‘Gandhi, Untouchables, and Me’ has raised around $800.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: Rao Rampilla, a former diplomat and attorney turned comedic actor, is using GoFundMe to generate the capital he needs to produce a feature length film that he hopes can bring an anti-caste message to the forefront of both the Indian and global consciousness.
On his GoFundMe page, Rampilla compares the caste system to apartheid, stating, there are almost 300 million people throughout India “who have been victims of a system of apartheid based on caste for the last 3,000 years.”
Rampilla has raised $795 so far, with a goal of raising a total of $9,000, since April 18. The future film’s title is ‘Gandhi, Untouchables, and Me.’
While Rampilla has already produced a short film concerning the caste system in India using his personal money, he is hoping additional crowdsourced funding will enable him to release a feature length film that could possibly gain national and international attention, especially in the west.
The liberation of South Africa could not have happened if not for the anti-apartheid campaign throughout the west, Rampilla wrote.
According to Rampilla, the money raised from GoFundMe will go directly toward the costs of releasing the new film:
I still need to secure rights to music and other items. Moreover, there are additional costs to submit and to travel to [festivals] and to find distributors for the film. It may even need further costs to get it edited to fit the screen requirements. I need a modest some (at least $9,000.00) to meet these expenses and to explore further opportunities to make it a feature length.
In his acting career, Rampilla was most recently cast in a supporting role opposite Adam Sandler in Columbia Pictures’ “That’s My Boy.” He was subsequently invited to Festival de Cannes and to the Sundance in recognition of his work.
He is known for his memorable roles in independent films and his unique characters in television series such as “30 Rock,” “Friday Night Lights,” and “Sex & the City,” and has amassed a following with his show “Bollywood to Hollywood” on Time Warner Cable.