Studied Hotel Management, worked for a star hotel for a couple of years, leaving to UK to study Film Making and returning to make documentaries on social issues and finally settling down as a farmer. Though sounds like a stellar script for a feature film, this is actually the life story of Saraswati Kavula who believes in doing it than preaching it.
Saraswati Kavula, who’s currently staying in her farm of Mangoes and gooseberries at Nandi Wanaparthy village near Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, is a perfect thought provoking inspiration for present youth. A Hotel Manager by chance, later she found her creative niche in film making. Following her passion, she moved to UK to study the same and wrote story lines on several genres. She worked for some commercial films for a short while and was also an Assistant Director for ‘Morning Raaga’ starring Shabana Azmi. While working for All India Radio and Doordarshan, she realised her special interest in documentary making. She started her film making journey in 2001 but her independent films began in 2005.
She always felt the importance to propagate only the principles one believes in. That is the reason why she chose documentaries over commercial films. While making documentaries she travelled a lot and worked on many social issues like Musi river pollution, illegal mining etc. Her documentaries Vision 2020 and Seeds of Sovereignty talks about portray the complexities of life and the dark side of Green Revolution.
All the environment problems she worked on while documentary making, she had her call and learnt lessons for a lifetime. She always stuck to her principles so when she felt like there’s no point in talking about village development when you enjoy the comforts of a city. She believes in the fact that all the sections of people in the society should have equal developmental opportunities. She joined the national Alliance of People’s movements (AP chapter) in 2008 and worked as a joint convener from 2010 to 2014. During this time, she realized the need to create an alternative model of development, where neither human nor the environment would be harmed in the name of development.
To achieve this she took up agriculture. Before seven years she took a plot of land 70 km away from Hyderabad and started farming. Apart from the Mangoes which are the major crop, she also grows millets and lentils in three acres of land. Not only setting a best example, she also helps the villagers in every possible aspect. In 2015 she started ‘Chenetha Chaitanya Vedika’ to give a direct platform to weavers. She still continues to make documentaries and keeping people aware on several aspects of the environment. She feels that it’s time we decentralize the resources and opportunities and stresses on reverse migration. She urges people to stop hurting environment in the name of development.
In an age where concentration of the whole world is on digital globalisation, it is equally important to concentrate on environmental protection. As the resources are diminishing at an alarming rate, it's high time we halt a step, look around and do the necessary.
