the instrument, beats along with it. With folk art forms struggling to remain relevant amidst the artists’ communities let alone in the urban scape, thousands have let go of their heritage for a more natural choice – their livelihoods. Set in a fictional village somewhere between Shimoga & Chitradurga, the birth place of the art form Dollu Kunita, Dollu is a drama that captures the scenario of folk artists fighting a losing battle against Urbanisation. Bhadra is a Dollu Kunita drummer and his love for the art form stems from his father, a former trained-artist himself. While his father taught him never to perform the art for money, Bhadra is a practical lad. His team performs across neighbouring villages for laurels and menial pay. Over time, money becomes a bigger factor for everyone in the team and the passion for the art takes a backseat. And just like every Kunita (Dance) has an end, the team too reaches a crucial point that begins to take them apart. Everyone in the team start finding a way to make a life for themselves far away from the serenity of their village; right in the middle of an unforgiving bustling metropolitan city, Bengaluru. With everyone gone and Bhadra left behind, he realises that the annual ritual celebrations at the local temple will remain incomplete without the team’s Dollu performance. He decides to bring the team together to ensure they don’t break the decades-old tradition. The hardship he faces in bringing the team back and his path of realisation that art is a form of expression that isn’t defined by the constructs of the society, forms the journey of Dollu.