Art is life making sense!

Life is a work of art. Our living is a work of art. We are masterpieces made by god and trust me he made them unique-signature-class. We are proto-types, although 6 billion, not one of us is the same. i.e. I look at that as WOW, 6 billion ways to tell stories. Art does not happen by itself. It needs something else. Actually it needs a big help from its twin brother Craft. Unless there is a unique bond between the two, our creation will not realize its full potential!

What is ART? What is CRAFT? Lets take making a Table to explore our questions. There is an art and craft to it. Craft is the laws of physics that is needed to be in place to hold the table above the ground. Art of it is an aesthetic sense to it. Aesthetic sense translates to the shape of the table-top, material of the table: marble, stone, wood, brass etc. The craft defines that we need legs for the table and a table top. Art then comes in and says. How about if the table has one leg? Then we need to put it in the center as a pillar and have an appropriate table top. You can have 2 legs on one side and make it heavy enough to avoid the other two legs. You can have 3 dolphins made out of glass holding a table top. For the table-top you could choose, stone, glass… you get the idea….. This has a lot of resonance to filmmaking. Those thoughts are saved for another day.

So, what is the end result of the art and craft:

Art+Craft= Emotion.

The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place; from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web.
::: Pablo Picasso :::

i.e. If a scrap of paper makes you emote then it is art for you. They say that Art is nothing but life making sense. Very interesting! More ramblings soon! Take a few minutes to look at the sky today!
Raj

I want to make god smile today!

Dreams…. I was wondering. What do you dream of? I would love to know. Please share. My dreaming created an ambition in me. By the way, I have decided that no matter how corny, how preposterous, how silly: I will share my thoughts with the least amount of filtering. ☺

My dream is to have a presence in Hyderabad, London and Los Angeles. My dream life would be directing Commercials/ Music Videos/ Features on the three continents. My actions and steps right now are to facilitate that. I believe that dreams are the start, then comes interpreting them, and then making a decision. That decision becomes an intent. And intent creates magic! Have an honest intent in life and providence will come to you! That faith brought me to Hyderabad.

My friends were surprised. Why are you moving from U.S and heading to India? They could not understand why I would be interested in “song n dance” movies. I actually love them, when done tastefully. I think “song n dance” can say things that cannot be articulated in a dialogue or scene. It is also escapist in nature and I am an escapist. I hope that my films will allow people to escape to a fun zone. Hopefully, as I mature as a filmmaker, my films will make them think and be more than just escapist fares. I am not interested in “different Telugu cinema” but am interested in a doing “Telugu cinema differently”. At least that is the intent. I am hoping that if I am not able to do that in the first movie, then at least, I have taken a step in the right direction with it.

I thought it would be great to start the journey in Andhra Pradesh. Telugu culture and film industry has a lot to offer to world cinema. I thought, it would be great to create a bridge between Andhra and the International world. What this would do is that, it would create an atmosphere where there is a flow of ideas/ thoughts/ sensibilities between the worlds. That would be an awesome atmosphere to play creatively. That kind of infusion is being seen in Mumbai, and also in Chennai and I can feel that Hyderabad is braced for it. I am hoping I can be part of creating that atmosphere. I know there are other filmmakers embarking on similar adventures. It would be great if prominent actors and producers embrace this journey. Does that mean that the kind of films we are making now will change or need to be stopped? The answer is NO! We just need to allow 20% of newness to start creeping in. 80% can be and should as is because it is sustaining the industry.

I would love to see movies that do justice to the box-office in Andhra and are able to play internationally. By internationally, I do not mean to the NRI audience. I am talking of people from other countries watching our Telugu films. Internationally we seem to have used the sensationalist attitude to reach out (poverty/ prostitution/ child labor etc). I am interested in putting out masti (fun) films like Taxi (French movie), Transporter etc. As you can see I am taking the reference of Luc Besson-produced-films. He is my idol! That is a space I am exploring. I have written 3 scripts for this space. These scripts have been pitched and interest has been shown by actors who have box-office guarantees. That is a start. I am hoping that they can also be made in the right manner. Well, the intent is there. Let see what designs await that intent. I hope to play in this space for a couple of years.

