The Good & Bad of the Film Making World!

It was a day of mixed feelings.

On one hand, really good feedback kept coming in for Athazham's latest episode which, needless to say, took me right to cloud nine! People were sharing it with their friends, I was receiving a lot of messages from not just friends, but also complete strangers, some of them really quite sweet - one even went to say that the episodes are helping me feel good during an otherwise tough time!

On top of that, a friend called up to say that he met with a couple of film makers who want to make a film in Singapore and they are looking for relevant technicians, including the director, and that he thought it should be something that's right up my alley. Am not yet too sure of what's going to come out of that, but I thought it was pretty cool I am being considered as a serious director these days!

So yes, all that is super cool stuff in the film making world - being able to reach people, getting appreciation, being considered for more film making opportunities. Super grateful for all of it!

Now here comes the downside. It is also a field, as with any creative fields these days, plagued by plagiarism and absolute lack of respect for the idea of copyright.

Inganeyum Oru Katha - a Malayalam short film I had made a few years ago, remains my most popular work till date, crossing 300,000 views on Youtube. Some broadcasting networks like MalayalamTV in the US and RadioVOX in Middle East had also broadcasted it, after getting the due permission from me - and it's always been given for free as my only objective was more reach and no commercial gain. Those folks asked me for permission to feature, and I let them.

A couple of scenes from the film were also ripped, word by word, shot by shot, in a short film that was on Youtube. But that wasn't a big deal because it was done by a bunch of college students and I thought the whole thing was rather cute.

Recently however, a channel that claims to be the first regional Malayalam channel in UAE - NTV - telecast the film. It came to my notice because a few friends from UAE congratulated me on the film after watching it on TV! I was a bit taken aback because they had not gotten any permission from me to telecast this film.

A mutual contact in UAE said he will just check in on them on how this happened. And guess what their reply was? "It is on Youtube, which is public domain - so we can use it any way we want.".

Wow, seriously?

Why don't they broadcast the biggest Malayalam films, all available on Youtube, for free then?

I can imagine youngsters dabbling with filming or people not from the industry thinking this way, but how can a professional, commercial broadcasting channel be this ridiculous!

Anyway, that was a good lesson on how people can walk all over you at the slightest opportunity and that sometimes, there is pretty much zero integrity in this field, even with the apparent biggies.

I guess for now, I will just be happy that they thought my film was good enough to steal it. I will also just continue enjoying  the response to Athazham until someone completely steals that too and spoils the fun.  

What My "Stay-At-Home" Motherhood Looks Like!

Alright, I am not quite keeping up to the "daily" writing but am gonna summarize what's been happening over the last few days. Basically, I have been focusing on what I had said I would be focusing on - motherhood & movie making.

Now that I am back home in Singapore and technically pretty free, I get to spend a lot of quality time with the little one. I tell her "stoories", she and I exercise together where she keeps going "MUMMY, YOU CAN DO IT! COME ON, MUMMY! GOOD JOB, MUMMY!", she and I paint together, play together with her stickers, we sing bhajans together in the evening and what not. It's been really nice.

On top of this I have been pretty much working on the feature film - yes, the same one that I went to UAE for. We will be shooting in April and there is much to be done before that.

I rehearsed with the actors, who are based out of Singapore.
It is a conversation heavy film, so I took some time to read out the entire script and record it, sometimes with some reference BGM, just to get a hang of how it would sound once completed. That was a really nice experience.
I amended and embellished the script a couple of times, based on more relevant information from whatever I saw in UAE.
I had several production related chats with the team in UAE.

On top of that, I also caught up with the hubby over dinner at our favourite Swadhisht joint over some Thalassery Chicken Biriyani, Appam, Egg Masala and Neimeen Tawa Fry. We hardly get time to talk to each other, mostly because the little one takes over completely at home, so this was nice too.

Oh I must also mentioned that I have been working out every day. These days I follow the videos from Blogilates. They are led by a really fun lady called Cassey Ho and the workouts are mostly pilates based strength training. What I like is that the videos are not too long each, so I can simply do 2-3 different ones which mixes it all up well.

I most likely am ruining all the effects of the workouts with my daily afternoon siestas, but then how long would you get that privilege. So I plan to continue doing that!

I have also been watching a few movies - Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine, Malayalam movies Varsham and Iyobinte Pusthakam, so far.

