0:0 PM, PFC, BOLLYWOOD AND BEYOND
I would have never ever been here had it not been for Kartik or striker as we all know. He came to meet me at the Factory as a guy from the US, before that he had tried many times but was not allowed to go in. That particular day he managed to come in the basement and somebody just told me that this guy wants to meet Ramuji. And knowing RGV it was impossible for kartik to have met him. So instead it was the guy who imitates RGV, and that was me.
Working under a successful director can really fuck your mind… as at times we forget the difference that the whether your boss is the boss or you are who he is… cut to…
Kartik meets Surya, RGVs chief, associate or for that matter just an AD. Hazaar designations that we have amongst the struggling actors circle. I was not really serious when he met me. Like many actors who come to meet us and drop their pictures, I too was just nice to Kartik. I took his picture, show reel which I still haven’t seen till date as I had put it in those thousands of show reels lying at RGV’s thinking maybe some ad will call him.
But one good thing happened that day was he without fail took my email id and told me i will write to u. I was being nice… I said “ya sure” thinking that it will be over the moment Kartik leaves.
I got busy with the pre production work of Nishabd and forgot about the meeting kartik and I had… cut to…
If I am not mistaken, kartik wrote his first mail to me while we were still shooting in munnar (kartik correct me if I am wrong). And I was pleasantly shocked to see a mail from him. I have this habit, I always reply. And so I did to kartik…
And that was the biggest mistake I made in life… kartik kept writing and I kept replying, to the extent we became friends… only one meeting and that was it… destiny? I guess so… we kept writing about films, he kept writing about his love for RGV’s ‘good’ films… yes we all agree there have been some bad films too which have come from his office too and Boss himself has agreed.
Din beetate gaye, dosti badhti gayi, from emails we had now started chatting on yahoo messenger when one day while we were chatting I mentioned him about my short film and an article that I wrote for the upperstall.com which kartik read. Immediately, our mans curiosity rose and he asked me to send him a copy of my DVD as he was planning to send it to the 6th Indo American Arts Councils film festival in New York along with a film in which he too had acted. I did that Kartik said he had loved my film. I was happy… kartik sent it to IAAC and guess what it got selected… and kartik also volunteered to attend the festival and represent my film there. He took all the pains to travel from Washington to New York, not once but twice.
So it was kartik who actually got my short film in the US… thanks pal. Cut to…
It was kartik who pushed me to send my film to IFFLA; it was OZ who ensured that I get in touch with the guys at IFFLA where the film missed its chance. Kartik used to keep telling me to join PFC, and initially I was like “kya paka rah hain yaar, what is PFC?” was the attitude I had. Kartik was persistent that I write my experiences working with RGV and all the other films at Factory that I have been associated with.
Somewhere I was not ready… I didn’t feel like, though the thought of writing your own experience was quite interesting. I kept ignoring, and it was while working on Nishabd that he finally convinced me to write my experiences. I thought that it was the right time for me to come on board and there was a mail from our Leading star of PFC Mr. OZ with a username and a password, thus began the journey, and association with the movement called Passion for cinema where one could write, vent, contribute and share your personal views on cinema and that too along with an audience, I still get a kick seeing the number of views I get on my article, it makes me feel important at the same time it makes feel responsible too as to what I write and as to being honest with all those five six hundred readers who take the pains and precious time to read the crap we put in here.
I d like to thank OZ too… as it was he who provided this platform to me to express myself and write… It was PFC which got Ms. Wiebke Reiss the artistic director of Bollywood and Beyond film festival, Stuttgart, Germany who read my posts and actually took the pains and approached OZ to get in touch with me and asked me for my DVD. I quickly obliged… Wiebke in time got back to me and said that they will let me know… and here today I get a mail from OZ saying that they have selected my film to be screened at the festival….
It’s all thanks to the readers of Passion for cinema, OZ and Kartik who made this possible… I owe this selection to all you guys and I owe this screening to PFC… hope there are many more to come for me and all those who doesn’t have a voiceand a platform, and all those who has PFC behind them. PFC matters…
But also while I enjoy the good news, I am reminded of my what Anurag Kashyap had once told me outside Mocha at Bandra when he had come to introduce my film for the second time after he saw and met me at the NDTV office that, “Dont bask in the Glory of 0:0 PM, think of another one, leave this behind and make your own film soon”, I better get started…
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
=D> =D> surya, time and again you continue to prove why you are one of my favourite authors man.. fucking brilliantly written, and not bc you wrote about me, but just the way you write.. always so true to the heart.. i feel like i’m right there with you. i pray and hope that your film does well, it’s just that good, i don’t care what anybody says or if it didn’t get into some film festivals. all that is part of the package which is called “the struggle”.. but you WILL make your film soon, i know it. myself and PFC are always right behind you in your efforts boss.. keep it up and congratulations on getting selected for the B&B film festival!!
