Week 9: Rasgueado, Golpe, Efforts for Sympathy & New Feature Film Script!

24 - 30 March, 2014

It was a rather quiet week where nothing much seems to have happened. Or at least nothing BIG seems to have happened. 

But there were several tiny little gems of experiences along the way. 

1) Finally... and I mean F.I.N.A.L.L.Y, the edit for Aravindum Aarumughamum is locked. The full & final edit. Sure, we still have the sound design to be locked before we can release it, but this is already a big milestone so I am happy about that. 

2) After a gap of about a month, I finally got to meet the regular gang. And that always gives me a lot of joy. It was great to catch up and each of them bonded with the little one (yes, she had tagged alone too), in their own unique ways. 

3) I learnt two really cool things to play on the guitar called Rasgueado and Golpe. Both are techniques used in Spanish guitar (Flamenco guitar, specifically) and I was given an exercise where they needed to be used. And I LOVE it! SO MUCH FUN! 

4) The Little One is turning out to be a real hoot. Her new found technique of earning my sympathy is as follows. If I scold her for something, she walks up to the coffee table and very purposefully, yet very, very gently, bangs her head on to the glass top of the table. Then she rubs her head, looks up with puppy eyes fully expecting me to melt and sympathize with her. I told her that the technique would have worked had I not seen her deliberate attempt to go and bang herself. After a few unsuccessful attempts at earning my sympathy this way, she decided to garnish the theatrics a bit. So now, she goes and bangs her head first and then rubs it gently while looking up at me with sad, pleading eyes. And then, for full effect, she goes back to the table and reprimands it, just like the way we do when she falls or hurts herself any way - we scold the object that caused her the pain which quickly seem to make her happy. So now she does that herself. What can I say! 

5) I signed the Little One up at a playschool. Yet another milestone. This place is only a stone's throw from my house and one evening the Little One, my Mom and I walked over and signed her up. She will begin classes from July but for now she seemed rather happy with the bright, cheery place full of children of her age. 

6) I have started to write the script for my next feature and I have completed one scene so far. This is planned to be one with a really small cast but that doesnt mean low budget because it is planned to be set in a location in India (I just don't want to shoot in Singapore anymore!). Because of this thought of an outside location, the working title for the film is "The Destination Film", until I can think of a more sensible one. Talking about titles, I am yet to name my previous feature film script in Tamil. That's currently going by the very creative title of "The Tamil Feature Film". Oh well. 

7) Last but not the least, I have to admit that this event of the helper being away did turn out for good at the end. Sure, it was tiring and quite stressful to manage everything but it did get my mom (and for a short while, dad) down. Once the dust settled down and we got into a manageable routine, we got to spend some quality time together. That was really a blessing in disguise! 

That's about it then. Nothing major. But all good.

Week 5: The Temporary Superwoman!

24 February - 2 March, 2014 

Alright then. Where do I start?

Had things gone according to plan, this post would have been my usual laundry list of "highlights". It would have included some work on Aravindum Aarumughamum, some achievements of the little one (she can now say "Ello", "Na na" (no), "toooo" (two) and "thee" (three) and apparently takes great delight in walking with her hands on her hips in an attempt to ape her mom; I had no idea I walked liked that until she pointed it out...), some work stuff (an event I organized turned out be a great success), the new food joint we have discovered - "PODI" at Raffles City which served some really cool fusion dishes (like linguine aglio olio with curry leaves in it!) and maybe about a Malayalam movie which, in a very rare turn of events, the hubby had agreed to go to but which both of us didnt end up going to in spite of already having bought the tickets.

Instead, am just gonna write about how I feel like Superwoman at this point in time.

You see, because I make films and plays while holding on to a full time job, people tend to call me "superwoman".

But that's a joke.

I am no superwoman and the only reason I could do all those plays and films is because I always had adequate support at home. Either in the form of part time helpers who cleaned and ironed or since 2011 September, full time helpers who cooked, cleaned, did laundry and ironed and when the little one came along, looked after her too. If I had to do all of these myself like how, many of friends have to in US and Europe and other parts of the world where domestic help is scarce, I really doubt whether I could have managed all that I seemingly have.

To me Superwomen are those that maintain their homes and husbands and children and work all on their own. That does take some super power and I definitely do not have it.

So when over the weekend our helper had to return to India on a family emergency, with just one day's notice, I was stumped.

How was I to manage work and the little one?!

I think my confidence in my utter lack of homemaking and childrearing skills transformed into a full blown nightmare that I was up wide awake by 4:30am the night after the helper broke the news.

But I guess it is like learning to swim when you are thrown into a pool. Sure, there is a high chance you would drown, but you might just kick and flap around in such a way that you might successfully stay afloat. Luckily for me, it was the latter. At least, so far.

It is Sunday night now and here's what I achieved over the weekend. Without a helper.

I Cooked. Cleaned. Did all that was to be done for the little one like giving her a bath, feeding her, reading to her, playing with her, taking her on a walk, tidying up after her etc. Went shopping multiple number of times because there were always things missing in the house. Did some work and even managed a quick visit to the office. Finalized and did the subtitling for Aravindum Aaarumughamum trailer (the 1 min trailer took me 2 whole hours to get the subtitles right!). Released the trailer (yay!). Basked in all the wonderfully kind feedback that people gave on the trailer. Missed the Malayalam movie that we had gotten the tickets for because there is no way the little one would sit through that. Compensated by watching my own film's trailer multiple number of times. Felt really pleased that it was the little one who wanted to watch it multiple number of times (for some reason, she was absolutely delighted with the trailer!). Had a nice lunch with the hubby at the Professor Brawn's Cafe while the little one slept off. And now, at 11:01 pm, am very close to completing this blog post as well.

Those of you who can cook and clean and look after toddlers like it's child's play would be rolling your eyes at this. But to me, I am feeling rather good about my "achievement" and as of now, I do feel like Superwoman.

And my respect for women who do this on a daily basis have quadrupled. Or more.

Luckily for me, my mom is arriving on Tuesday morning to help with the little one since I have to get back to work soon and this working from home arrangement is not sustainable.

But till then I shall be the Temporary Superwoman and feel quite proud about it.

Week 2: Trailer, Cooking, Guitar, Films, Books & Family!

3 - 9 February, 2014

It's been another fantastic week with a lot of new, exciting developments.

Firstly, I got to see the first cut of the Aravindum Aarumughamum trailer, done by the guy who plays one of the lead characters (who also happens to be cinematographer for my previous films). This is the most progress I have seen on anything regarding the film since last December, so that was exciting. It was also exciting to see that with just a few minor tweaks, we would be very much ready with a full blown trailer. Can't wait!

Secondly, I cooked. Yup, these things do happen. I think the last time I cooked was probably two years ago. So yes, it is a rare but not unlikely occurrence. I had a sudden urge to make something on my own. It is probably because one of my fears is that the little one will go to school and all her friends would talk about their respective mother's home made yummy food and my girl would wonder what on earth that means. Another reason was that a friend of mine was turning 30 and I wanted to do something nice for him. And somehow "something nice" meant cooking on my own. Wonder what stretch of imagination that was. Another reason is also that I kinda felt like I missed all those lovely fragrances that waft off the in-progress dishes as the spices meet the vegetables, the fun sounds of the mustards and green chillis cracking and popping in the hot oil (a frequent phenomenon in Indian cooking), and the blast of steam and conclusive smell of a ready meal as you lift off the lid post some slow heat cooking. Like I said, these things do happen. So I made Black Pepper Chicken and Kerala Egg Roast, while my helper made rice and dal. My guinea pigs were the hubby, the friend who turned 30 as well as my brother in law. I had cooked a lot and everything was pretty much consumed. I think that's always a good sign. Oh and yes, the little one seemed to appreciate the black pepper chicken too. There is indeed hope.