So yes, that's it. I spend time with the little one, I have siestas, I work on the film, I spend time with the hubby, I watch movies, I work out.

I have to say that this "stay at home" phase is working out rather nicely! I probably shouldn't get too used to it... otherwise getting back to work is going to be tough! But for now, it feels awesome!  

Dubai, Sunroof Drive & Friends!

It was my last day in UAE! I checked out from my hotel in the morning and had breakfast with the entire crew (which is actually a grand total of 4 other people, but more to join for actually shoot) who would be working on this film, from the studio. Breakfast was our regular fare of South Indian food at Aryabhavan. 

Post breakfast I bade goodbye to a couple of them while the rest of travelled to Dubai. I had spent most of my time in Abu Dhabi during this trip and they wanted to show me around Dubai before I take my flight at night. Enroute, we dropped by a cathedral which was pretty nice. Serene, peaceful.

Once in Dubai, we went straight on to Palm Jumeirah. We drove around the place a lot and I absolutely loved the outer ring of the Palm Jumeirah which was a long, pretty road, right next to ocean with the Atlantis the Palm on one side and the Burj Al Arab across the ocean on the other side. It was picturesque! 

Then something totally unexpected happened! A cousin of my editor friend arrived there in his car which happened to have a sun roof. So they got me to stand through the open roof and drove me around the same coastal road! I felt like one of those heroines in Bollywood movies, with the hair in the wind, a wide smile and looking completely out-of-this-world-happy (OK maybe that's not how Bollywood heroines feel but you get the point)! It was SOFREAKINGAWESOME!!!!

Lunch was at a food court within a mall, which was also my first visit to any mall in UAE  (so proud!). 

Post lunch we also visited the front side Burj Al Arab and also Burj Khalifa including the fountain all for photo opportunities. 

After much phototaking, we visited a friend of mine from school who now lives in Dubai. It's been 16 years since I last saw him and it was great to meet not just him but also his two brothers and mom who were living in the same place. We had a really nice time together! 

Dinner was at a Lebanese buffet place and there was simply too much delicious food to be eaten. After about the 15th dish on the plate, I was completely stuffed. But more than the food, it was my last meal with the team for this trip, so it was nice to have a long conversation over dinner. 

Soon it was time for my flight. I got back to the airport, was pleased to get checked in and cleared immigration without any que and then all that pleasure was lost when I had to walk through a rather crowded airport up and down in search of gates because they changed the gate numbers from one end to the other. Other than it was a pretty smooth journey. Oh...I must mention the darling little Australian boy who started talking to me out of the blue at the gate and wanted to know all about film making and Singapore. He was on his way back home after a school trip to Dubai and I thought he was such a smart, friendly kid! 

So yes, that's it. The wonderful trip, my first ever one to UAE, thus came to an end. Now the real work begins - we need to rehearse, I need to work the shot breakdowns, the storyboarding, the studio needs to get the permits to shoot, we need to get the visas, the tickets, the accomodation, the FUNDS! There is so much to do. Gulp. 

But for now, I am feeling good. Inspired and determined. 

Gardens, Farms, Oasis & A Lot Of Good Folks!

After the rather successful location recee yesterday at Al Gharbia, today we set out in another direction to Al Ain. If the former was supposed to be famous for its desert, the latter is supposed to be famous for its greenery. Apparently Al Ain is the "garden city" of UAE. 

After breakfast at a tiny restaurant called Spicy TamilNadu which served the best masala tea ever, we set off to explore locations at Al Ain. The drive to Al Ain was picturesque - my favourite thing about it being the small, soft, reddish brown dunes. They were a far cry from yesterday's humongous ones in terms of size, but there was something very charming about it. 

Al Ain was true to its equity and turned out to be rather green! The city was tastefully landscaped and we checked out the date farms which were as green as any place in Kerala, which pretty much means that it was really, really green! There were not just rows and rows of dates palms, but also unexpected fauna like mango trees in the farms! There was the constant chirping of birds in the air and a luxurious green grass carpeted the floor. It was all very, very beautiful! 

