Spielberg
Articles usually begin with a quote or so I have heard. I wanted to search for a quote from the
director I inspire from the most. Unfortunately it seems he isn't very keen on quoting himself.
But then I found this one, and I just loved it. Why? Because that shows how passionate he is
about something he does. You really think he likes the smell of the film? I wouldn't know
because I never tried to smell a film. In fact I don't think I ever saw a film reel, unless we
consider the old Kodak camera I got as a birthday present at the bloom of my teenage.
Although I am not sure if it is the same as the one used in the movies. The important point is,
for student film makers in India, it would be a dream to shoot on a film camera. All we can do
is, get the best digital video camera possible and try to achieve the best color layout suited for
our movie in the editing software. The Art of filmmaking is beyond a doubt one of the most
auspicious arts for the past ten generations or so and will continue to be for at least another 10
generations. Although any sensible person in India would disagree with me if I say that all the
films that have ever been made were directed with a vision to create the most beautiful art
possible. We in India very well know that most movies are made to please the audience and
grab commercial success. For me however, as a director of two independent student movies,
success is when I stand over the stage with the people that helped me make the movie and
audience rising to give a standing ovation for the work we have done. For me the success is
when a person I barely ever knew talks to me about the movie I have made. I even love
criticism, because that means I made something that people are talking about. But don't get me
wrong, I am no different, I want to win the critics over too. But the bottom line is I make
movies that I like and I would watch. Well you must have noticed I talk big, as if I was the
director of The Dark Knight. Well no, I have just made two movies so far. One was a mid length
horror movie called the 'Hostel Myths: The Restricted Room', it was showcased at the cultural
festival of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Gwalior called the Aurora. I was in
second year back then and that is when I tasted the success I was talking about. We got a
standing ovation for our work and the college audience loved it. Most of my juniors and seniors
came to know me and the hostel myths cast was on cloud 9. But being an engineer and making
movies doesn't really go well. I sucked at the grades that year, well I suck at studies in general
but that year was specially brutal. The story in the first part ended at a point where I
announced a sequel but due to some unfortunate events in our University we never were able
to shoot it. And now I doubt I would ever be able to make it since all my trusted batch mates
and friends are busy building up their career and I do not want to ruin it for them. The second
movie was a short film called 'The Contingency', which I made for a short film competition held
at a film festival in our College. It was awarded the second place and was not much of a
success in terms of audience. Although I was very satisfied with the second, more so then for
the first one. The first movie was for a broad audience and there was a lot of adrenalin
pumping involved but the second was for people who like interwoven tales and something
deep. Neither of the movies' however were perfect, as a Director you see your movie two dozen
times and if you are the editor too, well let's just say your day to day life becomes a movie in
itself. The point is you know all the faults and errors, and even though I did my best to remove
them all but it is sort of impossible to remove certain things for it may need a change in the
whole plot itself or worse. Shooting once is bad enough, twice would be suicide. The shooting
time is probably the most fun part as well as the most hectic part. The day hostel myths was
set to be screened was full of anticipation and nervousness for both me and my crew. It was to
be shown just after 'kavi sammellan' during Aurora. As the time drew near and I was shaking.
There were only 30 to 40 people in an auditorium of 400 as the clock reached 11pm. My co-
director and friend panicked, he said maybe no one was interested. I told him to wait for 15
minutes, people never get to class in time either, what makes you think they will come for the
movie in time. Even though I said that, I was pretty nervous myself. He had gone outside the
auditorium to see where was everyone, in 5 minutes he came rushing back and said 'Kavi
sammellan' just ended, people were coming. And before we knew it, the auditorium flooded. Oh
boy, such an intense moment that was. I was the host of the evening and I am not sure what
came out of my mouth. I began the movie and sat back with a few friends, with the first break
of laughter my tension eased. And the next 45 minutes were magic, every clap, every laughter
just made me forget all the foolish mistakes we had done. That day I realized why they had a
place in the slam books called the best day of your life. And since that day I wanted to make
something bigger and something perfect. But unfortunately, the ideas that come to my mind
are large scale and time consuming. I do not want to compromise with the quality of the work
and thus, I have not been able to fulfill my dream so far. Another great dilemma is the
expectation of parents. I have always loved computers and technology and I think I can
become a decent IT engineer. The success rate in making independent films is very less, while I
am ready to take a chance I cannot drag my friends into fulfilling my dream and kicking their
career. Though I believe this is not an end to my dream, just a temporary halt. It would be
interesting to see where life takes me. My advice to the readers, if you have the right resources
and trusted friends, do make us great movies. Let no one say that Indian movies lack the art
and always remember what Abraham Lincoln said "If I had 8 hours to chop a tree down, I'd
spend the first six sharpening my axe".
Rahul Meena
M. tech IT student,
Indian Institute of Information Technology & Management,
Gwalior
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