Thirdly, I have started to take guitar lessons. I have had one lesson so far - I found an experienced teacher to come over for an hour every Sunday morning. My first class was great! It was great to be back on the instrument, and the tutor seemed rather impressed by my "skill". I think he was expecting a total beginner and the fact that I could read notes and play basic chords took him by surprise. Anyway, I was happy that he was happy. More importantly, it was felt SO good to be playing music! He made me play lead while he strummed the accompaniment and we sounded good! Similarly he sang while I followed with some simple chords and I thought that sounded good too. The guitar is seriously an awesome instrument and I am thrilled that I am back at it! I have to admit that soon the bubble was popped when he gave me a touch piece to work on. I am used to the pick, but he encouraged me to use the fingers for the strumming, which I really struggled with. So that's my homework for this week. Long way to go, but great start. And yes, I am glad that I had that realization.

Some of the other things I enjoyed over the week was the film Hasee Toh Phasee and the book Mango Cheeks & Metal Teeth. The former was a refreshing romantic comedy with some stellar performances and thankfully, completely clean, intelligent and genuine and I was happy to watch at least one such Indian film after a really long time. The latter was something I had picked up from the airport recently and would not have been my cup of tea had it not been based in Kerala, where I come from. The author has used an ample amount of Malayalam words (it is an English novel), had some good character building, and lot of nostalgic references to Kerala of the 80s. Even though the plot was good, the conclusion was pretty abrupt and unsatisfying, but an interesting read nevertheless.

Discovery of the week was Saveur, a French restaurant in Purvis street. That was where the friend who turned 30 treated us for his birthday. While their food was just decent, I found their desserts absolutely top notch! Pistachio Pannacotta, Cookies & Milk (which was literally a cookie drowned in milk) and Caramel Lava cake were all to die for! I definitely do see myself going back in there.

Last but not the least, I am thoroughly enjoying my time with the hubby and the little one as well. The hubby and I hit two yoga classes in a row together during the week, which I believe hasn't happened in a really, really long time. After a hard day of work, it was good to practice side by side with him, just like how we used to all those years ago. The little one has now started to scribble on pieces of scrap paper and when we are not noticing, on books, bags, and also as of today, the bedspread. She has this habit of running towards me with a huge smile and hugging my legs, in true over the top Bollywood style; when I try to put her down on the floor after holding her for a while, she hooks her legs around mine, just like those guys who would climb coconut trees in Kerala, with as tight a grip as you can imagine and when she is overflowing with love, she would hold my face and gaze at it as if it is the prettiest thing in the world. As you can imagine, I am completely floored.

There is indeed a lot to be grateful for!

Week 1: Some Progress and a Lot of Fun!

25 January - 2 February, 2014 

I have to admit that this blog had not been on my list of priorities for the past several days. Of course, this is evident from the grand total of ONE post I wrote for the whole of January 2014.

It is not that I don't have enough things to write about. In midst of all that relaxation, there's been a lot of good stuff happening and I will come to that in just a bit. But the point is that I still didn't get myself to write anything beyond a single post in a month. I believe the reason for that is with this whole moving away from writing on a daily basis (or at least summarizing something for every single day) with each post even counting the days in its title, to this year's of resolution of "not more than 1 post a week", I kinda lost a structure to conform to. And I work best with structures - I like set process to follow, I like organized way of approaching things than otherwise. Without it, am indeed lost.

So that made me think. Do I really want to continue with this blog?  Both my previous blog and this one initially had a clear purpose. The former ensured that the days leading up to my 30th birthday were put to the best possible use and the latter ensured that the first year of motherhood has been maximized (and by that I mean, while I had a fulfilling time with my daughter, I also ensured that I did my best at work, I wrote, shot and edited a short film, I travelled a lot, I spent quality time with my parents and in-laws, so on and so forth). Both were important milestones for me, and the blogs helped me go through them in a way that I am happy with. But now that these are in the past, what next? Should I continue?

I gave it some serious thought and have decided that I should continue. Reason being.... (I will giving this in the usual list format, to further prove how organized I am). 

a) What am capturing here always make for memorable reads later on for myself - be it about a new film I am making, a new place I am visiting, a light moment I am enjoying with my family or friends. Many a time, I don't remember the details had it not been for the blogs. 

b) I still don't want to lose the focus on being happy. Sure, I don't want to stress myself and write blogs on a daily basis, but that stress was exactly what made sure that I do something worthwhile each and every day.

c) Last but not the least, I think it will make a treasure trove of experiences captured of the little one. I can't help but notice how fast she is growing and each day is one of discovery. I would love to capture most of that, and I believe this could continue to be the avenue for that.

So there, my three good reasons.

But then I still don't want to write on a daily basis. Because that really does get me worked up at times. So here is the solution - I will write on a weekly basis. Brainwave, yeah?

Ensuring every week is beautiful one way or the other, is good enough. I can live with that.

So there, that's that. From here on, it's gonna be a Weekly count in the titles. Starting with this week.

Meanwhile here is a recap of what's happened since my last post here.

1) Work - On the work front, things are moving at breakneck speed but I am enjoying myself. There has been some progress on a lot of different projects and am happy with that. On the other fun side, the culture team that I lead organized a super fun Chinese New Year celebration. We had everything from calligraphy contests (apparently am very good at Chinese calligraphy...I thought the characters that I painted looked nothing like what they were supposed to but the Chinese colleagues seemed to think otherwise), to Lo Hei celebration, a God of Fortune who came and distributed red packets with "gold" (chocolate) coins (I didn't even know there is a Chinese version of Santa Claus!), and even an activity of eating dumplings some of which carried a sterilized 5 cent coin - indicating immense amount of luck to the person who got one (I got one!). It was all very enjoyable and I had a great time and felt super proud of my team for having pulled this off!

2) Little One - The little one is a hoot these days. She has progressed to walking with only occasional bouts of crawling. It's almost like sometimes she forgets that she can choose to walk instead. Then all you need to say is "Come, Walk!", and she will be like Oh yeah... and then will get up and walk. Initially she used to hold both her hands high up, to help her balance as she walks but now that she can balance herself without that extra support, it seems like she doesn't know exactly what to do with her hands, so she flops them to her sides and walks around like a drunkard. Which I love. We also celebrated Chinese New Year together. She helped me put up some red and gold decoration on our door (she basically held on to the cellotape and also pointed out where she would like the dangling decorative pieces to be tied up on the gate). Later, she watched the Lion Dance performance next door with much interest. She was the only Indian kid around and the only kid to not cover her ears or wail and also was the first and only person to clap post the performance. She clearly appreciates the Chinese culture. We also have been frequenting her new found favourite place - Spruce. It is a brunch place with decent food but good service and a playground for children. The little one really warmed up to all the staff there, constantly giving them instructions in her baby talk, reading the kids menu with much interest, and enjoying her new found ice cold lemonade with mint leaves (totally an adult drink which the dad and mom had ordered). Am really enjoying watching her as she does her 'growing up'.

3) Writing - I wrote yet another episode for the Malayalam sitcom. I am planning to write another 4 episodes before we start to shoot, which means a long, long way more to go. But still, any progress is good progress!

