Hyderabad Blues

Hyderabad Blues is a 1998 Indian drama film written, directed, and produced by Nagesh Kukunoor.[2][3] Primarily shot in the English language, the film explores culture clash from an Indian American's perspective, vacationing back home in Hyderabad, India and finding himself a foreigner in his own land.[1] The film starred non-mainstream actors, including Kukunoor in his directorial and acting debut, as well as his family members and friends.[2][4] The film heralded new age bollywood cinema.[5]

Hyderabad Blues
Directed byNagesh Kukunoor
Produced byNagesh Kukunoor
Written byNagesh Kukunoor
Screenplay byNagesh Kukunoor
StarringNagesh Kukunoor
Rajashree
Elahe Hiptoola
Anoop Ratnaker Rao
Music byBunty
CinematographyRam Prasad
Edited byK. Ramesh
Distributed byKukunoor Movies
Release date
17 July 1998
Running time
85 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageEnglish
Hindi
Telugu
Budget12 Lakh INR[1]

Hyderabad Blues was premiered at the Eros International Mini Theatre, Mumbai; the Denver Film Festival, the "View From Abroad" section of the First MAMI Film Festival; as well as the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai.[1][6] It was premiered as a three part television series in Doordarshan.[6]

Hyderabad Blues garnered the "Audience Award for best film" at the Peachtree International Film Festival in Atlanta, as well as the Rhode Island International Film Festival.[2] In 2018, Hyderabad Blues, celebrated its 20th anniversary with a special screening in Mumbai by "Drishyam Films" where it was featured in the "Indie Film Masters" edition.[2] Hyderabad Blues was followed up by its direct sequel Hyderabad Blues 2 which released in 2004.[7]

Plot

The protagonist of Hyderabad Blues is Varun, played by the director, Nagesh Kukunoor. The movie revolves around his visit to his homeland after 12 years in the USA and his resulting culture shock. The movie is a romantic comedy, following Varun's attempts to romance an Indian doctor and balance the local customs of arranged marriage with the Western tradition of dating. The dialogue is primarily in English and Telugu, with some Hindi spoken as well.

Cast
  • Nagesh Kukunoor as Varun Naidu
  • Rajashree as Ashwini Rao
  • Elahe Hiptoola as Seema Rao
  • Vikram Inamdar as Sanjeev Rao
  • Anoop Ratnaker Rao as Harish Chandani
  • D V Ramana as Darshan Naidu
  • Revathi Alwar as Kusuma Naidu
  • Anne Chengappa as Shashi Naidu
  • Zain-Ul-Wara Zaheer as Sandhya
  • Vidhya Uthappa as Woman riding scooter

Production

In producing the movie, Nagesh Kukunoor invested the money he made from his engineering career in the United States.[2][6] It was made on a shoe-string budget of Rs. 1.7 million (roughly equivalent to U.S. $ 40,000) and shot in 17 days entirely in Hyderabad, India.[6]

Release

The film performed well commercially.[8]

References
  1. FC, Team (16 July 2018). "Nagesh Kukunoor On Making Hyderabad Blues With Rs 12 Lakhs And Untrained Actors".
  2. Ramnath, Nandini. "'It's going to be a total failure': How Nagesh Kukunoor proved everyone wrong with 'Hyderabad Blues'". Scroll.in.
  3. "HYDERABAD BLUES (1998)". BFI.
  4. IANS. "20 years on, 'Hyderabad Blues' prequel on Nagesh Kukunoor's mind | Business Standard News". Business-standard.com. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  5. "Dhanak | An Indie Meme Presentation". indiememe.
  6. Kamath, Sudhish (14 July 2018). "When movies lose money, I don't lose any sleep over it: Nagesh Kukunoor". livemint.
  7. "Hyderabad Blues 2". Deccan Herald. 4 July 2004. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
  8. https://web.archive.org/web/20010702185543/http://tmcafe.com/interview/naser/nasser_interview.htm
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