BAD HAIR DAY--MY FIRST CUT

BAD HAIR DAY-(MY FIRST CUT)
My first five minute short film, selected by Sony Pix for a reality show, “Gateway to Hollywood”, put me in the league of finalists contesting to be a Hollywood director.

Tina, a 30 year old woman, obsessed with her bad hair day woes, discusses her recent hair cut nightmare with her therapist.

I would rather not finecomb through the details of every waking minute to make this film happen. I think labour pains are best borne alone and happily forgotten the minute the baby is born.

So it’s not the making that I want to share here but some intangible insights which might give all the filmmakers something to relate with and all the budding filmmakers more reason to simply go out there and shoot. So here is the list of learnings:

That, even if you don’t know a thing about lights and camera, as long as you are clear about the action, you can tell your story..well..at least in a short film.

That, one should not limit oneself to one mode of expression. 

Simply indulging myself with a new medium, has made me explore a new dimension to self expression. Just like you sing a besura tune and do an impulsive jig, once in a while and that once in a while is a hell of a joyous moment for you, no matter how ridiculous it is to the onlooker. Who cares?

That, they say, love happens. I say, love happens ….with yourself when you simply jump and do what your heart tells you..as you discover a whole new side to yourself, your senses of sight and sound heightened to another level.

That, there is no satisfaction more than the silent sharing of the same thought and vision as several pairs of eyes watch the actor perform, right from the lightman to the DOP to the editor to the sound recordist…all breaths held and transfixed by just one emotion that the shot is trying to convey and each one putting in his/her energy towards transferring that emotion onto celluloid.

A communion so powerful, leaves a sense of wonder that how is it possible that a team, complete strangers before the film, suddenly and briefly bond better than lifetime partners.

That, filmmaking is the best form of addiction; chocolates and cigarettes don’t even come a close second. The highs and lows are ones to die for or rather live for.

That, patience is your virtue, perseverance is your vice and only passion can help you sustain both.

That, when it’s all over, you realize it’s just a film, not your life- an illusion is broken once again.

That, if this is what I feel during the making of a mere five minute film, I shudder to think what can possibly be the experience of a full fledged filmmaker whose labour of love is tossed around by all and sundry, right from the autorickshaw driver to the armchair critic, and simply declared a flop or a hit.

I would rather give this thought a miss. You need a heart of steel, nerves of steel and guts of steel to even go into that space.

So dear readers, while I obsess over the grey strands this film has given me (sigh), you go, take a look at a woman having a bad hair day. Of course, I will understand when you say how lousy she looks with her current haircut.

I will understand some more if you also tell me how to fix it.