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.  

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 281: Distribution Offer!

Today a film distribution company based out of Chennai contacted me to check whether am interested in giving them the rights to distribute my short film "Inganeyum Oru Katha" for the TV channel in Singapore. These guys are the distributors of all Malayalam and many Tamil films for TV channels in Singapore and Malaysia and are pretty genuine people.  They had watched the film online, liked it and wanted to pick it as part of the weekend short film segment they are planning to introduce very soon.

While this was a great offer, I have got to mention that there was no monetary reward offered and it was just "exposure", like what every other independent film maker has to put up with. But given that I had not planned to make any money out of this short film anyway, and that it was simply meant for YouTube, this offer was pretty exciting for me! If nothing else, you get to talk to real distributors which makes you feel like you are a real film maker yourself!

There are still details to be worked out before anything will come out of this, like the format they need it in, the logistics and contracts and such, but for today, am pretty happy that there was an offer for my little film! Who would have thought! 

Day 279: The First Official Review!

Even though I have made a few films now, I have never received an official review on any of it, other than the casual feedback I have received from several people. I must mention that am always thankful to anyone who bothers to give me feedback, but my point is that so far there has been no review featured in the media.

As of today, that's no longer the case!

A couple of days ago, I received a note on Facebook by a RJ in the Malayalam station "Voice of Kerala" in Dubai. He hosts the show called "Reflections" which reviews short films and he wrote to me to let me know that he will be reviewing Inganeyum Oru Katha in the next episode of the show.

And today was the D-Day. When it was just past midnight, I tuned into the station online and streamed it live. I had butterflies in my stomach when it started, wondering what exactly would be the reaction but well, I was left speechless at the end of it. He gave such a thorough analysis of the film, picking on every single point and talking it at length, and that too, in an extremely positive manner! His words were extremely encouraging and I would say that it has inspired me to make even more films.

Yes, I am on cloud nine. My first official review and that too so positive. How much more blessed can one get?! 

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!

Day 182: 100,000!

As of today, my short film 'Inganeyum Oru Katha' has garnered 100,000 views on YouTube! 

Who would have thought!

Days 161 - 165: Turned On Its Head!

Over the last few posts, it would have been evident that I have been going through a relatively rough phase. First I wrote about things being tough, and then I wrote about how I felt like my body was falling apart, and what had not been mentioned so far was also that work's been quite hectic. I am in charge of my business unit's offsite, the preparation time for which was reduced from the normal 3 months to under a month (!) and also several important presentations, all of which have been driving me nuts. So much so that even in my sleep am having meetings or writing proposals in my head. I haven't been getting any reading done, I have not been watching movies, I have not been doing even a bit of thinking about my own short film venture, I haven't been able to write this blog regularly enough nor have I been sleeping proper.

Nett, it's been crazy.

But post the Koh Samui trip where I got a short but good break, I came back energized to get into things head on and turn the situation on its head.

And this week has been super, duper hectic but really amazing!

1) I made significant.... and I mean really SIGNIFICANT progress on the offsite preparations. The offsite is next week and till now there was absolutely no clarity on how things would fall in place. All I had was a list of things-to-get-done but no sight of how that's going to happen. But that's all fixed now. It took several meetings, several phone calls, several rounds of negotiations and several hours of me breaking my head on my laptop, but it is now all done. I feel really good about it!

2) I also had a couple of good presentations with a few different General Managers with good feedback from all! That's, of course, good as well!

3) My in-laws are in town and even though I didn't get to spend too much time with them, due to my crazy busy schedule, whatever time I did get to spend was fabulous!

4) I got a lovely note from a girl who said she was inspired by my blogs and given that that came in on Monday morning, it was enough to lift my spirits and keep me going for the week! God bless her.

5) I got a few more congratulatory messages on Inganeyum Oru Katha!

6) I am apparently getting a raise! Yay!

7) The little one now has begun to smother me with kisses - or rather the open-mouthed, gooey licks on the cheeks which is her version of the "kissie"! She has also begun to react to scolding - either by upturning her lower lip and pretending to cry or by growling and scolding me back. She is also moving around rather freely around the house with her tummy crawls, and that's an entertaining sight too! And last but not the least, she slept through the night on one day! Woot! Never ever happened before! Only bummer was that in spite of her sleeping through, I kept waking up to check on her. But if she makes this a habit, maybe sleeping through the night would be a habit for me too! Can't wait for it.