>-
Congratulations on the festival!!! That is big news, and Germany is a big market ;)
BUT – you know what I am waiting for
:-w:-w
ha ha ha hi t!,
WHAT WHAT WHAT???? and Kartik…. Thanks man….
congratulations bhai, Nice article enjoyed it very much.
Surya!!
This is great news!!
I have told you time and again how much your ‘Nishabd’ updates were appreciated, and I wish you all the very best with this screening!
Who knows…just as Oz and Karthik have been positive influences in your life, there could be another ‘oz’ and ‘Karthik’ in Europe who will not only see and like your work, but also point you to the right directions!!
All the very best man!!!
Very, very happy for you!!!!!:d
surya bhai! what we are waiting for is your film – a full length commercial feature that will blow away the brains of bollywooden junta. congrats. encore.
Surya bhai .. waiting for ur feature film … Jald hi shuru karo.
And yeah ..sometimes such perchance meetings can become so fruitful !!!
P.S. Surya bhai – Striker’s name is KarThik and not Kartik. Kartik is my name. Let me not get undue credit :-)
Sorry Karthik and sorry Kartik, he he he does this help now??? Thanks guys varun, thanks wb… lets see maybe this year I might just get a film to do, am in talks with a few producers.
In the mean time Steve, I think you alone are enough to take care of me in entire Europe, dude you are my man there, and dont you know that??? Where are my cds???
heeeyyyy surya
CONGRATS!!!!
AND BEST OF LUCK FOR THE FEST…NICE ARTICLE!!
Duaa karte hai aap yun hi bulandiyon ka aasman chhoote rahe…aur jald hi aapki feature film humein dekhne ko mile!!
AAMEN:)
way 2 go bro!! congo for ur film’s selection!! hope u make sum kikass bollywood films in future!!
Its quintessential zurya stuff! Great post after a long hibernation.So, whats happening in factory these days?
HI CC,
Have not been going to the factory since ‘Nishabd’, only if RGV calls. Actually buzzwise they are preparing for Sarkaar 2 big time…
Thanks Ritu… thanks Kapil…
damn, I hadn
Surya,,
its just so nice to read an article written by a filmy enthusiast(dats u Surya)….can totally understand the passion dat drives all u PFC guys. Just stoped by to say congratulations 2 u on getting selected n loads of luck for ur directorial venture
Hey Sumayya,
Thanks a million for those wishes that come straight from your heart, Thaks for all the good words, faith and support you have expressed towards me, it mean a hell lot to me… yeah it seems like a never ending struggle, but i am putting up with it, as i really dont know what else I would do if not make films… I truly feel that only a person who considers one a life time friend can come up with such moral, mental and emotional support.
Thanks a million, you actually brought a smile on my face, and here i have already started making plans of making another short film…
Three cheers to you…
Babasko…. man I love you and thank you very much… cheers… and do let me know all about how my film was received as I still dont know if i will be going there or not as there is no official confirmation from them…
Hi Sumayya,
I read your comment again and again and again… I think all the upcoming filmmakers should print this and put on their walls in front of their computers… Atleast I am thinking of….
Thanks again….
hey bro,
CONGRATS! wish you the very best for your next!!
but this time stretch it from short to full length! cheers!!
hey surya… wonderful article…must thank kartik for getting you started on PFC or else we would have missed really interesting and nail-biting experience.
CONGRATS for the selection and all the best!!!
really wish you start your full length feature film this year.
cheers
Sahil Thanks…
Nidhi I too hope so… But its fucking difficult…
Hi Surya,
Just read your comments, is it really fucking difficult for a talent to find a producer in bollywood? Especially for a person who has been associated with RGV for so long. And how come some mediocre directors like Apoorva lakhia, Vishram sawant, Vikram Bhatt get new producers after every mediocre work. It
Hi CC,
Yes its indeed very very difficult to find a producer for a new director, so what if i have been associated with RGV, the general attitude is “he hasn’t done any film yet” so how do we trust him? The first step in itself is so difficult, i.e to get an idea across, as everybody will treat you as first timer who wants to direct, even the way they will listen to you is from a high place… I too wonder sometimes as to what i maybe lacking that these average directors keep getting work again and again and again…
Though my heartfelt thanks to people like Sourabh Usha Narang and Ram Gopal Varma who have actually asked felt that i am capable to direct and that i start writing my own script, and Sourabh who did tell producers to let me direct as he completely trusts me with my capabilities as a director and also went to the extent of telling them that if I d be directiong he even would be the creative director if need be. So lets see buddy… I am awaiting for that first ‘break’. Am keeping my fingers crossed you too keep yours for me.
whts da url for rgvs the factory website?
surendra. the stuttgart festival program came out today and 0:00 PM is going to be screened on friday 13th at 5pm. It also says (if i got it right) that you will be there? If so very cool, hope to meet with you there :D
also Babasko,
can u tell me the link where I can find the schedule for the festival??? Also if u have a stil camera please get it along as i plan to cover the festival for PFC… and idont have a camera…