4) Yoga - Maybe it is an outcome of the "realization" but  I have been totally hooked to Ashtanga yoga. So much so that even during the Chinese New Year public holiday, I woke up early in the morning and did 1 hour of it every day! So proud of myself! In the month of January, I exercised a total of 19 days, most of which was Yoga - Ashtanga Yoga, Bikram Yoga and 1 time of Kundalini Yoga too. I am beginning to see small improvements in my  postures and strength, and am incredibly thrilled about it!

5) Guitar - This one is definitely an outcome of the "realization". I dusted up my old guitar as well as my two decade old books with guitar lessons and settled down to play some of the simpler stuff. It was not easy for sure, but it felt great to get back to it after so long. My finger tips started to hurt very soon from the lack of practice but given that I had a very enthusiastic one-man audience - the little one who encouraged me throughout with claps and laughs, I kept at it for a while. I hope to get back to learning it very soon, from the scratch, but this time never to give up.

4) Friends - Thanks to the Chinese New Year holiday, I also had a great time catching up with several friends. I had multiple dinners and drinks with the usual gang, I had a great time at a lunch thrown for the film gang by one of my good actress friend, in short, we made the most of it! 

5) Hubby - I also got to spend some quality time with the hubby. One day we even took a long 4km walk together, something which we have never done before. Such fun! 

6) Aravindum Aarumughamum - This film is currently in the post production stage and that basically means sound design, music, colour correction, final edit and all that. These are being done by my friends in India. The progress has been slow for several reasons, but over the last few days a bit of the background score has started to flow in. And I love it! I think it is going to take the film to a totally different level and I can't wait to see it to completion! 

7) Holidays - Quite a bit of progress on the holiday planning has been taking place. In May, we are planning to do a roadtrip with my parents and in laws and I have finally managed to shortlist the accommodation options at every stop. That was no mean task - given I had to find affordable places big enough to hold all of us. Then my dad is visiting us in March for  a few days, mainly to see his grand daughter and I am planning to take a short break with him as well. After much research and thinking, the destination has been fixed for Krabi because I want to go snorkelling with him. I think that is one activity he would really enjoy. So that's progress on the holiday front and am really looking forward to it all. 

So yes, it was a remarkable bunch of days that went past. There was progress at work, in yoga, in writing, in film making, in holiday planning and in guitar, even. And of course, there was a ton of fun to go along everywhere! So far, this new year has been great! 

Days 351 - 355: From Good to Awesome!

17 - 21 December, 2013

In my last post, I had written about how the days have gone from being pretty bad to pretty good. Now in the last few days, I can safely say that the days have gone from pretty good to pretty awesome! Several awesome things have been happening:

1) The dub for Aravindum Aarumughamum is finally complete! It took staying up until 6:30 on friday night/saturday morning to get this done, but thanks to a cup of exceptionally good black coffee and a lot of humour and wit from the team even that late into the night, we managed to get through it. It took me another late night to complete the entire sync and edit of the dub but then... soon enough, we were done! And it felt awesome!

2) We, the culture team at work that organized the Christmas party, had a really nice celebratory lunch at the Ku De Ta restaurant in Marina Bay Sands. This was a gift given to us by the boss, for the good work ! The lovely atmosphere with the cool, breezy weather, the gorgeous views, the delicios Japanese bento set that ordered, as well as the fun conversation that flowed throughout, all made it a really nice experience.

3) I had  been pretty much stuck with the ideas for episodes of the Malayalam sitcom that I had started to write, but now I have a new thread in my mind. I haven't yet written it down, but this is already a great start!

4) I started to pack for the last and final trip of the year - back to India!

5) I finally started to feel that December is here! Work was easing off, mainly because nobody is around to not let it ease off; The work on the film at my end was finally pretty much done, I was beginning to think about the holiday finally (and panicking about the packing, if I may add) and I even managed to catch a Bollywood film, Dhoom 3, in the theatre. I was visiting the cinemas after three whole months... I don't think that kinda gap has happened ever before, but that's how busy it has been! It was great to be back... and I think I enjoyed the film more than anyone else. Sure, it has a mindblowing list of flaws, but just watching it for the performance of Aamir Khan and production design, was good enough for me.

6) I had two really good yoga classes!

7) Thanks to Youtube, I am still receiving messages from strangers on Mausams,even though the film is almost three years old now. Especially when I feel like I am in a rut with the dubbing or some other issue with the film, one such message quickly pulls me out and up and I feel like this is all worth it! Everytime this happens, I feel so thankful!

Nett, am an awesomely happy person! 

Days 341 - 348: The Bad & Then the Good!

What a rollercoaster ride it has been over the last few days!

On one hand, a lot of undesirable things happened -

a) A riot broke out in Singapore - something that hadn't happened in the last 40 years.

b) I had a messy presentation to the management.

c) The hubby and I had what's probably our longest lasting fight ever, probably because both of us are so overworked and stressed out.

d) The Singapore Air Force came and erased... and I repeat, ERASED all the footage we had shot over one morning (this was the reshoot of one of the scenes for Aravindum Aarumughamum). Their rationale - we were shooting too close to their base. And even though nothing was captured of their base in the footage, they chose to erase it. I did ask them to come and intervene a bit earlier the next time if they don't want shooting in that area, because really, letting us shoot for three whole hours and then coming and erasing everything is not really top notch consideration.

e) I worked past midnight 3 out of the 5 working days, and also had a work call until 8pm on Friday for good measure (yes, work is still crazy).

f) I was constantly suffering from dry, itchy eyes and a headache to go along.

Then things changed.

a) The day after the messy presentation, I gave another presentation - a real kickass one at that.

b) I was extremely saddened by the riot that broke out - especially since the ones responsible for it were my fellow countrymen from India, but then it was heartening to see that there was a lot of good discussion on how to improve the conditions of the labour class in Singapore so that these things don't re-occur. I was particularly happy to note that nowhere in my Facebook timeline did I see a xenophobic or racist comment - at least I know a bunch of good humans.

c) The hubby and I made up after the fight and to celebrate, we even hit a Bikram hot yoga class together. That used to be one of our very popular couple activities but we had not done it for almost two whole years now and to get back to it was awesome! Just like old times!

d) The location we ended up shooting that ill-fated scene in (we were shooting it for the third time now)  was not as nice as the earlier one near the air force base. But we had to make do with it and after hours of slogging in the hot sun, the shoot for Aravindum Aarumughamum was finally done. I guess I am happy about that, in spite of all the pain.

e) When I got home after the long day of shoot and reshoot, I recounted the day's experience to the hubby, in a rather animated manner. The little one caught a whiff that all was no well - her mother was clearly upset about some erased footage. So she came over and tried her best to console me - she patted my cheeks, hugged me, and laid her head on my chest and mouthed some words that sounded almost like asking me not to worry. It was the first time she had reacted to anything like that and my heart turned into a gooey emotional mush. I felt that all was indeed well with the world!

f) Then something awesome happened - The background score for Aravindum Aarumugham started to come in in bits and pieces and I absolutely, completely LOVE it! Suddenly all the frustration evaporated and I was reminded why I go through so much effort to make a film - clearly, I enjoy the process - yes, even including the downs!

g) I realized that I have overdelivered on every single resolution for the year 2013. I had a long list with very clear milestones to be achieved. I had very meticulously prepared it given that it was the first year of motherhood and am happy to say that I am very pleased with the progress. It was tough, but it was good. I plan to do a detailed entry on what the list had and how I fared - but that will happen at year end!

Am still rather exhausted and can't wait for a nice break, but in spite of that, I am genuinely pretty darn  happy!

