180 days in Mumbai (2)
Ohkay. This time, I will share about my
explorations on my way chasing my dreams.
As I have mentioned before,
for the first 1 week I was literally wasting my time staring into a Mac screen.
Junior Editor was busy with his works and I was staring at the screen as if I
was watching some German movie without subtitles.
(Evidently the most basic
quality to be an editor is patience, which I lack the most!)
With God’s grace, online
director of a show recommended me and I joined as an intern under the Creative
Director of a TV show. Television industry is quite different from Movie
industry. Only the camera is the common factor.
(Antartica is also deserted,
but it’s distinct from Sahara desert right!?)
But somehow the small team
and super cool leads changed my mind set. In short, I decided to stick on to
the TV industry for a while. So that I can grab a back up job.
(“What if God's defying my
wish to be a filmmaker?”)
Days which followed this are
the most exiting days of my life till date. I got introduced to so many new
characters, who always dream to be behind and in front of movie camera, but who
are forced by the system(family and society) to stick on with the TV industry
instead.
(Yes, for a consistent
income.)
The first TV show was a
transition period for me. They just gave me a chance to be with the team, to
see whether I have got something to save the day. Even I was unsure about what
I was doing! But somehow, everything went well. Excitement level was at new
heights during each rehearsal and shooting days.
( I never did anything wrong
but I wish I could go back and learn more to perfect my deeds. )
Just when "What
next?" popped in my mind, same production firm gave me another
opportunity. A well known reality show's sequel. I was asked to be a part of
the casting team. Unfortunately the first few days with this new team was suffocation
for all of us, but eventually we all merged in. Most of my colleague interns
were Masters in mass communication, while I was not even a graduate. Nobody
asked my educational qualification anywhere, that was quite a surprise for me.
Everybody thought I'm a qualified engineer and I quit my engineering job to be
in media industry.
(I never wasted time
correcting most of them. Sorry, I don't know why!)
After a few days, when they
felt that I'm trustworthy and I can manage something better they asked me to do
the long silent casting works for the reality show.
(This was some turning point.)
I was supposed to conduct
auditions on my own for some 30 upcoming actors per day for the show and they
wanted me to shoot the whole process in a handy cam. I was not even confidant
enough to speak in Hindi and they wanted me to audition Hindi actors. Can you
believe it? But I managed to do my work well. I enjoyed the whole process in
deed, because I was the King inside audition hall and I used the opportunity to
learn more about casting. I knew nothing.
The progress was un-freaking
believable, I could give situations to actors and make them act likewise, give
them tips (You must be laughing your ass up, right?), encourage them and
shoot the whole process. I repeat to most of them who understood only Hindi (or
Marathi), I was communicating in English.
(They somehow understood my ‘fucked-up’
English and I understood Hindi in return !)
And the best part of the
story is that most of the team leaders loved my work, most of them praised me!
(Thank God!)
For almost One and half
months, I was a King. Then again life flipped 180 degree. After the silent
casting process, I was asked to join the Acts team. Trust me the work is
boring, or at least for me it was boring. Even after finishing the days work,
we were not allowed to leave office. Do you know why? Intermediate leads were
scared that super seniors might entrust some urgent works.
(They knew nothing about the
show, they just do what seniors ask them to do.)
I disliked every bit of
useless researching works. Why? Because, the Acts team was led by a pack of
women who had no clue on the bigger picture.
( "Delusional,
self-obsessed bitches", that's how one of my colleague yelled at when she
quit her job.)
I was too immersed in
delusional work of media and I never realized that workload was hectic. Or may
be I never had time to think how tedious are the works. Sleepless nights became
a common phenomenon gradually.
After 6 months of non-stop works, I quit and
became jobless again.
Quitter
It is not my middle name, even though I haven’t passed all Electronics and Communication papers.
But if what you are doing is not beneficial for you, then think about it from some other point of you. If the answer is same, then quitting is the best option. That is my policy.
But if what you are doing is not beneficial for you, then think about it from some other point of you. If the answer is same, then quitting is the best option. That is my policy.
Merits
·
Small
productive crew is way better than a team comprising of numerous idiots.
·
No team
will be productive, if it's led by pride women!
Advises
·
There
is no need to have a Godfather to move on in the industry. Having a Godfather
might make everything complex.
·
Being
shy to start relations won't get you anywhere in writing. You have to
experience and learn a bit more to create characters.
·
If you
don't know something, then take risk and disguise that you are an expert in it.
Trust me, you will eventually learn it.
What am I doing now ?
Get ready to laugh your ass
up again.
I’m writing a crime drama
(feature length) screenplay. This is just an experiment to see whether I can
write. Zero percent winning chance, but I’m just trying my luck. It might take
years, but I will do my best to finish this.
After all, every writer’s
first ‘first drafts’ were nonsense. But later they all became what they are
now.
Regards,
Lone Warrior.
" Miles and miles to go
before I sleep...."
