Dulam Satyanarayana

Dulam Satyanarayana, is an award-winning Indian documentary filmmaker, known for his critically acclaimed social documentary Dreadful Fate, legendary artist's biography I am Satyabhama and visually stunning tourism film Welcome to Telangana. He is developing his debut feature fiction project based on celebrated Telugu writer Dr. Kesava Reddy's bestselling 1984 novel, Athadu Adavini Jayinchadu (He Conquered the Jungle). At the age of 5, he lost his father and then raised by his mother by running a small tea stall. He spent most of his childhood reading books in public library, playing cricket and understanding social issues. He wanted to become an engineer, cricketer or an IAS officer. He spent four years after the intermediate education preparing unsuccessfully for admission in Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT). He then moved to Chennai to study Visual Effects at Image College of Arts, Animation and Technology (ICAT). That is where Dulam grasped the curiosity for niche of world cinema strolling with his friends until late night hours discussing about new DVDs at the popular street of Burma Bazaar in Chennai. He would then bunk college to watch the DVDs he bought. He watched more than 1000 movies over two years and it was during this period his perspective developed on filmmaking. And Dulam was inspired to become a filmmaker instead. The thought of living without electricity even for a single day freaked him out and it is this thought that made him to set out to the remote island of Sundarbans in 2008, for his debut short documentary Moushuni that focuses on a village that lacked electricity for 55 years since independence. In 2010, he directed Dreadful Fate that highlights the issue of fluorosis and expose about ground water contamination in Nalgonda district of erstwhile state of Andhra Pradesh in India. This powerful work depicted politicians who would claim to provide citizens with clean drinking water in exchange for votes but failed to fulfill their promises for four decades. Apart from being nominated and winning awards at international film festivals, this film also raised funds to provide safe drinking water to 25 villages in India. Interestingly he obtained his entire crew from Orkut social networking site and gathered folks from varied backgrounds those having passion for filmmaking. Dulam Satyanarayana never expected that the documentaries he made would fetch him an invite and a fellowship from US Department of States in 2011 to study motion picture directing at Scottsdale School of Film and Theatre, Arizona, USA. After his return from USA, Dulam directed a feature length documentary based on a life and art of Kuchipudi dance maestro Vedantam Satyanarayana Sarma titled I am Satyabhama in 2013. Right after the formation of new state Telangana in 2014, Dulam was commissioned to make short films for the government of Telangana in various departments like Tourism, Culture, IT, Panchayati Raj, Industries, I&PR and Forest. His most successful promotional film, Welcome to Telangana was awarded the Best Tourism Film at Portugal in 2016 for promoting film tourism locations in India. This breath-taking tourism promo gives a never-seen-before glimpse into the beauty of Telangana state, exploring the rich serene of waterfalls, valleys, palaces, lakes, rivers and a lot more that the state has to offer to the global tourists. It took him nearly one-and-half years to find the locales, which are now getting development prospects. Amongst his other promotional films, Bonalu and Bathukamma lay emphasis on traditions, festivals and rich culture of Telangana. Dulam also directed short films on the Telangana government's flagship programs including the Haritha Haaram and Mission Bhageeratha. Dulam visited the USA, Canada, Pakistan and Iran to represent India as a delegate and panelist in International conferences and film festivals. He represented the Government of Telangana to promote state film tourism at various international film markets and festivals like Cannes, Toronto, Dubai, Porto and Goa.