Days 338 - 340: Subtitles, Dubbing and Sitcom Posters!

5 - 7 December, 2013

Crazy days of work continue but I am compensating by working equally hard on my hobby too.

1) I completed typing out the subtitles for Aravindum Aarumughamum. Given that the movie had a great deal of dialogues, this was actually not easy work, so I was happy to get done with it after 2 days of effort. They are still not synced to the film - that can be done only after the complete edit is locked, but this is good progress given that subtitling is not an aspect of film making that I particularly enjoy. So am glad it is done for now!

2) We kicked off the painful dubbing process for Aravindum Aarumughamum. Once again the great number of dialogues make this process quite painful but we don't have a choice. The live audio is pretty awful at several places thanks to the unexpectedly busy traffic and rains during the shoot. So dub, we have to. Luckily for me, I have a super fun team to work with. Given every meeting is a hilarious experience, even the painful dubbing process becomes less painful. We managed to do only 50% of what I had intended for this weekend, but I guess any progress is progress. At least the process turned out to be fun!

3) I had written here before that I was working on the script for a Malayalam sitcom. I had shared the scripts with an editor friend who in turn, asked a friend of his to sketch out a poster for it. The the first draft was sent to me today and I absolutely LOVED it! There are a few changes to be made but I was so excited to see a part of the sitcom come to life. I still have several episodes to write the script for, before I can even think of shooting but this is already so exciting! 

Days 329 - 337: Work, Edits, Teams, Late Night Decorations, Parties, Farewells and 200,000!

26 November - 4 December, 2013

I am having such a crazy time at work, it is not funny. Even as I write this am waiting for my next call to start - at 12:30 in the night! And it has been this way for a while... I hardly get time even to eat at work and only when am faint with hunger do I realize that I should be taking a break. But things are not bad, at least in hindsight. At least I feel like there is some progress there, which is always a good thing. But I can safely say that real happiness is coming from elsewhere. Here are some highlights from the last few days.

1) Except for half of 1 scene (there are 5 in total), the edit of Aravindum Aarumugham is completely locked (after my editor spending hours at it when I am at work and both of us reviewing it every night until late - and I mean like 5am even!). This is great progress and am very excited about how it has turned out. It even makes me happy in spite of the fact that I have to completely reshoot half a scene (ugh!). I felt pretty bummed out when I realized this, but what the heck. At least I have the other 4.5 scenes that am extremely thrilled about!

2) After completing the edit, I called over the team - mainly the two lead guys, and we watched it together. It was a real fun experience - to watch them watch themselves on screen, evaluating their performances and finally, thankfully, ending the day with fully beaming faces. I was over the moon that day, thanks to my little film that has come so well until now. There is still a ton of work to go - reshoot, re-edit, sound design, music, dub, subtitles, etc. But so far so good!

3) I managed to squeeze in a couple of parties into my suffocating schedule. One was a good friend's daughter's birthday party which was held in an indoor play area. It was my little one's first time to such a place and she was visibly excited. She couldn't get on most of the games since she was too young for them, but she did manage to sit down and drown herself in a ball pit. Initially she was a bit terrified to get into it but before we knew it, there she was... lying down surrounded by hundreds of balls with only her head peeping through! The party was also fun because I could meet a few mutual friends and have quick catch ups. Some of them commented that they are still reading this blog - God bless them for that - and it gave me enough encouragement to continue writing in spite of wanting to do nothing but sleep, really.

4) Another party was the Christmas party at work, which my good self had the opportunity to organize (yes, am turning into a chronic office party/event organizer!). This was quite a small but cozy affair held in a cafe in the basement of the Singapore Management University. We took over the whole cafe and had a lovely event involving tart making contest, mulled wine demonstration (I didn't even know there was something called mulled wine - it is something like masala chai - basically spiced wine with a few fruits in there and of course, I very imaginatively called it masala wine...also, it tastes awesome!), live music (thanks to a few talented colleagues), make-your-own-santa contest, playing with a hoola hoop that happened to come along as part of a secret santa gift exchange and some really good food! The whole event was put together with just five days notice, and I was quite happy with how it turned out. In appreciation of the work, the boss gave me and the team vouchers to go for a celebratory lunch at Kudeta. Not bad at all!

5) The Christmas party was preceded with a night of decking up the office with Christmas decor. We had streamers, bobbles, candy canes, little notes reminding everyone of the upcoming party, and even a fully decked up Christmas tree! It was a lot of work but I had an enthusiastic team and we definitely had immense fun!

6) After the edit was locked, my editor cum cinematographer finally took his leave and returned to his home in India. But we made the most of the last couple of days with "farewell dinners" at two of my favourite places - E-Sarn for Thai cuisine and Ichiban Boshi for Japanese cuisine. He is a great foodie as well and appreciated the food as much as I did. I wouldn't have been able to complete my film without the tremendous help from him and am so thankful for that. Until the next project!

7) I had taken quite a long break from exercising thanks to the shoot and editing. But am happy to report that as soon as the edit was locked, I got back to it. Feeling good!

8) I must also add that I am having work until ridiculous times at night. 1am on one day. 2am on another. And to be in office latest by 8:30am the next day. So what is good about that, you may ask. Well, the fact that I am actually going strong in spite of it. And am proud of that (OK, I might be turning into a bit of a workaholic, but that's the only way to get through this phase right now). This too shall pass.

9) And last but not the least, Inganeyum Oru Katha has crossed 200,000 views on Youtube! Who would have thought!

Tough days, but like I said, so far so good.

Day 328: Day 3 of Shoot - Temples, Muddy Paths, Cycles and Strangers Turned Actors!

Once again we woke up before dawn for the last and final day of shoot for Aravindum Aarumughamum. Honestly, I was already rather tired after the two hectic days of shoot and realized that I have maybe half the stamina as before. The before-dawn rising, the long day of standing in sun and the rain, the disturbed sleep at night thanks to the little one who kept waking up - all of it was taking a toll. But tired as I might be, I was still excited about the shoot because we were to be shooting in a few brand new locations today.

However the day started with a bit of a hiccup. We needed a cycle for the shoot and one of the team members were supposed to get my cycle from my house and bring it to the location in his car. As luck would have it, my cycle didn't fit in his car and he didnt have any of the clasps required to fix it to his car's trunk or roof. However, he said that he will find a way to get his brother's cycle down to the location somehow, because his place isn't too far away.

Fully assured by him, we made our way to the first stop, a temple. I asked for permission to shoot there which they kindly agreed to and we went around tip toeing and taking a few quick takes so as not disturb anyone else there. It was a great start to the day, starting with a shoot in the temple!

Post the temple, we went to the super pretty Punggol road, a bylane of which gave us our very important requirement for the day's location - a muddy, motorable path - not something that you see in Singapore often.

And we had some very interesting experience there.

Firstly, we were surrounded by dogs barking at us (at a safe enough distance thankfully). They came from the few sheds or warehouses that were in the area and were soon taken under control by their masters.

Then the friend who had gone to get the cycle told us that the new cycle also didn't fit in his car, so now he is gonna simply cycle all the way down (we are talking several kilometres). Meanwhile another friend who has been assisting in the production and also been helping out with the transport with his car,  had to leave for his workplace.  Which meant that we were about to be stranded on a muddy motorable path, in a remote location in Singapore, without even bus shelter to take cover from rain or sun, and more importantly nowhere for the cast to make their costume changes (which, until now, they were doing in the car) and with the only other team member with a car now cycling his way down.