8) I had done only 3 yoga classes in May (due to sleep deprivation and bad schedules) and that was quite disappointing. I still do DVD workouts and all that but nothing beats hot yoga for me. So I wanted to d a few classes in June and squeezed in 3 so far. It was pretty tough the first couple of classes due to the long break, but in the third class was almost like a come back for me. I even got a "that's pretty good" for my Standing Bow Pulling pose from the instructor. I am not sure how many more lessons I can take this month because of the upcoming offsite and a few trainings I am attending but at least I feel good about it so far.

So yes, it's been a jam packed but pretty productive week and I feel that the relatively tough phase has finally been turned on its head! Feeling super duper awesome!

Day 135: When the 'Industry' Speaks!

I am what you call an amateur film maker. I write, produce and direct films with absolutely no knowledge or training on how these things are to be done. Most importantly, I do it without even the remotest connection with the actual film industry that exists out there.

So when I get feedback from a person in the industry about a film of mine, it means a lot. Like, a LOT.

The last time that happened was probably in Dhaka... when I represented my film Mausams at the Dhaka Internation Film Festival in January 2012. Then I had received very encouraging feedback from professional film makers - from Bangladesh, India and even Japan. Needless to say, that had made feel over the moon.

Today, I received feedback from a film maker from the Malayalam film industry. He had watched Inganeyum Oru Katha and dropped me a congratulatory message on Facebook.  That was already pretty nice of him but later I  saw that he had also shared the film on his own profile which led to surge of views and following comments, many from other assistant directors, digital media artists, scripwriters and others also from the industry.

It took me right above and beyond the moon! It made me feel like real film maker! God bless them all! 

Days 129 - 130: The IOK Phenomenon!

Over the last couple of days, there was a surge of messages from people who have just watched my film "Inganeyum Oru Katha" on Youtube. Ever since I had put the film up there, I had been getting messages regularly but nothing like what I witnessed these couple of days.

There was a new one coming in every ten minutes or so through the day and I was finding it incredibly hard to keep up and respond to the messages! These are people who watched the film online, searched for it on Facebook and was kind enough to drop me a message to tell me that they enjoyed my little film! I was so overwhelmed by the response and happily so!

When I went to Youtube and checked, I realized that the film had garnered 13,000 views in just two days! I have no idea how! But am not complaining. I love the fact that more people are watching it and love it even more that they are enjoying it!

Feel oh-so-good and oh-so-thankful for it! 

Day 87: 50,000!

Today I realized that my little Malayalam short film Inganeyum Oru Katha has crossed 50,000 views on Youtube!

A small but happy milestone!

Days 53 - 57: Too Many Things!

22 - 26 February, 2013

It's been crazy busy thanks to the upcoming India trip! I am gonna travel alone with the little one which is going to be quite an event in itself and even the pre-trip logistics has proven to be rather overwhelming. It's been packing, shopping, packing, shopping, packing! But there were quite a few rather lovely events squeezed into the breakneck schedule!

1) Inganeyum Oru Katha on Malayalatam TV channel in the US - So yes, for the first ever time, a film of mine has been aired on a TV channel! Pretty awesome feeling, that!

2) Sitting in for a friend's short film rehearsal - It's the short film I had helped with the screenplay for, and my friend wanted me to watch one of their rehearsals. And that was super fun! It's the closest thing to movie making, other than scripting, that I have done in more than a year and it was a fabulous experience!

3) Meet ups - I also managed to meet up with a few friends after several postponements and cancellations. It didn't look like I will be getting any social life before I leave but somehow that happened after all. Pretty happy about that!

4) Dinner at La Nonna - Actually the main course was strictly average but their Bruschetta and their Pannacotta were super yum!

5) Dinner at Haxenhaus Restaurant at Robertson Quay - I absolutely LOVED their wine cocktail Kir which is red wine with Creme De Casis. It's the first time I was having a wine cocktail and I wasn't disappointed at all! The main course too - the Bier Bratwurst was pretty good. Quite a satisfying dinner indeed!

