Valu,(The Bull) is the debut feature by FTII alumnus Umesh Kulkarni. It is the first Marathi film to be selected for screening at the International Film Festival Rotterdam ( 2008), has also been screened at the Warsaw Film Festival.

It was "House Full" on Friday, 25th April at Whistling Woods when Umesh Kulkarni Girish Kulkarni, settled down to a session, amidst easy bantering, from the enthusiastic young students.

"Filmmakers, the world over, make films in their mother tongues,so we were quite sure that we wanted this, our first film to be in Marathi....so that we could capture the specific nuances of village life as we understood it. ", said Umesh.

On the surface, it appears to be a simple rustic tale; but it had metaphorical implications to the film makers. The bull represents “a free spirit". And in the weaving of the tale of how unscrupulous and credulous elements in the village sought to capture that free spirit, the director stayed rooted to the culture of every day village life.

The difficulties inherent in shooting with animals were focused on. The cinematographer had to control everything and had an inner enigmatic relationship with the fierce looking bull, thus ensuring that the rampaging bull somehow performed as required, always stopping, just short of the camera. No deviations were made from the original story, even though constraints of budget meant that they had to work with the images they were able to get.

The director summed it up simply: " Life in a village has its own pace; we decided that the film should have that pace......;  at the end of the film, the audience is at peace, and feels great to be alive".