First of all Rajnesh, Congratulations!

Thank you for your time.Here at PFC we are mostly film makers, writers, critics and film buffs, so whatever you say might also help us in our own endeavours.

Q1.
How do you write your story? The mechanics of it. Is it plot first , characters you want to portray or simply capturing a time and place for posterity [ such as the Burra Katha/ Janapada folk arts ]? Do you know when you start how it will end? Or do you just write along……….? Do you collaborate with someone else? And when do you start writing the screenplay? Do you believe in the three act structure or would like to work with non-linear narratives?

A:It’s always everything first. I don’t believe that you can write a story without knowing the characters or issues – be they political, social or psychological, or that you can describe the characters without knowing the story and its associated issues. The best way, at least for me, is to sit down with pen and paper and let the mind wander. Any snippet, word, image or sound that comes to mind gets written down. But the first elements that distill from this process tend to be the issues that I’m trying to address. I certainly don’t know the ending, and although I do like to get the work critiqued by friends, I’m careful to balance their opinions against my own gut reactions.
After that, I write down a Synopsis and then descriptions of Character, Internal Conflict, External Conflict, Location, Dramatic Circumstance and Story Issues. Then I move on to writing a beatsheet and only then the screenplay.
I do believe that the three act structure works – however, that doesn’t mean it has to be followed – because it’s not the only way. In Vanaja’s structure, the film is broken into several smaller segments, and their interaction is where I spent quite some time.

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Q2.
Do you believe that actors are ‘cattle ‘ [ Hitchcock ] , that they should not think but just ‘be’ [ Antonioni ] or that they “should not use their intelligence” [ Renoir ] ? Or do you like to pamper them like we mostly do in India, which might not be a bad thing as actors are a very vulnerable lot and after all they are the face of cinema? What is your attitude towards them?

A:Those attitudes didn’t work then – why consider them now? A director has to be everything to an actor – mother, father, teacher, concubine, tyrant. If you ask them to jump, they should do so, not just because they trust you, but because they want to.

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Q3.
Is your preference towards professionals or towards non-professionals? VANAJA as we know was populated by the locals where you shot the film, in Andhra Pradesh, you put them through extensive rehearsals etc is this what you foresee in your future films as a preferred method of working?

A:VANAJA is populated with a cast mainly drawn from Hyderabad’s middle and lower-classes. The extras were people from the shooting locations. I love working with non-professionals, partly because of their eagerness to learn and partly because of the life experience they bring to bear. Although the downside is the amount of time it takes me to train them, this is my preferred method.
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Q4.
How much of Improvisation do you do while filming? Or is it all choreographed and pre-determined via story-boards? Which works better in your opinion? In India we are known sometimes to give dialogues on the sets…..but this is useful to get a fresh performance sometimes without pre-meditative posturings……. What do you say?

A:Most of my work is storyboarded before-hand – but I am always open minded on set. There are several places in VANAJA where I made last minute decisions e.g the scene where Vanaja’s father asks her whether she wants to keep going to school – the way the light fell on the fishing net that morning was so beautiful that I discarded my entire shotlist and reworked everything on the spot. The same applied to acting – except that the scenes were all acted out and practiced well before the shoot. If we accept the idiom that the most important contribution an actor can make is his/her life experience, then why not accept that their instinctive responses are just as valuable as yours – the filmmakers?
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Q5.
What constitutes a typical VARIJA [ production company ] pre production preparation? In terms of location scouting, prop gathering, actor identification etc?

A:That’s the subject of a book! But let’s start out by noting that I had a wonderful Professor at Columbia: Richard Brick who taught a course on Pre-Production. Location scouting started almost a year in advance. We used compasses, drew floorplans, noted nearby noise sources, talked to villagers, photographed, catalogued, signed agreements and did a million things that common sense would dictate.

Prop gathering was very interesting too – some things we made at home, many on location – remember that most of the people who worked at Varija were carpenters originally.. Nagulu, our Chief Production Designer was a tailor turned gardener turned chauffeur turned plumber turned Production Designer.. and, Oh, did I forget to mention that he was an actor too?

Actor identification took a lot of effort – probably the most, during the Pre-production phase. Searching at schools, crossroads, hutments, gyms and placing dubious ads was just the beginning, but training a short listed set of candidates for a while before deciding on the finalists proved to be hard too, given our lack of experience in predicting an ultimate screen presence. The solution was just persistence and a lot of experimentation – inspite of the fact that much seemed to lead nowhere.