So I did the only thing that could be done at that point in time. I called our dear cyclist to drop the cycle and come in his car instead. The poor chap was apparently half way down already and had to go back to get his car.

Soon we carried on with our shoot. Just as we were in the middle of it, I noticed an uncle pass by on a cycle. Then it struck me that maybe, just maybe, we could get a cycle from one of the warehouses for our shoot! I quickly got one of my crew to go check, and lo behold! He returned with a cycle, victorious!

It was a great relief!

Then we had to cross the next bridge - which was to find a suitable guy to ride the cycle in the scene. It was a cameo role which was supposed to be performed by the guy who had gone back to work. While we were wondering what to do about that since none of spectators we have for our shoot, consisting mainly of old Chinese uncles, were suitable.

And again, as luck would have it... two guys passed by us on a motorbike and stopped ahead on the path for a while. They were both Indians and I realized that one of them could easily play the cameo we wanted. Once again, I sent my crew member and this time too he returned back victoriously with my cameo actor!

What an awesome stroke of luck!

By late afternoon we had canned almost all the shots we needed, save the last few and moved to what was supposed to be the last and final location for the day - a marshy land also near Punggol. The guy with the car left to buy a few props and we continued with the shoot. Just as we were wrapping up the scene, it began to pour once again. And this time we were drenched. We used one umbrella to protect the camera and tried to keep all the four human beings dry in turn with the other spare one.

After a while the car came and took us away from there to another location also near Punggol, where we finally wrapped the whole shoot. After a few major "wrap up" speeches and such, we drove back from the location and treated ourselves to some great Indian food at Dawat Tandoor.

The evening was spent in uploading all the video, sorting them out, reviewing a few, looking at the behind the scenes stills, and generally feeling good about wrapping up the shoot. There is still a lot... and I mean a LOT of work - editing, sound design, background score, dubbing (the live sound was not up to the mark thanks to the heavy traffic), so on and so forth. But at least one - the key part - is over and am thankful for that!

Day 327: Day 2 of Shoot - Cameras, Rains, Transition Lens and Roads!

We set off from home again, early in the morning. Today was the big day of the steadycam shoot but as luck would have it, it wasn't really working the way we would have liked it to. The cinematographer had spent the whole of yesterday night trying to get it to work but it didn't.

We were picked up by our friends (also part of the cast and crew) as usual and we narrated the sad tale of the steadycam woes to them. It was then that one of them said he has a steadycam of his own and that we could pick it up on the way. That was such a relief!

Happily, we got to the location, with two steadycams in tow. Once we got there, the rest of us set up for the day's shoot while one chap tried to put together the new steadycam.

Shoot progressed pretty smoothly and eventlessly up until after noon when we stopped for a lunch break. A few us, including me, drove to the nearest McDonalds while the rest rested/waited/worked further on getting the steadycam right, back in the location (which, by the way, is still the same beautiful road and bus stops from yesterday).

Just as we reached McDonalds, it began to pour cats and dogs. We immediately called up the guys at the location to warn them of the impending rain, only to be told that the location is already completely drenched but they were all happy and safe under the bus shelters.

We armed ourselves with a ton of burgers and litres of iced Milo and got back to the location. The rain continued to beat down. Given that no shoot was possible anyway, two guys, including the cinematographer, decided to drop by the place that rented out the steadycam and figure out what's wrong with it. Looks like neither of the steadycams were really working the way they should. But I was thankful that with the thought of a spare steadycam at my disposal, at least I could complete the morning shoot in peace!

So as the two boys proceed with the steadycam task at hand, the rest of us waited in the location, waiting for the rain to stop and for the guys to get back. But it was a fun hour of waiting, when we discussed everything under the sun from movies to traditional artforms to world problems.

Soon the rain stopped, the guys returned, and we started to shoot again, now with the steadycam that seemed to work a bit better. We moved to a new location - the road right next to where we were basic -  a gorgeous, empty, long, straight stretch with a row of trees lining it on either side.

We had a wonderful time shooting there. Sure, the steadycam was tricky, clearly we were not masters of it and the sun also played tricks - hiding and appearing every now and then from behind the clouds, making a mess of our lighting.

We also had a really unique problem. When we did the final rehearsal two days ago and had a few photos taken, I noticed from the pictures that the leading guy's glasses (also, his prop for the movie) were extremely reflective, unlike the ones that I wear. So during the shoot, he had been wearing my glasses throughout to avoid this issue (at the risk of blinding him, of course). So far it had worked fine but in this new location, where he was supposed to be out of the shelter of the bus stop and walking in the sun, we realized that we had a really HUGE problem on our hands! My glasses had transition lens which turned dark with the sunlight. So every 30 seconds, we had to cut the scene, get the glasses covered, wait for it to get back to its normal clear state and reshoot. What a mess.

But still all of us were on a high. This was the final scene to be shot for the day and we were happy that we had progressed so far. After several takes, we finally wrapped up the shoot.

And then went to total madness mode. We decided to take over the road, stood in its very middle, with a few cars whizzing past us, taking pictures, dancing and giggling like teenagers. What fun!

We ended the day with a team dinner at a nearby food court, once again hurling ourselves into deep conversations on movies and what contributions we can make to the field. On the way back, we also dropped in at a temple to do the site recee for tomorrow's shoot. Being in that peaceful atmosphere was a good winding down to the day.

Another day of shoot, thus came to an end. Tiring but super productive and fun!

Day 326: Day 1 of Aravindum Aarumughamum Shoot!

So yes, finally the day was here. My much awaited shoot after a 2-year hiatus!

I was up at dawn, ready and fresh, had a quick breakfast that my kind helper prepared really early for me and the cinematographer, prayed, checked one last time on all the million bags of equipment, props and costumes that we were carrying, and finally made our way to the shooting location together with the lead lady and her husband (who also helped with the cinematography and production), who came over the pick us in their car.

I was pretty much a nervous wreck all through this because it had been raining cats and dogs throughout the night - together with a thunderstorm no less, and there was no signs of the weather clearing up. It was dark, gloomy and drizzling, even as we set out. The weather forecast also predicted consistent rain in every single part of the Singapore throughout the day. Awesome.

But as luck would have it and I thank God for that, by the time we reached the location (after losing our way and having to take a few detours) and set our equipment up, a couple of hours had passed and the rains cleared up. It was still dark with no sign of the sun but it was good enough to shoot. In fact, the location looked pristine in beautiful with its rain kissed look. I loved it!

Soon we were all set and the shoot began. And I found out that I will have a nightmare working the sound design for this film. When I had gone to the location on my site recee, there were hardly any vehicles and it was pretty quiet and nice. I was happy at the thought that I will be able to work with live sound, something that I always look forward to as it avoids the headache of dubbing and sound design to a large extend. But on this auspicious day of our shoot, there were vehicles left, right and centre - and mostly trucks at that. They made it a point to pass by making as much as noise as any vehicle could probably do.

It was disappointing to say the least, but given that we weren't left with much choice, we proceeded with the shoot anyway. Soon we felt like celebrities, because every passer by (there were a few) and every traveller in every bus that passed by (there were several) were staring at us wondering what was going on.

With three cameras on three tripods set up simultaneously with three crew memebers manning them donning caps, umbrellas and shades, clothes being changed on the side of the road (by the male cast, of course), cast and crew standing  in the middle of the road and running off just in time to save their lives from the rushing vehicles, we would have made quite a sight.