After spending some time on the farm, we set off to check out an oasis and that was yet another incredible experience. Sure, I have heard of an oasis before and have seen a few in movies before but nothing prepares you when you actually witness it! I fell in love with it immediately. I am not sure whether we will get permit to shoot there and even if we did, whether we can do justice to the place and bring its beauty fully on camera but whatever be it, it was breath taking and I loved standing there and taking in all that gorgeousness! Al Ain also presented some other interesting sights like a fort and a rocky mountain, which was the first mountain of any sorts that I have seen in UAE so far. 

Back in Abu Dhabi, we went straight to my editor-cinematographer's house were I had  been invited for lunch. His two brothers, their wives and children are all living in the same place and I had the most amazing time with them. Everyone of them had an insane sense of humour that I loved, the kids were adorable and the food served was super delicious. What more can one ask for! 

Post lunch we set off again for more location recee - this time mainly within the city. We covered parks, Corniche area (yes, again... but it is that vast and there is much to be seen!), the backdrop with the Emirates Palace and the Presidential Palace (love them both - both are expansive, sit right beside each other and look similar in their overall structures  - one in a rich brown and the other in a serene white), a few hotels where we could potentially shoot and the Heritage Village. 

Dinner was at a Pakistani place called Fujairah which served some delicious grills at ridiculously cheap prices! It was awesome! Post dinner, we paid a quick visit to one more family - the editor's uncle and aunt, a very jovial, cool couple. I learnt that the aunt is an incredibly talented artist and the house was packed with her artworks! She's had no formal training but the variety of works she had done is mind boggling - she has used anything and everything as her tools - paint, foil, paper, cloth, metal and what not! It was truly inspiring. 

Another very productive day thus came to an end. I hit the bed completely exhausted but feeling thrilled at discovering a few more good sites for shoot and feeling grateful for having met such an amazing set of people! 

Discovering the Dunes!

What a fantastic day it was! It was almost like I was in a dream through most of it! 

Alright, let's start right from the beginning. I got ready for the day's exploration at about 9:30 and first we stopped to have breakfast at Arab Udupi. Their Rava Dosa and coffee were pretty good and after having my fill, we set off to our main destination of the day - Al Gharbia. Al Gharbia, as per the Abu Dhabi tourism board website, is "where the sea meets the desert" and has "the biggest dunes this side of the Sahara". All well and good except that the folks here seemed to have no clue about it. But we set off on our exploration trip anyway, keeping faith that the tourism board could do no wrong. 

So we drove and drove and drove. The city and the following arid barren lands soon started to give way to small dunes and I had my first chance meetings with camels in the desert! I have seen camels in the zoo, but that's hardly authentic. At one point, the traffic on the expressway was stopped because an entire herd of black camels had to cross the road! I, like a really annoying tourist, got out and took pictures left, right and centre until the Arab who was guiding the herd asked us to stay put in one place so that we don't get stomped over but that we could carry on taking pictures. It was all very exciting! 

After driving for a couple of hours, we finally got to the township of Al Gharbia and then we had no clue as to where to go next. So my friend went into the municipal corporation office and asked them about the best places in the area for a shoot. As luck would have it, he could get hold of the "Head of City Appearance" for Al Gharbia who gave directions for the best desert - it was another 80kms away! He also clarified that there is no literal "desert meeting sea" and that the sea is in a totally different direction - so we figured that the usage was probably for the area as a whole (apparently Al Gharbia constitutes 51% of total UAE's mass)... that on one side of the region there is sea and the other end has a desert. But now that we were here, we wanted to check out the desert. 

So we determinedly drove ahead. And then it happened. 

The landscape suddenly changed and gave way for desert - not the little sand dunes that we had been seeing the whole while but humongous ones that kept hitting at us at every turn on the road. All around it was just sand and sand and dunes and dunes and I was mesmerized. In fact, all of us were mesmerized - even the two guys who were with me and who had spent about decade in the area. They said this is the biggest desert they have seen! 

Just when we were staring with open mouthed amazement at what surrounded us, we saw a camel farm on the side with several camels in it. So we stopped over for some photo opportunity. And what greeted us? The sight of an hour old baby camel! Yes, it was lying at its mother's feet and getting licked by her. The mother had the smug expression of a job well done and it was such a beautiful visual! One of the caretakers (from Baluchistan), got us to move close to the mom and baby. He then helped the baby to stand up and suckle on its mother. I couldn't stop being amazed at the wonderment of it all! 

