The Proverbial Break has landed.
iView Author:
MADHAV MATHUR
(Singapore)
E-mail:
WITHHELD
Title – The Proverbial Break has landed
I am a stranger in my own life. Things around me are not the same. I believe I am experiencing what the elders call, euphoria.Most of you must be thinking something along the lines of “who the hell is this guy?”
My name is Madhav. I live and work in Singapore. By day I work in a bank and by night, I write and make films.
After the PFCOne competition, where we submitted a film called “Puddle Jumper”, I mustered all my courage and approached Anurag with my idea for a film. That’s right, I met Anurag through PFC. I have written a book and think that it would kick monumental butt as a movie. Fortunately Anurag feels the same way about it.
We discussed the idea through email at first. Emails became phone calls and phone calls led to air tickets. In a sequence that could in itself be an ode to gangster movies of old, we planned to meet on the roadside in Mumbai, where I would transfer to his car and then we’d travel to Pune together. As I ran to his car with my meager belongings and my laptop I knew something unforgettable was about to transpire.
He greeted me as one would greet an old friend. He is an unassuming man. We sat inside the car and were soon on our way to the 6th Pune International Film Festival (PIFF). Anurag was on the jury. We chatted a bit. Like an excited schoolboy I talked about my inspirations and what I loved about movies. We then exchanged hard copies, much to my delight and obvious surprise he handed me a new draft of Dev D. I handed him my book, which like an ass I had printed in not the friendliest font. Dev D, in its brutal-unapologetic take on relationships today was a treat to read. The visuals that the script conjures up are going to leave an indelible mark on viewers. I shared this with him after I finished it. He smiled and told me that a lot of it was still being worked on and that this is only a fraction of what will be “up there”. He went back to reading my work, not saying much while going through it. I was a little nervous and offered to summarize it for him. He refused outright and told me not to talk. He just said he liked what he had read. Still, tension gripped me. This is the kind of stuff people kill and die for. To have someone like him read your work, start to finish, without the challenge of you shortening and “presenting” your two hundred pages in as many words. This is the kind of luck you read about.
We made it out of the insane jam leading up to the expressway to be greeted by the smooth road, rolling hills on either side, crisp blue sky above and the Sun glaring in my face, as I read Dev D. There is a lot of humor in the script. I laughed out loud a number of times, but contained my outbursts, not to disturb Anurag.
We stopped on the way and grabbed some vada pau and paan. The ride continued thereafter. It was surreal. We talked and I learnt more about his projects and films. There is so much in store for us as an audience. For instance, Gulal is going to blow people away. I talked about my plans in Singapore too, till we reached the beautiful city of Pune. No one in Pune knew the way around and we spent much time on the road looking for the hotel.
I was treated really well at the Opening ceremony and at the hotel. I went where Anurag went! The man refuses to sign autographs. Upon much pleading from fans he said “that’s what stars do…not me”. He offered to shake hands and talk at length instead. Autographs were embargo though. We discussed my script on the way back in the car and for a good while at the hotel before heading to the Opening party at E Square. Things were firmed up. It is going to happen. In a short span of thirty minutes or so a very cool production house was also brought into the talks. Things were moving fast. I couldn’t believe my ears. I started pacing up and down in the room, as he talked to them on the phone. The feeling is difficult to describe. If you have to ask, it’s a little like getting laid on a beach in heaven. Yeah.
We made our way to the party, where we met some fantastic people. I was introduced as a friend, as a guy who was going to work with Anurag. Cloud nine was miles below me.
Back at the hotel I was gifted a copy of Black Friday. I fought every urge in my system to have him autograph it. Given the tiring day we had had, we retired soon after. Needless to say, I did not sleep at all that night. I walked around in my room, bouncing off the walls. I cursed the time difference and regretted not being able to call my friends and team in Singapore to tell them the great news. It had to wait till morning. I didn’t speak to family in Delhi either, in fear of waking them up at the odd hour. I just thought about the first step in this unusual scheme of events. I started the book back in 2004. Ever since then she’s been through a lot: many changes, many passes. I remembered all the plays I’ve done. I made a mental list of all the things I’ve ever written. All the short films I’ve made. I tried some yoga techniques to get sleep, laughing at my efforts to calm the fuck down.
We firmed up more details of how we’d write the screenplay and how we’d take this baby further over breakfast. At 9AM the jury had to leave, for the first film of the festival.
We said our goodbyes and I thanked him. The jury took off and I went up to my room, to pack and leave for the airport.
It’s been more than a week and I still can’t sleep. I thank him and PFC for that, for having faith in my work and me.
Tags: PFCOne Film Festival
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
@ madhav –
let me be the first on PFC to congratulate you. hope things work out.
Damn! dabba. I wanted to be the first one to comment for this once.
@Madhav
way to go 
>-
Congratulations
I really liked Puddle Jumper especially the metaphor. In fact I used it in a story(if you can call it a story!) but in a slightly different way. Don’t worry, the story is only for the eyes of a select few and mainly for personal gratification.
@ neeraja –
u snooze u lose BayBee (please enunciate with strong indian accent)
he does do autographs madhav – for kids though
didnt know u were in singapore mate i was there for a day last week.
Thanks guys! Appreciate the support here! I’m looking forward to things like never before.
Also, Neeraja, would really like to read the story? Any way one can?
ummmn…Madhav, let me think about it. I guess, I owe it to you, because I used your idea. Will get back to you on this in few days.
But I should warn you that I am really a bad writer :D in fact, this is my first attempt at writing something that’s close to a story.
Madhav – awesome!! congrats! And we are waiting..
Madhav,
Congratulations!!! Wishing everythin goes well!!!
Congrats Amigo. Vaya con dios.
Madhav mathur .. congrats man !!! and all the best.
well written !! congratulations . waiting for more
Madhav man that’s great! The best of luck to you, this is the begginning of some great things to come…
Congratulation Madhav! Jealous pats on the back!
Waiting to here more from you…!
Madhav, your post is like the ’stuff of which dreams are made of’.
Well done and very well begun too:)>-
congrats madhav ……way to go !
I know Madhav and I know Anurag Kashyap movies. This is a great piece of news for both guys. I am happy for my friend as he deserves the big things like this one. Could not have happened to more talented a person. These guys will work together for many years, from my reading of their works. Good luck to you both! Please don’t be changing for others.
we won’t mel
sorry to intrude….but AK as in…
we wont change or we wont work???????? hope you meant we wont change
gr8 work PFC…i thik this is just the tip of the iceberg…i’m sure many talented filmmakers will get their “break” through PFC….:)