In the afternoon, it started to drizzle again, but it was just nice because we had begun to wilt in the sun which was now shining with all its might and we needed a lunch break anyway. Lunch mainly consisted of McDonalds burgers that were ordered to be delivered to the location as well as all the snacks that the cinematographer had brought over from India.

Post lunch we restarted the shoot and kept at it up until 5pm. By then we had canned three whole scenes and were well on track on our schedule. We packed up and got home to start the next set of work - recharging the batteries of the camera, copying all the files, doing a quick review, and packing everything for day 2.

By the end of it, I was thoroughly exhausted but I was extremely happy and thankful - for the weather that cooperated, for the great team I get to work with and for making so much progress on the shoot within one day.

Tomorrow we get back to the location for a more challenging day of shoot - the one that involves the steadycam!

Days 323 - 325: "Foreign" Cinematographer, Late Night Rainy Rehearsals and Steadycam!

20 - 22 November, 2013

A few significant events took place.

First, the cinematographer for Aravindum Aarumughamum, who happens to also be the editor for both Mausams and Inganeyum Oru Katha and will also be editor here, arrived from India - Complete with his equipments, a lot of sweets and a lot of gifts for the little one! This was the first time I have gotten someone to come down from another country for a shoot. I have done it before for Mausams - when I got both him as well as my music director to come down during the post production stage. But this time around, I felt that I need a little more help with the shoot given that my team has dwindled considerably since IOK with a few members settling out of Singapore for good. And also because this was my first "post pregnancy" shoot, I wanted it to be as painless as possible. And nothing beats having an expert cinematographer on the ground. Plus it is really cool to say that I flew down a "foreign" cinematographer!

So yes, he landed and we set off to work as soon as I got back from work. Which brings me to the second significant event - the last and final rehearsal for AA!

It was a beautiful rehearsal for a number of reasons - we rehearsed outside on the streets, as opposed to the claustrophobic confines of my home. The actors immediately began to open up a lot more than they ever had before - partially because of the outdoor environment, partially because of the fact that it was closer to the real location we would be shooting in and partially because the cinematographer was always following them recording or clicking pictures, which I believe made them feel more in character. We rehearsed all the way from 9pm to past midnight and half way through it began to rain. It didn't affect the rehearsal because we were under the shelter of a covered bus stop. On the other hand, it got the weather to be real cool and pleasant. We rehearsed and we went through the list of props and costumes one last time. It was a great experience - standing there in the bus stop, with the rain brought in by the winds, in the darkness of the night, directing my cast, going through the production details and seeing my film come one step closer to reality.

The third significant event was the arrival of the steadycam. I had never used one for any films before but this script demanded one. So after work on Friday, both of us picked up a steadycam from a really awesome camera equipment rental shop at Clarke Quay. The rest of the evening was spent on rehearsing with it - the cinematographer trying to figure out the balance and other technical details and me and the little one walking up and down the street outside our home for him to practice shooting with it. I can say that we got quite a few heads turned in the neighbourhood with the sight of a guy holding a weird looking apparatus with a camera, shooting a lady and baby walking up and down the street. But more than anything, I was excited that we were learning and incorporating one new technical aspect of film making with this project!

Finally we are all set. Tomorrow, we begin the shoot! 

Days 317 - 322: Storyboards to Babies!

14 - 19 November, 2013

Alright. A LOT is happening. I have probably written this already but we are shooting Aravindum Aarumughamum this weekend. And to me, it is a BIG deal. HUGE deal. HUMONGOUS deal. OK, you get the point. Over the last six days a lot of prep has happened. We had multiple rehearsals, I completed my usual hand drawn storyboard, I completed the moving stills-board (i.e. a video that puts together all photographs of the different frames we want to shoot, so that we get to see what the movie will actually look like...it is just a more fancy version of the traditional static storyboard but one am very proud of having achieved), we have been through all the pre-production details including costumes, props and equipment, I put out an open call for help with production for the days and have got some response, I went through the shot breakdown multiple number of times, I tweaked and re-tweaked the dialogues during the rehearsals...in short, the last few days were extremely happening.

That's on the movie front.

Separately, I went for a few yoga classes where my postures - which had fallen to be down right pathetic post the vacation - have now improved significantly.

Also, I am pretty much working double shifts now in office (thanks to the workload and also because my reportee is not around) but am happy because some progress, albeit very little, is happening on that front.

I also visited a good friend and her newborn - a darling little girl of just 9 days old! It was so wonderful to hold her in my arms (I completely hogged her and didn't want to let her go). I couldn't believe that my own little one was that little just a year ago! It was surreal. The little one who had also tagged along, was less impressed with the baby but was totally taken by my friend's dog. Both of them hit it off very well and she couldn't have enough of the "bow wow". I was extremely pleased that she likes animals and wasn't scared of them.

I also had my "celebrity" moment when a random stranger recognized me in the subway as the "girl in the Malayalam short film" that he liked so much. How flattering!

Nett, am super duper busy but am pretty happy. Most likely the next post will be after my shoot! Fingers crossed!

Days 303 - 316: 14 Interesting Days!

31 October - 13 November

Today is November 13th. Which means I have not written any post for 2 whole weeks! What a bummer.

But in my defense, it has been a rather tough two weeks. As soon as we got back from Kashmir, I caught the flu and the husband caught the stomach flu. Just when we recovered, the little one caught the stomach flu. And just when she recovered, I caught the stomach flu! Yeah, it was messy. And I was completely spent after about 12 days of this sickness extravaganza.

But then beautiful things still do happen. Let me list out 14 good things over the past 14 days, just as a means of compensation.

1) Diwali - I was pretty sick during Diwali, so we weren't planning to do anything special at our place. But thanks to some encouragement and help from our helper, we ended up celebrating Diwali in style! All of us got dressed up, lit the lamps placed around the house, did some puja, ate sweets, took pictures and felt pretty good. Especially now that we have the little one, I really want to celebrate every festival, and am glad that we had our own small, beautiful celebration! We also attended Diwali parties at my brother in law's and a friends's places - complete with cards and other games, great food, lights and sparklers. Nett, it became a pretty good Diwali!

2) Winnings - Diwali became even more awesome because, for a change, I actually won a few rounds of Bingo (also called Tambola/Housie) and Teen Patti (a card game). My winnings are of the range of $6 - $15 only but as we all know,  it is about the experience of winning than the amount. I usually have terrible luck when it comes to these games and it felt great to be on the other side!

3) Hubby's office - The hubby, who is working in a startup that he has co-founded, had recently expanded his office. I had not been to the new office and just got an opportunity to take a look when we went there to perform a small Diwali puja. I fell in love with the walls in the brand colours, the bean bags scattered around, the ergonomic chairs and the excellent chococino from their espresso machine! It was all pretty awesome! His partner and family were also present and we had a short but nice time together, while the kids...they have a boy and we had taken our little one along as well.... had a pretty merry time themselves. It was fun!

4) Aravindum Aarumughamum team comes together - We were supposed to shoot the film end of this month but one of the lead actor's dad fell ill and he had to rush back to India. I decided to postpone the shoot but in a heartening turn of events, was asked not to do so, by the team including this particular actor. They encouraged me stick to the plan and committed to make the most of the time that we have, instead of postponing indefinitely. His  dad is better now and  we are sticking to the original schedule. We are no longer as prepared as we should have been by now, had things gone according to plan, but just the fact that the team believes in the project and wants to see it through, makes me super happy!

