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Pratyusha
aka Before Dawn aka Dawn 1979 90’ b&w Telugu d/co-sc Jatla Venkataswamy Naidu [V.N. Jatla] p B. Nagabhushanam, S. Nagaiah, B. Sailu pc Swairi Films st/co-sc/dial K. Siva Reddy c R.S. Agarwal m Bhuvan Hari lp Kadambini, Gangaram, Godavari, Tulasi
Jatla’s first feature is a critique of the ‘Jogu’ custom practised in some villages where a possessed devadasi (temple prostitute and dancer) selects, in the name of religion, another woman who shall succeed her as a prostitute. The film, performed by non- professionals and shot in documentary style on location in Binola in Nizamabad, focuses on a mother who refuses to hand over her chosen daughter and, because she cannot afford to pay the fine for this infringement against ‘religious’ duty, kills the child.