Struggling Varda Arts were on the crossroads of their life when they mirrored their own internal struggle, desires and ambitions into a semi-autobiographical film 'Maridadi' that marked the beginning of Varda Arts films, the foremost production banner in the country. The film was launched at the Empire Cinema in Dar es Salaam region.
The Director of the Censor-board Mr. Maliwanga after reviewing 'Maridadi' (1994) commented, "I found it an important piece of art, not only because I enjoyed it, but also because it shows tremendous potential of Tanzanian motion pictures.. 'Maridadi' is not just a movie, it is a legend."
Today film-making in Tanzania has become digitally advanced. But as a visionary, Varda Arts took first step to attempt a complete commercial entertainer. Judging by the era in which the film was made and the struggles that Varda Arts went through from beginning to end in their foremost movies like 'Maridadi', Kasheshe', and 'Monica' was a milestone in its own way. There were no booms, Microphones had to be hidden in incredible places to keep out of the camera range. Ordinary flash-light was used while shooting. Power crises was the order of the day. One has to wait for several hours for the power to return in order to start the shooting. There was no dubbing facility so a generator was useless for it's sonorous sound. By the time power returned the actors, technicians, and the unit-members were mentally and physically not fit to give their best.
'Maridadi' was shot with single ordinary VHS camera without stand. The camera was handed expertly by the camera-man on his shoulders during day and night shooting which resulted on the neck and shoulder pain. Pain-killer tablets had to be carried during shootings. One shot at a time from all the angles was very tedious. Camera-man had to climb on trees to get the needed shot. There were no professional editing machines or computers thus it took hours to edit even a small portion of the movie through analogue system. After editing, it took days to record back-ground music for the movie. By the time finished product was done the final print was the fourth copy from the original master. So the visual tenor faded away and the sound too could not be that effective. There was no private recording studios those days and the film had total number of six songs in the film. The songs were recorded in one of the rooms at Varda Arts residence which was again not sound-proof. So preferably the songs were recorded at night. Since the house was located near a bus-station the recording was done between hours that the buses ceased operation.
Again, from the movie 'Maridadi', Varda Arts did not gain commercially, but it remains a significant film even today. Apart from being the first enterprise of Varda Arts, which epitomized main stream Swahili commercial cinema in the country. Premiere show collection at the Empire Cinema was totally donated to the Lions Club of Dar es Salaam (Host) and from extra shows screened at the theatre somehow helped to return the remaining amount borrowed from friends to complete the movie.
Though Varda Arts were financially not secured yet due to the fact that they were surrounded with a family of talent, they made three movies. They had to shelve the movie-making project due to piracy which was so high that when their movies were released in Tanzania, they were found at the video libraries in Europe, Canada and Middle-East. The distributors of the film offered Tshs. 200/= per copy sold from which nothing came in the hands of Varda Arts.
It was during such difficult times that Varda Arts rose to great heights and became prominent musicians naturally and later pioneered films like 'Maridadi', 'Kasheshe', and 'Monica' under a tumultuous period which is quite a fascinating history considering film-making in its infancy and at the initial stage in it's development. The reviewers roundly criticized Varda Arts for poor technique. Whatever the case, today techniques in film-making has improved hundred-fold. Modern budgets allow grand set to be made for more slickly than was possible those years. But even today, watching 'Maridadi', 'Kasheshe', and 'Monica', again proves one thing; whether in the department of writing, singing, music composition, acting, scripting, direction or dialogues, talent always wins over technique. This is the charm of Varda Arts that may never go unnoticed in the years to come.
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