Badugu Vijay Kumar is making his film debut with Thamasoma Jyothirgamaya, inspired by incidents which took place in Telangana in 2001.
“Eight weavers from different families committed suicide in one month that year,” says Vijay Kumar.
Hailing from a weaver’s family in Pochampally, Telangana, Vijay, who completed his MBA in Finance, quit his corporate job to make films. “I made many short films and documentaries and most of them are on social issues. One of my documentaries on the Bhoodhan Movement won a national award,” he says.
Initially Vijay wanted to make a film on Chintakandi Mallesham, who invented the Asu machine which brought about a revolution in the weaving industry. His story was ready in 2017, but around that time, a biopic on Mallesham was released. “So I decided to focus on weavers’ suicides and the plight of handloom workers,” says Vijay.
While explaining that he had done a lot of research on the topic, he asserts that he took care not to…
From darkness, the weavers see some light