6) Inch loss - Looks like I have managed to lose another inch of that pregnancy gifted flab! Small but very welcome progress!

7) Little One's first birthday plans - I already decided how to celebrate the little one's first birthday and am pretty close to locking all the plans. We are gonna make it a short trip to a holiday destination together with both sets of her grandparents. I figured that there is no better way for her to spend the birthday than a close family affair with her grans and have made the plans accordingly. This is gonna be fun!

8) Reading together! - The little one and I have started to read together, starting with the inevitable fairy tales. She manages to hold her attention for almost an entire book in one sitting and I find it a lot of fun to read out to her, complete with the expressions and animations! Probably the closest thing to theatre that I will be doing for a while.

8) Packing - done! I am all done with the shopping and packing. In other words, all set to go. Finally.

Overall, all good days.

Tomorrow, it's the little one's first trip ever. It's time for Kerala! 

Days 49 - 52: Malayalam Short Story, IOK on TV, Yoga, Packing and 50!

18 - 21 February, 2013

Quite eventful four days! So eventful that I am gonna squeeze everything into one short post vs. separate entries. Here's the list:

1) Completed one short story in Malayalam for an online Mallu magazine from Singapore. It took me four days to complete it as I had to work it around the little one's schedule. But I have finally managed to complete it!
2) Two very good yoga classes. Also got a good on a new pose - the backward bend!
3) Got confirmation that my short film Inganeyum Oru Katha will be telecast on a TV channel in the US! It will be the first time that's happening to any of my films!
4)  I have begun packing for my upcoming India trip. I am gonna travel alone with the little one this time (and her first trip ever!) and I can't stop making lists of things to take, checking, re-checking, packing and being rather obsessed with the whole thing. The good news is that I have made quite some progress so far!
5) Last but not the least, I have completed 50 days of this new blog. That's always a reason to celebrate!

All's well! 

Day 39: Message from a TV Station!

I received a message from a Malayalam TV channel in US, asking to feature my Malayalam short film Inganeyum Oru Katha on their channel!

Of course I agreed and they are now to get back to me after they fix the schedule.

Such small appreciative gestures are always welcome! 

Day 26: Brunch, Movie, Art Exhibition, Friends, Hardware & Such!

I had the busiest Saturday since the little one, I believe. I was just rushing from one appointment to the other, to meet different sets of friends, making it a very socially active one.

Highlights:
1) Brunch with two of the girls from my old SK-II team. Venue - Chye Seng Huat Hardware. Yeah, you read it right. That's the name of the cafe. A pretty misleading one but it's actually pretty quaint and nice with minimalist furniture (they actually have the cheapest wooden tables and plastic chairs outside!), cramped spaces and decent food. I ordered scrambled eggs, toast, salad and bacon, with orange juice to go along. One of my friends ordered some chicken patties and that was pretty good. I didn't order any coffee, which is what actually the place is famous for, so can't comment on that. But even otherwise the cafe is definitely worth checking out.

2) Visit by my good friend who has just returned from London - She dropped by armed with gifts for the little one and me. She bonded with the little one who seemed rather happy to see her, we had lunch together, chatted for a long time and it felt great to have her back in town.

3) Movie with friends - I caught a Hindi film, Race 2, with two of my girlfriends. While they were spending the entire day as their girls' day out, my suddenly very active social life let me join them only for the movie. The movie was so bad that we had a great time laughing through it! Atrociously and unintentionally hilarious.

4) Visit to Art Exhibition at Singapore Malayalee Association - I met up with a couple of fellow Mallus and together we went to see the art exhibits at SMA. I had a ball there! The exhibits were of excellent quality and I was thoroughly impressed and even inspired to brush up my painting skills soon. I could also meet so many of Mallu friends, aunties and uncles there and it's always fun to catch up with all of them. I also discovered that the SMA annual magazine, Onopaharam, has extensively featured my Malayalam Short Film "Inganeyum Oru Katha" in it! So I grabbed a few copies of that, and felt really good about it.

In short, a very active, busy, social, fun Saturday - the first of its kind in a long while! Loved it! 

Day 10: 25,000!

Yeah!

My short film Inganeyum Oru Katha got 25,000 views on Youtube within three weeks! So happy!