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Q6.
Do you look for specific kind of people to assist you or just anybody who loves film will do?How do work as a team? Do you like to have meetings or just take it as it comes?

A:Intelligence, determination, and a love for others – that’s the right formula. The chaos in our office is very intimidating, but so is the nature and amount of work we get done.
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Q7.
Would like to know more about your love for Carnatic Music, we have heard about your IIT Mumbai stint listening to MS [ Subbalakshmi ] and Pattammal in the dorms etc but who are your favourite composers and what are the Ragas we might catch you humming……? Do you sing?

A:Now-a-days I’ve joined the iPod clan – and my current staple is MS’s rendition of Tyagaraja’s “Nagumomu Ganaleni” (Aberi) with Purandaradasa’s “Jagadodharaka” (Kapi) a close second. I had to stop my lessons some time ago, but I’ve promised myself that I’ll restart – even if it’s from the basics, as soon as I get a grip on VANAJA’s distribution. Apart from Tyagaraja, I’m also very fond of Deekshidar and Purandaradasa – three very different styles, and it’s almost impossible to choose. Deekshidar, however, feels like a river – a slow, grand current that carries you, and I admire him a lot, although he’s not easy to get into.
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Q8.
How much of a Director’s philosophy of life will creep into any film? His belief systems so to speak. For example do you take an objective view of a third person in telling a story or would you rather hammer a message or would you prefer to throw subtle hints and hope that the audience catches it?

A:Aren’t they the same? The film and the belief system, I mean? If it didn’t represent my beliefs, why would I make it? In film, using a hammer only bends the nail. You have to make people want to recieve your message first.
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Q9.
You mentioned that you like to hike/trek and indulge in photography. Could you talk of a few favourite hiking spots and trails? And yes, where can we see your photographs? Are they up on Flickr or some other site?

A:Several in the Bay Area – Mount Diablo, Golden Gate recreational area, Mission Peak. Then there’s the wonder of Yosemite, and if you’re willing to move further out, Yellowstone and Denali (probably my all time favourite). Now that you mention it, I’ll put my photos up – probably on a personal site (referenced within my Bio on VanajaTheFilm.com).
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Q10.
Anything about the artistes, writers and photographers who have excited you, past and present? You mentioned Raghu Rai and Sebastiao Salgado in a previous interview. Interestingly Mira Nair also talks of a strong influence by these men and also Gilles Peres….

A:I was recently looking at some work of Raghubir Singh’s – and wondering why I responded the way I did. Somethings are obvious – he was at the right place at the right time with the right eye – but if you look closely, you’ll see it’s also the relationships of the objects within the frame that’s interesting. The reality seems different when you notice these juxtapositions. Could they be called surreal? I’m not sure, but I’m planning on trying them out in my next film.
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Q11.
How much of an Engineer is left in you? Has the training helped you overtly in any way with film making? Of course whatever we learn is never wasted ……….but it is curious that so many engineers should en masse shift loyalty to Film. Especially Indian Film makers, more so in AP!!

A:Enough to assert itself during decision time. Engineering and Filmmaking are not oil and water – they’re completely soluble in each other. With Filmmaking going Digital, there’s no question that an engineering background supports filmmaking.
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Q12.
Was the choice of the protagonist in VANAJA deliberate in the sense that did you consciously want a ‘low caste, girl child, who is sexually exploited by an upper caste male while learning a traditional dance form’……….it seems like a perfect set up for a foreign award! It has all the selling points of exotica and how the ‘West’ perceives us.

A:It is also a fact that such incidents occur almost daily, but how much of it was a tactic and how much of it true concern?
There’s probably no better recipe for disaster than using Awards for motivation. You see it all around, not just in the film world, but in the corporate world too – people that focus exclusively on achievement, they talk nothing but about it, that want to tell you in every sentence how they could have been, why they weren’t, how they are, and what they were. If you don’t love the fight, the journey, the discovery, and art for art’s sake, you’re better off selling groceries. Why? Because you can never be guaranteed your outcome.

Let’s look at the other part – why a low-caste girl child who’s raped? Why is it any of my concern? Well.. let’s extrapolate.. so if the US and Iraq fight, why bother? If there’s a cyclone, why donate? If your neighbour screams at night, why rise? None of these directly impact you… Or do they?