5) Ruth Prawer Jhabvala - She is my most recent literary discovery. I am always on the lookout for interesting books by Indian authors and came across a collection of her short stories and man, she is awesome! Turned out that she is not an Indian but only married to one, yet her stories set in India give incredible perspective on the way of life there and she has managed to capture so many of the nuances typical of the country! I am definitely going to look out for more of her works, but for now, thoroughly enjoying myself reading her "East into Upper East: Plain Tales from New York & New Delhi"!

6) Little one's final birthday celebration for the year! - Yes, her birthday celebrations are still continuing! We didn't really get to celebrate the event with our friends here in Singapore and hence, now that we are back from Kashmir, we decided to give them a "treat", Indian style. Even though the original plan was to treat them for brunch somewhere outside, our helper insisted that she wants to cook for the event and got me to invite everyone over! It was a rather nice gesture by her and I was pretty touched. She made Pulav rice, Gobi Kheema, Kerala style chicken curry, Aloo 65 and Baked yogurt! Everyone came over, showered the little one with gifts - including a gigantic soft duck that is now occupying half my living room, had lunch, sang "happy birthday" as we cut a really cute cake that I ordered last minute, played games and made it all very merry and happy. Thus, her birthday celebrations for the year came to an end with this last round of small, beautiful gathering! Wishing her many, many, many more!

7) Kitchen & Cooking - Cooking is a rather rare activity for me. But for the little one's birthday celebration, when the helper said that she would like to cook for everyone, I decided that I need to help out as well. So after a long hiatus, I was back in the kitchen and was given the task of making baked yogurt dessert. And I enjoyed that - figuring out the mix, decorating with different types of jams, packing it all up in tiny serving cups for refrigeration and finally serving them all with relish, all under her able supervision, of course. Post baked yogurt, I even grated a ton of cauliflower for the gobi kheema, which made me feel like a pro! Totally awesome!

8) A good cause - I managed to raise some funds for a family back in my hometown. The husband is suffering from kidney failure and requires transplant and the wife is the donor. This puts them in a pretty tough situation with both being out of job, with three kids and hefty bills to pay and debts to clear off. When my mom told me about this, I did my best to spread the word and collect some funds to help them. I guess one is supposed to do these things selflessly but I would be lying if I say that it didn't make me feel good. Because, it did.

9) Kashmir blogs - Even though I was sick, I did manage to write the blogs on the Kashmir travel in detail. Initially I was planning to put a couple of pictures and get done with it, but then decided against it. That gorgeous place deserves every bit of writing about it and am glad I took that trouble. Now all the details could be forever remembered. Also, after reading the blog, quite a number of people said they will be planning trips to Kashmir and that makes me happy, because the locals thrive on tourism and due to the tensions in the region, are in quite a bad situation. So the more tourists, the better for them!

10) Yoga record - Including what I managed over the last couple of days, I have now done 60 days of yoga this year, which is kind of a personal record for me! The previous highest was 59 in 2011. I know 60 doesn't sound like a lot but each yoga class takes 3 hours including commute, so am glad I managed so much.

11) Exercise record - This also brings the total number of days I exercised this year to a grand total of 150 - 50% more than my target and 20% more than my highest annual number ever! I will do another check at the end of Dec, but I already feel pretty good about this.

12) Lost a kilo - am not sure whether it is the effect of the exercise or just the sickness, but looks like I have dropped a kilo. Even though am no longer too hung about the extra weight am retaining post pregnancy, it felt good when the scale showed an unexpected drop. Let's see how long this will be maintained!

13) Little one's tricks - The little one is becoming quite an entertaining person to watch every day. She goes into these melodramatic acting sequences - it is like watching a Tamil movie from the 70s. She screams, stretches, quivers, pops her eyes, rolls over, sticks her tongue out and end it all with her toothless grin. She has also now figured out how to use the iPhone and iPad - switching the main button, swiping it on, glancing through the pictures, playing games and so on. I never thought that it would be this fascinating to watch kids on their discovery journey. She also imitates every single thing - if I "shush" her, she does the same to me. If I talk on the phone, she pretends to talk on the phone. If I pretend to go into an uncontrollable fit of laughter, she will go into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. What fun! Plus her first words are out - "amma", "ta ta", "nah".

14) Transcendental Meditation - And last but not the least I have discovered transcendental meditation. This simple but rather fulfilling method has really got me hooked! Hoping that it would turn into a regular practice now.

And with that - I conclude on the last 14 days. I was sick through most of it, but it definitely wasn't bad at all. Thank God for that!

Days 282 - 284: Aravindum Aarumughamum Picks Up Steam!

9 - 11 October, 2013

It is just about a month and half before we will be shooting Aravindum Aarumughamum. Given that there are multiple business and personal trips coming up for my team and myself, we are now trying to make the most of the time we find ourselves all in Singapore. Which basically means that we now rehearse even during weekdays.

Two days this week, we rehearsed well into the night.

I have also started with the mock shoots.

My cinematographer who is in Mumbai (but will be flying down for the shoot) has started to take stills for storyboarding. I spent all of Saturday morning putting those stills together into a moving photoboard.

I completed the pre-production sheet with the schedules, costumes, location and props details.

In other words, so much have happened on the project in the last few days. Together with work, little one and workouts, this has been one hell of a hectic time, but definitely a fun one!

Now am really looking forward to the shoot! 

Days 274 - 278: Sitcom Scripting, Google Cheque, Recipe Hunting, Location Hunting & Film Talk!

I am having an absolutely FANTASTIC time!

Like really, really!

OK, a list it is going to be because otherwise I will not be able to stop writing out of sheer excitement.

1) Sitcom Scripting - Yup, I have started to write the script for a Malayalam sitcom and so far I have been able to complete two whole episodes. I have always wanted to work on a sitcom but nothing worked till date. Now I feel like I finally have a premise that has the potential for a reasonably long running sitcom and am super duper excited about the progress so far. It has been difficult trying to find the time for writing with work, workouts and the little one who sleeps only at about 11pm every day, but I am happy that I have managed to get it done anyway. And I am so thrilled that the few people I have shared the script with, has been very supportive of the idea! This is exciting beyond words!

2) Google Cheque - Now that Inganeyum Oru Katha has crossed about 170,000 views on Youtube, Google has kindly sent me a cheque. Well, it was a grand total of a 100 dollars, which in today's world, is not really much, but of course, this isn't about the money. It is about how cool I felt to be earning money from a film I made and put up online!

3) Sitcom & Recipe - Another thing I must add about the sitcom is that it has an element of food and recipes in it. More details on this will follow as we reveal the title of the show and the poster etc. but the interesting thing here was that I made an open request to my friends on Facebook asking for original Kerala recipes with their own twist to it, to be featured in the show. And the responses and conversations that followed were too much fun! Everyone was very enthusiastic and I have a confirmed recipe already for the first episode and also a list of possible one for the futures.

4) Location Hunting - Last but not the least, one of my Aravindum Aarumughamum actors took me on a drive in his car for location hunting for the film. The idea was to find places that could pull off an "Indian" look, which I would have expected to be a rather difficult thing in Singapore. So we explored every end of Singapore and I was amazed by what we saw. We saw open lands that looked exactly like those in India, deserted roads lined with thick jungles on either sides, streams, mud paths and even a bunch of monkeys playing around on the trees. I was always aware that Singapore had a lot of thick vegetation but I have personally not explored them with such keen interest before. And the sights I saw and the spots I discovered were just mindblowing, and needless to say very "Indian". Aravindum Aarumughamum locations are now fixed!