Afterwards, we took a LOT of pictures with all the camels and ten caretakers offered us the freshest camel milk possible! He brought it in a huge bowl, right from a camel's udders (not the one who just had the baby, by the way) - it was frothy, warm and thick and I helped myself to a glass of it together with some dates. It felt so perfect. 

After saying goodbye to them, we set off further into the desert and saw more sand, more dunes, no people. One of the things I loved was that even though we were out there in the afternoon sun, it was still so cool and breezy! The weather this time of the time is so perfect! Another thing I loved was how you can see the sand fly over the roads in little golden clouds with each gush of the wind. It was so beautiful to look at! I was also amazed at how they cut such perfect roads in the middle of such stark, virgin desert!  

We spent a considerable amount of time on the dunes before we set back to Abu Dhabi. We realized that one of us had had lunch, so we stopped at one of the petrol stations and grabbed a bite. 

The drive back was long and quiet. I guess we were all rather taken about by the raw majestic beauty of the desert that we had the good fortune of seeing and we mulled over them over and over again. As we drove, the sun set on one side and the moon rose on the other. In a short while, it was pitch dark all around, except of the illumination from the full moon. There were no street lights and hardly any cars on the road. It was wonderful, peaceful. 

Once we got back to Abu Dhabi, we went straight to the Fish Market. Yup. Total change in scenery, that. They have this routine of buying fresh fish, getting it cleaned and grilled right there and it is supposed to be amazing. I wanted to try that out and sure enough, it was amazing! We got chargrilled prawns and oven baked fish (a grouper i think) and they tasted royal! 

Needless to say, we were pretty dead tired post the adventures of the day. We had driven close to 700kms, but it was truly a day well spent! I feel so inspired to make the film now! 

Finding My First Proper Location!

Another day of things going not exactly to plan, but by late evening it really picked up and made up for an otherwise unproductive day! 

So we started off thinking we will do the location exploration in the city for the day, and the morning started with a lovely breakfast at Sangeeta Restaurant where I ordered myself a "mini set meal" (which came with a small masala dosa, a humongous vada, some pongal, kesari, sambhar and a couple of different chutneys) and a cup of filter coffee. 

Then things went downhill as everyone else had to rush off for some of their studio work which could not be put away. So I went back to the hotel and decided to spend some time garnishing the script with some of the things I saw over the trip so far. I modified the script and also worked some production scheduling, after which I started to get really bored. So then I ended up watching a hopeless Malayalam film which got my spirits further down. By 5:30pm or so I was so bored that I decided to get out of the room and roam around the city, while kicking myself for not having thought of this option any earlier! Seriously, why didn't I get out any earlier?! 

Anyway, so I stepped out, walked about the city (which is, by the way, supposed to be super safe especially for women!), shopped a few things for the Little One (things are so much cheaper than in Singapore) and just generally enjoyed the lovely, chilly weather. 

Soon my editor called, apologized profusely for having disappeared for most of the day, and said that we could quickly see a few locations right then, even though it is already dusk. I was all up for the idea, so he drove me to the swanky part of Abu Dhabi - the upcoming, developing Al Reem island, the magnificent Grand Mosque with its lights on (hoping to actually visit its inside before I leave!), and my most favourite part of it, a narrow stone path that went into the sea from where you could see the entire skyline of Abu Dhabi, both new and old. I absolutely fell in love with that place! 

I think I might have just found my first proper location so far, which is super duper exciting! 

We had dinner at a typical Arabian place where I was treated to khubus (their bread), some extraordinary hummus and garlic dip and "flattened", grilled chicken. It was all pretty awesome! 

On the way back, we met some of his friends - a couple with the cutest little one year old girl! I picked her up and played with her for about 15-20 minutes, during which she kept staring and laughing at me. It was so adorable!

So yes, a day that didn't go too well up until the evening but am very thankful for a beautiful evening. And tomorrow, we are going to hit the desert! Now that's gonna be exciting and hoping we would be able to lock a few more locations on that trip!  

From Police Stations to Pre-production Meetings!

Today was the first day of film work here in Abu Dhabi and it was a combination of things going well according to plan, and also things going exactly not according to plan, but that turned out to be fascinating nevertheless. 

Let us start with what went by according to the plan. 

I was driven around the city and the outskirts and I got to see the magnificent Grand Mosque (I love its domes... so exquisite!), the skyline, the corniche - the coastal area lined with parks and fountains, the mangroves (yes, there are MANGROVES in Abu Dhabi!) and the canopies of trees lining the roads making the place seem anything but an arid desert! I had to admit that this desert city looked nothing like what I had expected it to. 

