INTERVIEWS

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Cult Critic: A warm and pleasant welcome from Cult Critic Film Magazine. Let’s initiate with how you got into filmmaking. How old were you when you first thought of pursuing this line of career? What was your inspiration behind it?

Filmmaker: First, Thank you Cult Critic Film Magazine for giving me this wonderful opportunity. Actually, I got into movies in 2013 as an Asst. film director for a Tamil movie called “ Moodar Koodam” through my sister who acted in the movie. And I had a never-ending interest in reading and writing since my school days ( A big thanks to My teachers and my principal Mrs Thangaprakash who sparked my interest in books) which blossomed into visual storytelling during my college days.  I was 20 when I first thought of pursuing this career but then family situations made me work in ships as a marine engineer then later I kept working for movies during my vacation of 6 months where I did extend it for a few more months till the movie was completed. My inspiration was books, definitely movies and my school teachers.

Cult Critic: Which classic film directors and writers would you say influence your work and life in general?

Filmmaker: Lots of classic film directors and writers influence my work, like Akira Kurosawa, Orsen Wells, Satyajit Ray, Alfred Hitchcock, Federico Fellini etc. I can keep naming them since I have learned from every film I have seen from these film directors. And writers like Keigo Higashino, Virginia Wolfe, George Orwell and Agathe Christy influence my work and life in general.

 

Cult Critic: It must have been challenging to juggle film directing, writing, and film editing. How did you manage to execute multiple roles while working on this student project? Which role was the most difficult to handle and which was the most exciting?

Filmmaker: Writing and film directing are two sides of a coin but both contribute very important roles for each other in films. Especially when you are both script writer and film director it is both pain and pleasure to bring that to the screen since the writer should dominate the director while making a film and a director shouldn’t dominate the writer while writing. I love the process and I feel complete doing both.

Cult Critic: Tell us a little about your journey from creating your first short film.

Filmmaker: The journey of making My short film “ The Road” started during the covid restriction to stay at home and completed writing in 3 months. Later when life started to get back to normalcy I shot it in and finished it in August 2022. It was a challenge since I shot it in Telangana, Chattisgarh border during nights with a limited film crew.

Cult Critic: What are some of the filmmaking techniques you have integrated into “The Road”?

Filmmaker: The Road is an indie film with well know actors contributing to the film. And It's a run-and-gun type of movie making since It's shot mostly on roads. 

Cult Critic: Who are the real villains and the real victim in “The Road”?

Filmmaker: The real villain is the mechanic “ RAM” and the real victim is the film character “ sambuvan” .

Cult Critic: What was your inspiration behind creating this film noir?

Filmmaker: My inspiration behind creating this work is Mr Keigo Higashino Japanese writer I wanna say his kinda story visually so I worked on it and he has had a great influence on me.

Cult Critic: Since we’re on the topic of film noirs, what are some of your favourites and why?

Filmmaker: I admire classic film noir and some of my favourites are double indemnity, sunset blvd, Athe Kangal (Tamil), and Singapur Rojakkal (Tamil).

Cult Critic: So far, what has been your biggest challenge in the film industry and how did you overcome it?

Filmmaker: My Biggest challenge in the film industry is networking and am still working on it.

Cult Critic: Which film genres, themes, and filmmaking techniques would you like to explore after this?

Filmmaker: After this, I am exploring con artist thrillers and sci-fi action movies.

Cult Critic: Are there any projects you are working on at the moment? If not, what sort of projects would you like to work on in the future?

Filmmaker: Right now am writing a con artist feature for big screens and hopefully everyone can see this on screen by this year's end.

 

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