Raman Nimmala’s O’Sey Balamma, a historic moment for Telugu cinema

Vijayawada: When O’Sey Balamma, a quiet, intimate Telugu short film, was announced as part of the shorts programme at 2026 Sundance Film Festival, it marked more than a personal triumph for its maker. Chosen from nearly 14,000 submissions worldwide - of which only 54 short films were selected—the film became the first Telugu-language work to compete at Sundance, the most prestigious film festival in United States and one of the most influential platforms for independent cinema globally.

For writer-director Raman Nimmala, the selection is both historic and deeply personal.

Talking to The Hans India, Raman Nimmala says that inspired by summers spent at his grandmother’s home in India, O’Sey Balamma unfolds within everyday rhythms of a village household. At its center is the relationship between a matriarch and her housekeeper-caregiver—two women bound by years of proximity, routine, and shared life, yet separated by unmistakable social hierarchies.

The film does not rely on dramatic plot turns. Instead, it finds meaning in small gestures: playful bickering, quiet conversations, shared chores, and silences that speak as loudly as words.

The title itself captures the film’s emotional complexity. ‘O’Sey’ is an old, feudal form of address traditionally used for househelp. At the same time, it can function as a familiar call between people, who know each other intimately. In this dual meaning—affectionate yet hierarchical—lies the film’s central tension. Nimmala observes companionship shaped by intimacy and absence, warmth and distance, care and unspoken boundaries.

Raman points out that what makes O’Sey Balamma particularly significant is its context of creation. The film marks Nimmala’s first project shot in India and his first film made in his mother tongue, Telugu.

He developed and directed it while pursuing his MFA at Columbia University School of Arts, bridging formal international training with lived cultural memory. The result is a work that feels rooted and universal at once—deeply specific to a Telugu household, yet resonant for audiences anywhere.

Supported by Bunny Vas (BunnyVasWorks) as co-producer and Srija Edida (Poornodaya Films) as executive producer, the crew brought together Columbia classmates, Telugu film industry technicians, Nimmala’s own family members, and residents of Neradigunta, where the film was shot. Filming took place in a real village home, with the backing of a local filmmaker collective—grounding the film in authenticity and community participation rather than constructed sets. That sense of collective effort mirrors the film’s ethos: cinema as a shared, lived experience.

Raman Nimmala’s journey to Sundance is as unconventional as the story he tells. Born and raised in Hyderabad, with family roots in Tiruvuru, Andhra Pradesh, Telugu is his first language and cultural anchor. After moving to New York, he initially worked in finance—an experience far removed from filmmaking. Yet the pull of storytelling proved stronger. Transitioning fully into cinema, Nimmala began drawing from personal history, memory, and observation to explore themes of cultural and social identity, often with a blend of heart, humor, and intimacy.

Now based between New York City and India, Nimmala represents a new generation of Indian filmmakers—globally trained, locally rooted, and unafraid to tell small stories with big emotional truths.

With O’Sey Balamma making its way to Sundance, Telugu cinema enters a rarefied global space, not through spectacle or scale, but through tenderness and restraint. In doing so, the film quietly asserts that the everyday lives of village homes, spoken in regional languages, belong on the world’s most prestigious screens.