I met up with key team members of the crew which included the owner and other members of the production studio and the person who will be helping us get all the required permits and licenses for the shoot. When I met up the owner of the studio, for the first time ever, I had to narrate the script like how regular directors or scriptwriters do. Usually I just give the script and expect people to read it, but this time I narrated it exactly the way they would do it out there in "real" film world. That was an interesting experience. Expecting people to read the script is indeed a lot easier than having to summarize and bring the essence of the whole film in a narration! 

My editor-cinematographer and I also had a good long pre-production meeting where we dissected the script, went through the logistical requirements for each scene, and worked out the location needs, before we start on extensive site recee tomorrow. 

Now for the stuff that didn't happen according to plan. 

The studio guys had a few documents to be picked from their local Arab sponsor, a policeman, and for this purpose, I accompanied them in to the police station. Yup, that's right. I have now been inside an Arabian Police Station. Of course, I didn't anything there except for sitting in the area designated for the ladies, but it was pretty exciting. Now, the local sponsor had already left the station for his home, and so we drove to his house - which was in a residential area far from the city and the drive to which presented more of the dry, sparse landscape that you would expect from the region. 

The sponsor was a really nice gentleman, who tried to teach me a bit of Arabic (I now know "Kaif Halat? - how are you?" and "Tamam - Am fine"), let me see their house's patio and garden (which was lush green with a ton of beautiful roses in various colours!) as well as the guest rooms (huge living areas to receive guests) designated for men and women separately, and also introduced me to his beautiful daughter (even as the guys with me respectfully turned their faces away from her, a custom I understand is quite prevalent here). Overall it was a pretty nice experience. 

And there was the highlight! The studio guys asked me whether I wanted "Pazhampori" a snack from Kerala made of bananas. I said sure, why not. So they took me to the Kerala Social Centre, a community centre for Malayalis, and man I was totally bowled over ! They had a really big building with a huge central courtyard and performance stage for themselves and there were different types of music and dance classes going on in the various rooms around the centre. There was also a little tea stall selling snacks in one corner and they served chukkukaapi (spiced black coffee, in true Kerala style!) and I helped myself to the pazhampori as well. The ambience of the place was just like what you would expect of some centre in Kerala, and I simply loved this piece of Mallu heart in the centre of Abu Dhabi! 

Thus came to an end a long and tiring day, but am looking forward to the "proper" location recee that is starting tomorrow! So far I have loved every bit of what I have seen and experienced - the mangroves, the police station, learning Arabic, and the Mallu-ness of the "Gulf"! 

Long Flight, Movies, Meet Ups, Dubai, Abu Dhabi!

First Monday of the sabbatical and I was on my way to Dubai, for the pre-production meeting and location recee for my next feature film! How awesome is that! 

But there are a couple of people I need to thank first for this awesomeness - the hubby and our helper, both of whom happily volunteered to take care of the Little One in my absence. I can't thank them enough for the support! 

Sure, I have travelled on work before, leaving her with them for a few days at a stretch, but I am yet to think of film making as "work". This, to me, is very much a super fun trip and I tend to feel guilty about not focusing on that humongous thing called Motherhood but instead have "fun". But then I tell myself that I love her to bits and she seems to love me to bits for the time being and we are both gonna work this out.

Now that that's out the way, let's get back to what's happening on my Dubai trip! 

Firstly, I loved my long 7 hour flight! It is the first time I am taking such a long flight all by myself after the Little One came into our lives, and I have to say I had really missed this "me" time. We have travelled extensively as a family - including really long flights to Amsterdam and New Zealand, and I, who otherwise is a lover of long flights, totally don't look forward to those. Travelling with a child is not the same and while I enjoy holidaying with her once we get to the destination, the journey itself usually is pretty tiresome. 

So now that I had a 7 hour flight all by myself, I made the most of it! 

I watched two awesome films - "The 100 Foot Journey" which was a really sweet movie and "Whiplash" which was nothing but sheer brilliance and am still astounded by it. I mean, sheer-F.R.E.A.K.I.N.G-brilliance! Phew! I also had tea and juice and wine and worked on my script and listened to music and tried to take a nap and did all those things that I so love doing on flights. So, in a nutshell - I had an amazing time!