5) Last but not the least, I had the opportunity to meet a fellow Indian film maker about to embark on her first project. It was really fun talking about the whole moviemaking process of us independent film makers and our ideas seem to match a lot with each other. It is always exciting to have these deep discussions with people with similar interests mine and I had a good time meeting her. I wish her all the best!

Like I said, am having an absolutely fantastic time!

Day 255 - 263: Ideas, Messages, Films and Personal Records!

13 - 21 September, 2013

When I had started to write this blog, my aim was to complete at least 1 blog per week. Clearly, that's not happening. Not because I am not getting enough good stuff to talk about every single day, but because I am up until my nose with things to do. Work's super hectic, am trying to squeeze in as many days of exercise and as much time with the little one as possible and she, even in her tenth month of existence, refuses to sleep through a night without getting up at least four times, which is tiring me out! So when I get back home after work, all I want to do is catch up as much on sleep as possible.

But there's been progress in my life over the past few days and am going to do a quick summary of highlights:

1) I have broken my own personal record for the number of days I exercise. In my very obsessive, compulsive manner, I have been counting the number of days I exercise in a year, right from 2010. The highest so far was 126 days in 2011. This includes yoga, walking, dancing, cycling, swimming, jogging, DVD workouts, anything of the sort. Now am super proud to announce that as of today, I have exercised 132 days in total for this year and we are still only in September! I must also note that this is way higher than the 100 days I had as part of my 2013 resolutions. SO awesome!

2) It is probably all that exercise but it looks like I am no longer at my heaviest nor my largest. It is still a long way to go until pre-pregnancy levels but am very happy with the progress.

3) I have struck upon an idea for a sitcom in Malayalam, and am pretty excited about that. I have a name, a theme, character outlines and even the storyline for a couple of episodes. I shared the thought with a friend, who is also one of my regular actors, and he was pretty excited about the whole thing too! This could be my next project, maybe, but what's exciting is this stage of being struck by a brand new idea and developing it in my head!

4) Interestingly enough, I have also struck upon an idea for another short film. Maybe I will write this one out soon and it can be added on to my pile of will-make-it-some-time-in-the-future scripts.

5) A few lovely people, unrelated to each other and unknown to me until now, wrote me rather nice messages. Few, after watching Mausams, and the others after reading these blogs. I always feel pretty thankful when people take the trouble to do that and of course, getting any kind of encouragement for these things is one of the key reasons why I can keep up the drive to continue making films or continue writing this blog. So thank you folks, it is very much appreciated!

6) Work is getting more and more hectic by the day and surprisingly enough, am still enjoying it! That's always a good thing!

7) I have also managed to meditate more number of days than I thought I would. It is still not everyday...for some reason I get rather sleepy by the time the little one hits the bed at night (which is already well past ten or in many cases, even 11) and end up not meditating. But I do hope to make it even more frequent and turn it into a habit, even. But so far, so good.

8) We have also resumed rehearsals of Aravindum Aarumughamum after a gap of a month. We have had a couple of rehearsals so far and I am happy to see that it is coming together very nicely. Slowly but steadily!

9) Last but not the least, Inganeyum Oru Katha has managed to cross 150,000 views on Youtube! Who would've thought!

Days 247 - 250: Compliments, Mallu Movies, Background Scores and Shot Breakdowns!

5 - 8 September, 2013

So it is pretty clear that work has picked up... a LOT.. and looks like it is here to stay. My days pass by in a snap; am rushing from one meeting to another, writing emails after emails, preparing documents after documents and seriously giving that good old brain a real workout.

But it is all good. Am enjoying myself because I find the work scope challenging and fun!

And what's even more feel-good is that am managing to squeeze a few other things into my schedule as well. If I were to pick one highlight from each of the last four days, they would ....

a) On Thursday, I hit yoga and had a really good class. What was awesome about it was that the teacher, post the class, told me that I look "lovely". According to her I have "toned up a fair bit". Of course, am always all for compliments and I told her that I love her.

b) On Friday, I caught a Malayalam movie in the theatre. This is a rare event. These days, there are more Malayalam movies releasing here in Singapore but I don't get to go for any, due to other priorities like baby-time, hubby-time, total-family-time, exercise-time, filmmaking-time, sleeping-time and other such important times. In fact, I believe this is the first time I managed to catch a Malayalam movie at the theatre, post pregnancy. The movie was highly forgettable but the experience wasn't. I had a great time thanks to the two good friends who had tagged along with me!

c) On Saturday, the music director for Aravindum Aarumughamum sent across the very, very draft reference of the background score he was working on for the film. This, I feel, is one of the most exciting parts of making any film. When the music comes in! It was beautiful and I immediately started to visualize all the frames in my head! Super awesome a feel that is!

d) On Sunday, I managed to complete the shot breakdowns for Aaravindum Aarumughamum. I had started on this before the cruise trip, but had gotten through only 50% of it. This could be the most challenging project I have ever done, in terms of direction complexity. So thinking through each shot was a tedious and time consuming process. But as of this morning, it's all done and ready! Exciting!

So yes, it's been four pretty exciting days!

And now am off for my first ever business trip post pregnancy - to China!

Days 223 - 226: Shot Breakdowns, Meditation, Perfect Days & Birthday Celebrations!

Jumping right onto the highlights:

a) The little one, for the first time ever, slept for eight hours straight at night! Woooohooooo! OK, it was just a one time phenomenon and was promptly not repeated afterwards, but just the fact that it happened for one day made me feel super duper awesome! It feels like we are at the cusp of a new beginning... one where I get to sleep through the night, wake up with a ton of energy, and ultimately get to do a lot more than I do right now! Can't wait!

b) I have started writing the shot breakdowns for "Aravindum Aarumughamum" and have completed about 40% so far! Am writing shot breakdowns after a gap of two whole years and it feels great! Honestly, it is not easy to find some focused time after work, time with the little one and maybe even a short workout, but it's progressing well so far and I am very excited! More so because from a direction standpoint, this film would be the most challenging I have done till date. That is making me nervous yet super thrilled!

c) I have restarted on my effort to meditate. For some reason, I simply don't have the discipline to make meditation into a routine. It's quite a pity really, because there is no denying the wonders it can help achieve. I have tried time and again to make it a habit but have failed. Still, there is no harm in trying again. So yes, I have done it for a couple of days in a row and I am loving it so far!

d) I had the Perfect day. By "Perfect", I mean a day where I got a lot done at work, played with the little one in the evening, exercised, completed the shot breakdowns for one of the scenes from "Aravindum Aarumughamum" and ended the day with a 10-minute meditation! So basically work, family, health, passion, and spirituality. It can't get more perfect than that!

e) Last but not the least, the hubby and I celebrate our birthday together tomorrow. Since we will be at the airport to start on our vacation tomorrow evening, we decided to treat ourselves to a nice birthday dinner today evening. So we headed to the fancy French restaurant Le Bistrot Du Sommelier  and gorged ourselves, while continuously wishing each other a very Happy Birthday whenever our mouths were not busy munching on the food. It was our own little private birthday celebration and I loved it!

Now for our first big fat vacation with just the three of us, tomorrow!

Day 204: The "Look"!

I had written here about how we are planning a whole new publicity approach for Aravindum Aarumughamum and how several ideas are floating around.

I discussed this with my cinematographer cum editor, who is currently based in India, just yesterday and today I woke up to several examples for the "look" of this new publicity approach, waiting for me in my inbox!

It was so exciting! The ideas are already coming alive and am thrilled to see my team's proactive commitment to the project!

We have a long way to go still, but this is an exciting and promising start!