Thursday, October 16, 2008

A Year Later...

Nothing can be worse, like a power cut when you have just typed out what you wanted to say on your next blog entry. I did not save it while typing. Lesson learned , there is no perfect order for the things you set out to do, circumstances change. That's what been happening over the year. "Life is what happens to you when you are busy making plans"

A lot has changed in the year that went by, I was surprised to see the date on last entry in the blog was last November. There was a reason that it was not updated simply because we did not know such things had to be ever updated.

Grown wiser, know to read people and judge them better, taking them at face value , "sab log bolta hai". The past year has been impressive for me with the number of people I met and networked. Directors, Producers, actors, writers and of course my partners in crime in Bollywood, the eternal struggling souls that I gain inspiration the ones up there, who have managed to sell their souls to the devil.

I managed to get my first contract as a writer with a very established Director/Producer. Honestly, after the contract was signed there is now, a famous name tag in my resume, the project has to be still on floors. People are more accessible, willing to meet and yes willing to hear me out. I continue pitching projects. For those who asked me about The last Painting project, it has finally been shelved, due to various issues.It won't be made in malayalam, with the same budget we could even make it a multiplex film in Hindi. Who will fund you? No one to blame, but sometimes my own choices. Why would anyone want to fund a new director, who claims to know to make films, without working under anyone as an assistant or a bollywood set. A question that bothers many, few ask me and the only answer is the confidence in my script and my vision, because I am yet to make that film.

With ' The Last Painting' not happening, I decided to boost my resume with some names, not knowing whether it would be possible. More the names, better for investors, " "Aah this guy has worked under so and so...he has written so and so ...project etc". I collected contacts from all possible sources , started messaging and calling up the established names in the industry, asking if they would be interested in hiring a writer for their projects. I actually started with the Director for whom I am currently working. After numerous messages, he finally gave me a meeting. From there on after multiple meetings and discussions, he finally signed me in March. I ACTUALLY RECEIVED MY FIRST INDUSTRY ADVANCE. My Cheque!!!! Thursday the 13th of March, 2008!!!

During that period I had also pitched to other directors, so ended up making multiple plot lines during those pitches. Some producers even made me work for six to seven months, but when it came to the money, they simply vanished. I was Cuba Gooding "Show me the money Jerry!!! "..only problem is Jerry hung up the phone other end.

What came out of the meetings, is some great ideas, concept notes, treatments that lie in my email Inbox waiting to take off someday into the celluloid. Someday I wish to start a production house, happy, that I have original concepts and stories, I finally have my own bank, that I can either pitch, produce or direct, the ones that I beleive in. I have registered all of them in my name.

Yesterday I had a meeting with a director at CCD near Fame andheri. I reached there and waited for sometime for the director to arrive, I kept looking around the tables, what I saw models, an actress, glamour, the usual show shining, contracts being read, a group discussing song lyrics, lifestyle week been discussed, a college couple smoking a hookah, a casting guy looking at a model's snaps, someone saying he knows the A list stars and can get them. I suddenly felt very alien to that world, I don't belong there, the worse part Bombay has banned smoking in public spaces, that makes me a full alien in public place. Dunno, how many of them are actually telling the truth, how many are serious and how many meetings there will finally take off into something concrete.

The Andheri west belt scares, that is not the real Bombay, that is reality for some, not for me. I prefer taking a rickshaw ride to andheri from chembur, enjoy the sights and sounds of bombay, including some of the traffic, except when I am in a hurry. The rickshaw rides gave me numerous ideas, concepts, plots, gave time for prep before the pitches and I also met a rickshaw guy who worked for TCS in Oklahoma as a Java consultant, he has also passed Police Service exam, did not get a job because they demanded bribe from him to be a cop, he thought investing on his business was a better decison than paying the bribe, now works in a factory as a skilled turner( dunno what exactly it means) and invested, rents out and himself drives the rick for four hours daily, finally makes it home on time to watch BIGG BOSS. How inspiring, modern india, post liberalisation !!!!

I paid him, said "thank you", he replied " welcome". Something that struck me as I walked away " We are all part of some vicious system struggling to fight our circumstances and outcome of the choices." Sorry for this preachy shit !! I wish I could have sold my soul to the devil, but something that comes to my mind is when the Oklahoma school bomber Timothy MacVeigh was executed, he wrote a note to the people who insisted on seeing his death execution " I am the master of my fate and the captain of my soul." He is not the right example here, but what I loved was you couldn't break his spirit, causing the people who watched his execution more grief.

Over the year we have become more adamant, stubborn, maybe focussed...and it's next to impossible to break our spirit, no matter how the circumstances changes.

Orson Welles advice to Ed Wood Junior in the movie Ed Wood (1994) " Visions are worth fighting for. Why spend your life making someone else's dreams? "



Goodluck and Best wishes to all.



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7 comments:

ravideshpande said...

Yeah Manu,
A lot of trueness there in what you wrote about andheri. I call it the lokhandwala syndrome. That's one of the reasons i shifted out over 7 years ago.
I wish i could bump in to the rickshaw driver...
Feel sad that the mal film has to be shelved.
Come over soon before i get caught up in another adfilm production

Prax said...

Hi Manu,
A well written post. I always feel that the struggle will be well appreciated with a smile later on in life when we achieve our dreams and look back at it. It will make us feel that every bit of the struggle was worth it.

All the very best and keep in touch.
Prakash

lensight said...

The post shakes me up and for the Nth time, the conflicts of a dream that will realize itself on celluloid. The never ending energy that Bombay gives all of us to survive. One day.....
Cheers to the eyes that sleeps with the vision of a tomorrow where film histories are waiting to be created.

Tangella Madhavi said...

very well written Post.... reminds me of the time when I used to commute from Sion to kandivili ... often ended up taking a rickshaw after a tiring day... just to hear their animated stories!
How true about Andheri!
It's been six years ... even today I find myself very quite when I am surrounded by 'filmy' people...I keep wondering why!
eagerly waiting to read your next post ...

Madhavi

Anonymous said...

one day...one day..very soon...the cheque has come...the film will too and more will follow...till then let orson welles b with u...gud luck :-)

Kavita said...

Hi Manu,


Your words struck a deep chord in me...It's amazing how what we always perceive as our dream, when it materializes out.. it some how seems irrelevant to the vast experiences and life that we see on the road to that...

Wishing you all the best in all your projects

Menaka said...

didnt want to comment before u read my blog coz its strange that the sory im writing is closely related to everything u have said in this post... life in mumbai (glamorous and fast), rickshaw-walas with interesting stories and dreams..
I believe that the journey to ur goal is far more interesting than the goal itself. i mean once u achieve the goal u have it, its there and thats that. But wen ur pursuing it u see so much, experience so much. and most of the time ppl just ignore that either as something to grieve about or something to be ignored...