Dubai airport experience was good too - there were no forms to fill, there was no rush at immigration, the baggage came fast enough and everything was pretty much smooth and fast.  

I was picked up from the airport by my friend cum editor cum cinematographer and we headed straight to try out what is supposedly one of the best restaurants in Dubai serving Malayali food - Calicut Notebook. The fancy named place didn't disappoint at all! I enjoyed their Pandan Leaf Chicken, Fish Fillet Elayil Tawa (came wrapped in banana leaves) with chappathi and kerala parotta. It was all very awesome! 

After that we went to meet my cousin brother who had recently moved to Dubai. We met him near his workplace at Burjuman centre and had a cup of coffee together. I haven't seen him in years, so it was really nice to meet him all the way in Dubai even if for a short while.  

After that we set out on the 2-hour long drive to Abu Dhabi - and I was given a running commentary on the sites around me. Burj Khalifa, Burj Arabia, the ocean, the beautiful rows of trees lined between the two vast roads on either sides, the arid parts, dates shops, nurseries, Iranian markets, the luxury cars that keep whizzing by non stop, I saw them all. 

We also stopped for a bit to give a lift to another member of the team, who also happens to be the one who cooks the dishes for Athazham food photography. It was nice to meet him as well. 

I checked into a hotel in Abu Dhabi and grabbed a quick dinner. By then, I was really exhausted and probably jet lagged. All I wanted to do was just sleep! So I did just that and vowed to wake up refreshed and energized because tomorrow, the real pre-production work and location recee start! Can't wait!   

Week 4: Coaching, Fights, Sparkz & Highway!

17 - 23 February

Highlights:

1) The terrific training on Coaching at work - I not only learnt a lot, but I had a great two days getting to know a vast variety of people and their lives. The training required us to take turns and talk a lot of real, personal issues that would be coached on, to ensure sufficient, relevant practice for everyone involved and I thought it was one of the best experiences ever. It was eye opening to hear people talk about their problems - you are suddenly thrown into so many other different perspectives and I couldnt help but be amazed by the ordeals some people, especially women, are facing and how strong they are to be fighting it out. I left the training a lot wiser, very much humbled and extremely thankful for everything that I have in my life.

2) Guitar lessons - My guitar lessons continue to thrill me. My tutor had figured out what makes me super happy - being able to play to the songs from the 90s when cable TV, MTV, English pop and teenage years had come to my life in a big way. Last week, it was Wonderwall by Oasis. This week it was "If I let you go" by Westlife. Such joy reliving those days as I learn to play to these songs, invoking a thousand memories!

3) Being the judge at Sparkz @ NUS - Sparkz is a talent show at my alma mater NUS and I was invited to be a judge. I was initially hesitant wondering whether it would be a good use of my Saturday evening but it turned out to be the perfect use. Many of the performances were completely mind blowing! The winners - a quartet who named themselves quirkily as the Lorong Boys - completely blew me away! It was also lovely to meet the other judges all of whom seemed to be such dedicated, genuine individuals with a ton of knowledge in music (I was the judge who handled mainly the "visual" aspect of it, given my theatre, film and dance background). And yes, it was also lovely to see a bunch of students giving it their all and putting up and/or participating in an event of its scale. It was nostalgic, to say the least.

4) Highway - The best film I have seen in a very long time, where everyone seemed to have put in their best. The actors, the director, the music director, the sound designer, the cinematographer, the costume designer, the editor - everyone. It was a treat to watch!

5) Little one - The little one is turning out to be a real Jhansi ki Rani. Apparently her tiny 15 month self has been picking up fights with other much older kids in the playground. Our helper came to me looking rather dismayed and said, "But you see... the issue is... the fault is completely our child's!". Her usual victim apparently is this 4 or 5 year old girl who is otherwise her best friend. They are such good friends such that this girl, at one point in time, had even wanted my little one to be her "real sister". I guess that will soon change. After a couple of days I enquired to my helper again - "Did she fight today?". My helper chirpily replied - "No madam!" Wow. I was happy. It was a passing phase after all! But to further the small talk I rather unnecessarily asked - "How come?". She replied, "Oh, we didn't go to the playground today." Yup, that explained 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!

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! 

Day 295: Pre-Holiday Madness!

