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Engineering Bollywood
I was reading Sumeet’s post on filmmaker Sekhar Kammula and what amazed me was the flurry of people in filmmaking with a background in engineering and the eagerness of lot many more to join the world of cinema.
With whatever info I have I can tell Bollywood in particular has a lot of people with an engineering background. Be it the directors — Ram Gopal Varma, Nagesh Kukunoor, writers—Jaideep Sahni, actors—Rahul Dev, R Madhavan, actresses and item girls— Payal Rohatgi and Shefali Jariwalla, a whole range of people with different specialisation ala computer, civil, mechanical, electronics have ventured into tinsel town.
I haven’t included the regional cinema, as I know there would many such technicians. If you guys know about some other Bolly engineers then do mention about them as I, too, would like to know about them.
This thing has always struck me and it still does that out of all the professions in the world, why is it so that it is the engineers who are the most eager to join cinema? In fact, after reading the post and the related comments I could sense the growing dissatisfaction amongst those in the world of coding, decoding, thermodynamics et al and their keenness to get into films.
The best of the film reviews, analysis and knowledge regarding cinema comes from those who live in the world of designs, automobiles, java and drafters.
I am professionally into the world of Bollywood and I am amazed at the superficial knowledge and ignorance about films in a lot many people here, who are considered to be ‘pro’ in cinema. It’s disheartening that people are unaware of V Shantaram’s legacy. Some are clueless about Indeevar, Majrooh Sultanpuri and Suman Kalyanpur while some don’t know a film like Anuradha ever existed.
At the same time I applaud those who with no background or connection with the world of kaleidoscope have immense knowledge about Kaliyattam, Ilaiyaraja and Victoria No 203.
I had never believed nor would I ever believe that a professional tag or a specialisation ka thappa is required for following your passion. I consider reading a review by some angry engineer (since he or she is angry with the good ol’ routine of decoding) better than those so-called master critics who despite all the comforts of being in touch with the world of cinema haven’t been able to fathom its depth.
Barring a few publications and writers I don’t think many writers know much about cinema. This is completely my personal opinion and anyone is welcome to disagree with me.
I am still wondering about the magnitude and reason of such enthusiasm about cinema amongst engineers. Isn’t it amazing?
Dear engineers and non-engineers, would you care to explain?
10 Responses to “Engineering Bollywood”
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great topic illuzon. i can definitely speak for myself when i say that typically, engineers get into the field mainly because the work behind it, ie. the science/math involved (especially for indians) comes so naturally to them. they get into engineering because it almost seems like the natural choice to make.. so they get into it, and get stuck (not necessarily a bad thing).
some end up loving what they do (i had my share of fun with RF designs as an intern at raytheon), some just downright hate what they do, but aren’t sure what else to do with their lives, and then there’s the majority of us on PFC, who might be in between. they stay in it as a means of security or means to fulfill other committments, while looking to their passion of cinema as a creative outlet. there’s other fortunate ones who love their job and also get to pursue this passion on the side. kudos to those =D>
engineers’ minds are used to being challenged with technical data/information/jargon and i guess for most of them, there comes a point where they just look to other areas to explore their creative sides and release “brain drain”. with minds functioned mostly to working towards structured ideas, following rules, and handling intensive number-crunching, a fantasy world like cinema is a breath of fresh air, which takes away some of that suffocation brought on by spreadsheets, databases, and codes.
Bingo Illuzion !!!!
Let me talk for myself .. 4 years into comp engg .. was kind of intrested in cinema (courtsey my tamil film - manirathnam roots) but never saw myself into acting/writing…
Was thoroughly into mathematics though …
Came over to bombay and started working as an IT guy … and then 2 whole new worlds opened
up …
World #1 = the boring corporate culture of coding/ testing/ on bench …
World #2 = film workshops … theater … writing … books … films … internet resources ..
Actually the thing is that engineering isnt a creative satisfaction … either in terms of pursuing masters or working. The work that is done does not satisy the ‘innovative R&D techniques’ and usually it gets reduced to ‘cut copy paste’ techniques or management releated formalites (presentations/ knowledge transition etc) …
That’s when the need for any creative outlet arises (be it painting…music … books …films .. etc)
Hi,
Actually its pretty simple….
When one is in his 15-16’s…the mind is not that developed and one has to budge to the wishes of our parents, who only dream of their son/daughter becoming a doctor or an engineer.
In India there were only two fields ,you were supposed to go to …otherwise you were good for nothing…
1. Engineering
2. Medical
With the boom in engineering colleges it was no longer difficult to become an engineer and so people like me…
1.who didnt knew what to do with their life.
2.whose parents wanted an engineer/doctor out of him.
3.who somehow secured last ranks in admission exams and got a seat…
…dragged/wasted 4 years of their lives in something s/he had no interest in …
Now when your mind starts growing and asks what the hell are you doing here…is when you realize that this is something that you certainly dont want to do in your life…..
Then what do you want?
And then comes our common passion for movies/cinema…cause this is something we have grown with…this is something which is in our blood/soul…this is something we have done nothing in but we are confident that we can do better than others…which is why we are here…inspite of having those 4/5/6 year degrees with us.
That i feel must have happened with each one of us/them.
Please tell me how can I write my own editorial on this site.
Waiting for your response.
Regards.
@Shitij
u need to send a request to the moderator Oz at
http://passionforcinema.com/contact/
Thanks Kartik.:)>-
Its true that we see a great anount of engineers in film pursuits. Reasons as correctly cited on the thread are aplenty. But I feel its just a national obsession with vocational streams, as Shitij pointed out. I am another one of countless engineers that were not to be. By the time I realised what the heck I am doing and what do I wanna do, I was already half way through my engineering! Looking back, the only thing it taught me was to take one battle after another. I am not saying I became Hitler or something after that, but it was nice, kinda fast life. Thinking about engg and films, I would say hostel life brings one closer to films(all kinds!), and soon one starts meeting diverse people and viewpoints and it, for the good or bad, evolves a person. Our country cant help having engineers left, right & centre, thanks to the Mera Beta Engineer Hai obsession. Thankfully, the sheen is slowly fading away, and we are seeing more alternatives for the archaic vocation like animation, biotech or more rewarding courses in literature, journalism & arts.
As far as films are concerned, I guess anybody and everybody has an opinion on them, and rightfully so, considering the amount of money and time we as an economy spend on films. But having a opinion is different from being obsessed with the craft, and I hope we all at PFC would understand that pretty well.
But, from my personal experience, I have realized once you are in creative arts, background hardly matters. In fact, the diversity of background make a joint venture much more fun, be it a play or films.
I have a yahoogroup with a similar diversity and richness of background, let me know if you are interested. and sorry for such a long discourse!
Shitij is right …. the kids from middle class/upper middle class who are above avergage, unfaliningly used to end up in enggineering colleges. The bright ones join MBBS.After 4 years , a few of these engineers realise that they are not meant to be and then try to venture out into other areas. film making is one fo them… something similar to rich dad’s kids entering the restaurant business..
entering movies is kind of cool … but dont know how many will survive.
else become a CA by mistake like me…
Payal Rohatgi and Shefali Jariwalla are engineers ? :o
very encouraging topic for me….i am engineer by education and now trying my hands on movie scriptwriting….. thanks for this great article on PFC.