Oh That’s Bhanu: Capturing dance, life and truth of Bhanumathi Rao

RV Ramani, with over 25 independent films to his credit, vividly captures the persona of Bhanumathi Rao and brings out the child in her. In spite of her failing memory, Bhanumathi is eloquent, incredibly funny and energetic.

Bhanumathi keeps asking Ramani who he is more than once. She doesn’t remember half the things. Ramani patiently answers he is making a film on her every time⁠—to which she often replies—“I don’t remember anything”. In addition, she asks Ramani what he does for money. The moment he says he is passionate about films, Bhanumathi candidly says, “money is important. I don’t understand how you make films for a living.” Those portions brought the roof down.

In spite of her failing memory, Bhanumathi is eloquent, incredibly funny and energetic.

Instead of filming Bhanumathi Rao, RV Ramani takes us into her life through the lenses. We are shown Bhanumathi walking, gardening, visiting the voting booth and performing Bharatanatyam, among other things. Mostly, we get close-ups of the elderly woman as she speaks. The twinkle in her eye is still intact, and we can’t miss her infectious laughter and tightly-plaited silver hair.

Bhanumathi doesn’t speak fast. She thinks a lot and pauses before she proceeds. Ramani lets Bhanumathi be herself throughout. She drinks tea, eats food, converses with daughters, cracks jokes and shows mudras. Ramani refers to Bhanumathi as the woman with a beautiful mind. Recalling their first meeting, he says, “I experienced a deep connection when she kept her hand in mine. That moment was magical. I felt I knew this person and I wanted to know why. This got me curious and I asked her daughter, Maya Krishna Rao, if I could document her life.”

Bhanumathi Rao, who was born in Kerala in 1923, calls herself tone-deaf, but she’s enthusiastic about music. It is amazing how she starts performing when her daughter plays a thillana on the laptop. We learn that Bhanumati lost her husband, a Government servant, in the 40s, and she was a part of Ram Gopal’s troupe that travelled all over Europe to perform and raise money. Former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was among the several attendees at one of her shows. Both as a stage performer and as a teacher, Bhanumathi introduced Kathakali and Bharatanatyam to people abroad then. “Dance isn’t her hobby, but life,” says her daughter Maya.

Oh That’s Bhanu was also screened at the Dharamshala International Film Festival.

The evening also saw an interactive session that had film critic Baradwaj Rangan in conversation with RV Ramani. Bhanumathi is an unreliable narrator, owing to her memory, pointed out Rangan, adding “there’s no real sense of truth in this”, as the documentary discusses time and memory through this woman.

Ramani noted, “Bhanumathi makes up stories most of the time, but that’s all right. I don’t believe in the idea of truth. I nullify it. Here, Bhanumathi (the character) nullifies it herself. So, her memory loss was never an issue. I started this film in 2014 and two weeks ago, we got a projector and made her watch the film. At first, as usual, she didn’t recognise me; but later, she hit me on the hand. Of course, she acknowledged the effort that has been put into this.”

(Oh That’s Bhanu was also screened at the Dharamshala International Film Festival, besides MAMI film festival, among more)