Post Telugu films, I would love to come back to two scripts of mine that are in an international space. One of them is a drama and the other is an apocalyptic thriller that is set in Bhimavaram: India, Hamburg: Germany and a small boutique museum in Soho neighborhood of New York. This kind of mixing of countries and cultures has always fascinated me. It provides a great canvas for cinema. I love how movies like Babel and The wedding party, blended lives, visuals, sounds from different cultures to tell a universal story.

The great joy would be to work with technicians and artists from Andhra and all over the globe. I am trying to see If I can mix interns from U.S film schools and the existing Andhra film fraternity. I am also trying to see if it is possible to rope in filmmakers into production space. Is it possible to get a technician from Minneapolis to collaborate with someone in Andhra? Am not sure of the answers. But am trying to gear such collaborations for future endeavors.

Of-course the next step is Hollywood films. This platform does not make the best movies possible but they do make movies that are widely watched. And I shamelessly admit that I would love my movies to be watched by the widest audience possible. I tend to write keeping that mind. i.e. emotions and actions that can connect to a range of audience.

So, the dream spot is: I am telling stories via 30 seconds (commercials) 3 minutes (music videos) 2 hours (features) in a global village!

Well, of-course, they also say that if you want god to laugh, just share your plans. I hope I made him smile though!
Ciao, Raj

Dream

April 1, 2009, 5 days away from my mom’s birthday. I am wondering if she ever knew, that I would end up being in films. For that matter, even I did not know that I would be getting into films till I was 22. Before that I wanted to be in the Indian Air Force. I grew up in Bhubaneshwar, Orissa. My dad was a government employee in the health department. Flying was my life. I was in NCC and I also got my Glider Pilot License. I came third in all India glider competition. I then took the exams for National Defense Academy and got 75th rank in the whole country.

A childhood friend of mine Srini, reminded me recently that in the choices section, where one usually puts down Airforce/ Navy/ Army (or their preferred order), I put down Air Force/ Air Force/ Air Force. I got through all of the selection process and finally went for the medical checkup. I came clean on the medicals too, except my color perception was CP 2. C P 2 rating at that time meant that you will have trouble distinguishing red and green far away. That disqualified be from Air Force. But, I was eligible for Navy and Army. But, wait, I had not put them down as an option. Although I changed my mind, the defense academy would not. That was a fundamentally defining moment in my life. I was shattered! Why did this happen to me!? Life felt muddled and confusing.

But, now it is clear, crystal clear! I was meant to be a filmmaker. The only hint that I would be a filmmaker at that time was that I was a day-dreamer. I know some of you might laugh. But, that is a quintessential quality of a storyteller. I would conjure up these elaborate make believe worlds and scenarios. They were not sci-fi but just extensions of my life and thoughts.

Now, I sit in Hyderabad, years later, awaiting the release of my first feature Boni. It is a Telugu feature length film, produced by Ramana Gogula and starring Sumanth Kumar and Kriti Kharbanda.

I would like to come back to the concept of day-dreaming. For that matter night-dreaming is also welcome ☺. My interpretation of dreaming is that it is an un-controlled, non-judgmental way of exploring yourself. Exploration of oneself is nothing but exploration of the universe. One of my favorite filmmakers is M Night Shyamalan, who starred in an American Express ad. In that commercial he says “my life is taking time to dream”. I love that line. One should do that. One needs to actively engage in dreaming. Am signing off to dream. I hope you do the same!

In Telugu Culture you never say goodbye, we say the Arnold Schwarzenegger line, minus the attitude: I will be back ☺

M. Night Shyamalan American Express Ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skw-rKYsXOY