But let’s look from another angle. Shouldn’t a low-caste girl-child who was raped be making this movie? Sure, but in what way is VANAJA less valid/ different? Consider a Doctor who knows a patient from childhood giving him an injection, versus another who doesn’t, giving the same injection. In what way are the injections different to the patient? Is that difference Subjective or Objective? I would argue that even though my level of “concern” would lie on a spectrum somewhere in between the rape victims and the indifferent doctors, the “Intrinsic Value of the Work” is subjective-enough a criterion that my effort is justified.

And on a final note, if you don’t care enough, don’t do it. It will show. If you do care enough, do it. It will show.
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Q13.
How do you shoot? Do you list out your shots/shot order the previous day and talk to your DP and have it all set? Or do you let some unknown elements creep in?
I first heard of you on the sets of MayaBazaar [ Mohan K Indraganti's film after GrahaNam ] in Summer of 2006.
The crane guys at our unit showed up after shooting for you with T-shirts of VANAJA and were raving about how organized you were, how you gave all of them your shooting schedule for the day ……how you never made them set up the crane and then change your mind……..how the shoot went too smoothly in their experience!.
Comments.

A:I’m very methodical. Most of the scenes were storyboarded to death well before the shooting began, but as Principal Photography neared and things began to crash and burn, I was forced to shot-list after the day’s shoot, using the storyboards as a guide so that the crew would have an easier time reading the material. Eventually though, as watching and capturing dailies caught up with me during the night, I was forced to use my gut on a couple of scenes and just wing it. Interestingly, since this came late in the shoot and experience had set in, I can barely tell the difference between the scenes now. Even so, I’d prefer not to do it again.
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Q14.
Tell us something about how Film Festivals operate. I believe you had a tough time breaking into those? What should a new comer concentrate on vis-à-vis festivals?

A:If you’re a “foreign film” it’s really quite simple: You have to get into one of the big four: Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto. Sending them a DVD can feel like posting your letter in a well. But just somtimes, the well might talk. There’s no way to persuade it to do so, especially if you’re small fry. But just try sending in your work early and making something that you care about and have put a lot of effort into.
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Q15.
A little about funding and distribution? This is the bane of most film makers today, making a film is no longer an issue, but how to fund it right so it is distributed intelligently…….also is your mother a part of Varija Films, she is on your website….?

A:A big problem, and it seems to be getting worse. Reality shows, soaps and cool-hangouts are the bane of most serious cinema now-a-days. There has been a paradigm shift in public attitudes toward life in general.
In India, the problem is compounded by the fact that TV is not a major outlet for art-house cinema – only theaters are. And filling a 500 seater is not easy- if not impossible. The system is built for big budgets and big stars. What is needed are small theaters distributed evenly since traffic congestion dissuades all except the most enthusiastic. Either that, or a TV channel like Arte in Europe that concentrates on serious work.

Unfortunately, for most first-timers, there is no choice but to scrounge and make a film that is compelling not just in artistic value, but has commercial merit as well. To achieve that, strengthen the story and the actors work – they’ll get you a significant portion of the way there, and both are doable and well within your control.
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Q16.
Some Telugu and Hindi films that you have enjoyed in the past. It has probably been a while since you saw any films other than your own!!

A:True, it’s been a very long time. I still love old Telugu Mythological films. Maya Bazaar (the original) was a big favorite. Sujatha and Mughal-e-Azam in Hindi/ Urdu – just to name a few.. but even then, I remember reacting especially to the songs.
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Q17.
Could you tell us what next? Not in terms of films but as a person who has won such a prestigious award and caught the attention of the world audience? Is all this distracting? Giving interviews, traveling for screenings, how do you find the time? Do you enjoy it?

A:Not so much distracting as time consuming. I’m finding it very hard to work on the next film, since there’s still so much still to do on VANAJA, and it just seems to grow and grow. There’s just two of us who speak English reasonably well in our 2-cent home office, and I’m desperately looking for ways to clone myself.
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Q18.
What is your US schedule like right now?Also the screening venues/dates of VANAJA?

A:The Website has all the festivals we’ve played/ been accepted at. I built this site just before Toronto, and I’ve recently uploaded a Forum where people can interact with us.

Thank You very much Rajnesh, I am sure people will get in touch with you via the Forum on your website, especially after they watch the film.Kavita