It was one of the most hectic days ever.

I had to wake up at 5:30am in Beijing, take a cab to the airport and fly to Singapore. The flight was happily an hour or so late. Once I got to Singapore, I rushed home, worked my ass off on a LOT of urgent stuff, did all the last minute packing, got myself and the little one ready, and together with the hubby, rushed to the airport to catch our overnight flight to Delhi to kickstart our holiday in Kashmir, to celebrate the little one's first birthday with her grandparents.

So yes, it was a super hectic day. But a few really good things happened.

Firstly I got to fly business class from Beijing to Singapore, which I haven't done in a while, and that was awesome.

I also got to catch a really good movie "Now you see me". I hadn't even heard of it before and it was really a fantastic surprise of a film!

It was also nice to talk to the in laws and the parents and hear their excitement about trip too. There were all set too and was looking forward to meet their grand daughter and pamper her silly!

Last but not the least, it was indeed a hectic day but I am happy to have completed every single thing on my list of things-to-do-before-holiday and that made me feel like I totally deserve this holiday!

Now it's time for Kashmir! 

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 239 - 246: A Great Post-Holiday Phase!

27 Aug - 4 Sep 2013

The holiday seems to have given a new lease of energy and determination. Ever since I got back I have been extremely busy but productive.

Things went pretty much like this:

Got back to Singapore (after a good flight in which the little one co-operated really well).

Unpacked.

Wrote all the detailed blogs from the trip (and there were a lot of those!)

Uploaded the holiday pictures.

Caught up with everything at work and made some good progress too.

Exercised 6 out of the 8 days since I got back.

Managed to get a "that's a very lovely post" for camel pose at yoga class.

Caught up with friends at work and outside.

Started meditating every night before going off to bed.

Got to watch the little one learn new tricks like picking up toys and placing them on my palm when I tell her "Give", imitating me when I cough, playing her new favourite game of collapsing on the bed at the count of three, trying to say "this" and "that" even though that's not what she means when she says it... etc. etc.

Caught two good films - a lovely Malayalam film called "English" and an interesting independent film called "Good Morning, Good Night".

Got excited about the new found muscles on my arms! The workouts are working!

Did some more planning on the next big holiday, this time with both the set of parents!

Had a discussion with a friend who got inspired by the script of Aravindum Aaarumughamum and has thought through a way to use the film to raise funds for a particular social cause. How awesome is that! More details on this coming over the next few months.

Discovered a whole new hangout area in Singapore. It all happened when the hubby and I were out of ideas for a new place to take the little one out to for our routine Sunday outing. I resorted to Google and we got several recommendations on kids friendly cafes in Singapore, all around this area called Robertson Quay. We had been there before but what we didnt realize that beyond the restaurant we have been to, there is an extremely long strip of cafes and restaurants and bars lining the river, connecting Great World City mall to Clarke Quay and beyond! That was such an awesome discovery because there were dozens of cafes to choose from. We had a good brunch at one and walked more than 5kms up and down the strip. It was an evening spent extremely well!

So there. That's all that's been happening. It's a lot. But it's all good. I am glad that instead of lazing out after the holiday, I have been able to bounce right back!

Days 206 - 207: Neram & Chapters!

I squeezed in two Malayalam films to my schedule over the last two days. Once I put the little one to bed, I plugged in my earphones and watched them, late into the night.

And that turned out to be a pretty good decision.

Because both were extremely well made, had the true Malayali essence, something which seems to be missing from most of films these days in the name of being "new age" (whatever that means!), and throughly delightful to watch!

The two films - Neram and Chapters. Two late night happy movie viewings! 

Day 200: The Story Before 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag'!

It all started with me feeling completely torn within, on a Friday. 

On one hand, I badly wanted to go for hot yoga because I had not done any yoga the entire week. Note that  this doesn't mean that I didn't exercise. In fact, I had exercised every single day of the week with kickboxing, cycling and circuit training but was not satisfied only because I had not hit yoga. In fact, I felt rather overly miserable about it. 

On the other hand, I felt exhausted - probably from working out too much, lack of sleep and increasing workload on my new assignment at work - and all I wanted was to go watch a movie  with my parents, and then go home and sleep. 

The only movie worth watching was the Hindi film 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag' - which had pretty good reviews but was slammed for being more than 3 hours long. If I were to watch the film, then yoga is definitely out of the window. 

