Film

I grew up around my uncle, who was one of the big daddies of Indian Advertising in the 70's and the 80's, having run agencies such as Lintas, Enterprise and Clarion. I grew up with the dream of entering his world, and getting paid for creating havoc around his office, as I used to do when I was a child.

So much so, that in 1990, when I was waiting for a posting on my ship (the Jag Deesh, I was in the Merchant navy then!) I walked into the office of an advertising agency on a whim, got through their copy test and joined! I was only 18.

I had always wanted to be a writer, you see - a professional storyteller - so writing for a living and doing theatre for passion were what seemed like a perfect life. When you're 18 the answers always seem so simple.

Advertising films were rather rare back then, so I hadn't even begun thinking of that as a possible profession when the other two worlds that I lived in (racing and theatre) collided and provided me with the unique opportunity to combine passions.

I shot my first advertising commercial (on my 19th birthday) with the first Formula-3's ever in India. One car went bust, so we were left with only one car and the storyboard went down the drain. Add to that that there was a bandh and all petrol stations were closed, so there was no diesel to run the generators. In the film business, this means - no shoot.

I rode down the highway that day in an old Bedford van, wearing a ridiculous floppy hat, carrying a knife, and hijacked a diesel truck on the highway. We shot that day, finished on schedule, and made three films instead of one...

...I have never looked back since.

Since then, I have made advertising films, documentaries, corporate videos, AV's, television serials, worked on many movies with directors from all over the world. I have been writer, director, actor, producer, editor, madman.

I love working with actors - using my experience in the theatre to draw them out - even the most wooden - and to bring out real emotion. i love that moment of magic when everyone holds their breath, because something sublime has just happened - an expression, a feeling so true it touches everyone on set.

I love the magic of a frame - the way it discards the non-essential, draws your eye to something you might not otherwise have noticed, distills the very essence of what you are trying to say. In so many ways, of all the arts, film allows you the most control over what and how you want to say something. An eye, the twitch of a finger, a person silhouetted against the lonely light of a solitary moon, profiled by the dead branches of an extinct tree. Visuals are poetry, and mixed with words can deliver an impression so powerful it takes over your entire self.

I love the essence of lighting - the way every light source creates a shadow, and the way the interplay of light and shade and all the tones in between can also parallel the essence of a scene, mirroring the state of mind of the protagonist, the joy or the bleakness of an event, the stark or muddled nature of reality.

That's the romantic view of my life in the cinema, of course, but if you're interested in the hard facts and figures of my journey, do get in touch!