So I kept thinking and thinking about it through the day. Yoga or movie? Yoga or movie? 

And then it struck me. Why am I being so hard on myself?! 

When I started this year, I had set some expectations for myself. One of them was to exercise 100 days in the year out of which 50 days should be hot yoga, because that is my golden standard for exercise. I had thought then that this is a good target to hit, given that I have a baby, a job and I have other goals like travelling, writing scripts, spending time with family etc. Even when I didn't have a baby, the max I have exercised in a year was for 124 days in 2011 (yes, I keep track of everything). So 100 days this year was a reasonable goal. 

Now, the fact is that I already completed these 100 days by Jul 18th of this year - i.e. with 4.5 months to spare - our of which I had done 48 days of yoga! That, I believe, should be something I should feel insanely good about. Instead, here I was, turning into a complete mental wreck simply because I couldn't decide between yoga and film with my parents, on this one day! 

Once the above realization hit me, it was easy. I skipped yoga, and I went for Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, the supper that followed, and the evening of relaxation. I felt it was well deserved, and I felt happy. 

Sometimes it is good to cut oneself some slack!

Day 183: Molly Aunty Rocks!

'Molly Aunty rocks' is a film in Malayalam. While the name doesn't sound very impressive, the movie itself was a pretty sweet one and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was also nice because it is one of those few films that I have managed to squeeze into a weekday evening. It's a total win as far as my post pregnancy routine is concerned, all thanks to the little one who co-operated throughout.

So yes, 'Molly Aunty Rocks' rocks! 

Days 175 - 179: People, Plays, Films, Yoga, Work, Music And Such Happy Things!

I am having a good time! Yup... all up, hardly any downs (touchwood). The past few days have been pretty happy and I feel good!

Why? A variety of reasons!

a) I went back to work on Monday and got showered with a few more compliments on how well the offsite was organized. Am not one to shy away from compliments and yes, these made me very happy!

b) I went to watch a play after more than two whole years! And I loved it. It was a locally produced play called Fourlies and I thought the writing, direction and performances were brilliant! It is always great to watch such splendid works of art and considering that this was a completely original work from Singapore, it was even more heartening.

c) I watched Raanjhanaa, a new Hindi film and fell in love with it! As far as I am aware of, it was a romantic drama made like no other romantic drama from India so far in terms of its storyline. It was funny and tragic at the same time. It had both the leads playing not white but very grey characters. It had a dark, scrawny guy from South India making his debut in the highly discriminating fair-skin-loving Bollywood, and flooring every single person with his talent alone. It had brilliant music and very good integration of the songs with the narrative instead of force fitting them. Nett, I felt really good watching it.

d) I went for yoga three days in a row, which is a big deal because the last time I did that was some time in March! Once work had started, it's become increasingly difficult to hit yoga. And the irregularity had also contributed to laziness. So it took all my willpower to do three days in a row. But I did. And it was awesome.

e) I had a great chat with my editor friend from Mumbai in which I narrated an entire feature film story. And now we have just that - a full feature film story! Surely there is a long way to go from a storyline to a final film but it gets me super excited when a new idea brews. So yes, I am excited!

f) Got to spend a lot of quality time with the in laws, which included long chats, chai time and bargain shopping, even! It was a good last week, as they will be on their way back to India this Sunday.

g) I discovered the wonderful, wonderful songs from three Hindi films - Raanjhanaa, Lootera and Fukrey and I can't stop listening to them. They are definitely fodder for happy thoughts and glazed smiles and I love them!

i) I had the most amazing lunch with one of my best friends. One of those where we don't talk about our daily mundane lives but our takes on what our lives have been so far, where we think it is going, where we think it should go and what we can do about it. I feel really good post that 1.5 hour Friday lunch.

h) The little one has discovered the art of clapping. Or rather the art of repeatedly slamming her right open palm on her left closed fist, in the name of clapping. She crawls all around the house and demonstrates some over the top excitement when she sees me (as well as her other favourite like her dad, grandparents and nanny....but I am there too!). It is such overwhelming joy to see her break into her toothless wide grin when she sees me early in the morning or after I can back to work. I can see that she is already not just the little vague baby but a full individual with pretty much her own unique personality and this journey of motherhood is getting more fascinating by the day.

So yes. I am happy. With all of the above and more!