Interview: Director Arun Vaidyanathan

POSTED BY Wesley Scoggins, 14 November 2008

 

This week I was fotunate enough to be able to talk to Independent Filmmaker Arun Vaidyanathan. He recently completed his first feature length film "Achchamundu! Achchamundu!", which also features the talents of Emmy Award Winning actor John Shea. He's got some great advice since he's been in the position that many of us have been in as a struggling filmmaker producing our own shorts, and I think has some insight he can share with us all especially those of us who'd like to eventually produce our own features. So check out the interview below, and after you're done stop by Arun's Production Blog so you can stay updated about his upcoming film. 

Wes: Can you tell me a little about how you first got involved in filmmaking, and what first inspired you to start making your own films?

Arun: Most of the interviews start with this question?  I was a big fan of films right from my childhood. I am from a remote town in South India, called Sirkali, where our only entertainment was watching films. My parents encouraged all my extra curricular activities. I used to sing, dance, act in stage plays right from the age of four and I never had any kind of stage fear. As I grew up, the one thing which fascinated than all the other arts was Films. I wanted to associate myself with this industry and the first thing which came into my mind was ‘Acting’. Slowly I learnt that director is the one who is responsible for a film, I fell in love with that craft. As I am always fond of expressing my views and writing is one of my favorite craft, obviously I became a director.

You recently wrapped shooting of a feature length film, "Achchamundu Achchamundu", can you tell me a little bit about it, and how you developed the story?

‘Achchamundu! Achchamundu!’ is a story which was lingering in my mind for almost three years. I was always thinking about this story and took my own sweet time in creating this screenplay. Actually, I wrote the first draft in five days since I pretty much knew what comes next as soon as I started writing the script. This film is going to address some sensitive global issues in a thriller format and the spark came from our own society. This is one of the fictions where the audience will relate to the core issue and I am very confident about this.

Prasanna and Sneha are playing lead roles in the film. They are accomplished actors from South India and Sneha has completed 50 films. She recently won ‘Best actress’ award in India by the state government for one of her Telugu film. Prasanna is a natural actor and he is playing ‘Senthilkumar’. John Shea, an Emmy award winner is playing the villain role in this film and he is awesome! I am very excited for him and curious to see how my Indian audience reacts to his role. I am also introducing a child actress Akshaya Dinesh in this film and she plays an important role in the film. Music is composed by Karthik Raja, who is the son of Ilaiyaraja, a legendary composer from India. His music is going to be an important factor in this film.

The primary language of the film will be in Tamil and we are planning to release it outside India with subtitles. I am of a strong belief that good films can break language barriers and cross boundaries. The entire experience is going to be a roller coaster ride for audience. This film is going to be a good marriage between East and West in terms of content, execution and exhibition.

Having completed projects of various sizes in both the United States and India, how have your experiences differed?

Honestly, I have worked only in USA till this point of time although I know how Indian film industry works because of my constant reading and some of the friends in the Indian film industry. Although I have done my short films in USA, this is my first well budgeted feature with popular actors from both India and US. The story happens in an Indian family setup where they are immigrants in USA but the problems they face are very universal. This film doesn’t deal with any of the immigrant’s problems like getting a green card, being an immigrant in a new country and all those clichéd, done to death subjects. Ang Lee, the director of "Wedding Banquet", "Pushing Hands", "Eat Drink Man Woman", and "Brokeback Mountain" is one of my greatest inspirations. What he did with Chinese protagonists in his initial films whereas the story unfolds in an US backdrop, I have tried it with Indian protagonists.

I have many influences when it comes to directors, I am a big fan of Stanley kubrick, Roman Polanski, Frank Darabont and so many great filmmakers, but I am not adapting anybody’s style. This is more of a psychological thriller! The main difference between Indian and US film industry is the amount of pre-production and planning which goes before the production. This is one of the few Indian films where the actors have been given full bound scripts, asked to do rehearsals, blocking and all the good stuff which will enable good performance and in turn make a good film. Both the industries has their plus and minus and I am blessed since I can pick and choose the good from both the countries.

 

Being one of the first directors to have completed a feature in India using the Red One system, what were your experiences like dealing with a digital workflow compared to working with film? Why exactly did you choose to use the camera over other digital systems, and over film?

My film needs a colorful, vibrant start and I wanted to show US in a totally different way to my Indian audience. US is not only about New York City, yellow cabs, the Statue of Liberty, the Grand Canyon, and the Golden Gate bridge. I wanted to show the Greenery side, country roads, day to day life.  The movie slowly turns to a darker nature and this color palette plays a huge role in the story. I wanted to go with high definition since the story demanded this format. I wanted to prove my producers that HD filmmaking is as good as stock, if you have right kind of tools and DP. That’s the main reason I did my short film ‘One Soul’ in HD, which went on to WIn ‘Best cinematography’ in the Terror Film Festival, Philadelphia. When we were doing research, we also read about RED ONE and Jon Labrie, who read my script, was also very instrumental in our choice since he worked closely with Peter Jackson on Lord of the Rings and Peter Jackson had just wrapped a film shot with RED ONE at that time.

 

As a director, I am not that bothered about the format since story and screenplay plays a huge role in any film than the formats. As one of the producers, I am very happy that this format not only enhances our story but it also saved tons of money. The digital workflow makes your job so easy that you can review the shots then and there. The confidence level of a director increases with digital workflow since you are seeing the story unfolding as and when the shot is done.

There have been a lot of statements regarding the "death" of film for a long time, with digital cinematography developing more every year, do you see digital cameras as eventually replacing film completely, or do you think film will always have some purpose to serve?

I don’t think film will die and I don’t want that format to die. Film is expensive but it has its own charm, especially for fantasy, and supernatural films, but digital is going to take over film big time and film has to be really competitive in terms of price. Independent producers and directors are going to be more supportive to the digital formats since raising money to make films is one of the worst battle each and every filmmaker go through! I am hoping after my film, there will be more experimental subjects, and themes from my part of India because of the reduced cost factor.

How long did it take you to complete "Achchamundu", and how did the complexity and resources necessary to undertake it compare to your previous projects?

‘Achchamundu!’ was primarily wrapped in 28 days and we had three days of patch work with a skeleton crew. We had a pre-production schedule for almost two months and I was ready with my storyboards, and ideas. Since I am also the screenwriter, I pretty much knew most of the things I was expecting from each and every department. There were so many complex things in the script and as we were breaking the script into individual elements, I was a little nervous.

My producers supported me with enough resources considering this is a small budget, independent film. D.P Chris Freilich, and Art Director Elizabeth Jones had massive challenges in supporting my vision and they were very enthusiastic in the whole process. I can never compare the resources when it comes to my short films and feature. In short films, I used to arrange for catering, pick up actors, move the props as and when needed and in the mean time, direct the film as well.  On a feature, I had support in the above areas, where I had to concentrate only on filmmaking. Directing a feature length film is one of the most stressful jobs and you need to really really love this craft. Who wants to miss family, loose sleep, handle actors, people's egos, maintain time, make sure you are not crossing the budget, and also tell a story with available tools and resources? Directors should be one of the craziest people in this whole universe and I love being a director. 

The Internet has definitely changed a lot of things, especially in regards to allowing filmmakers anywhere in the world to both collaborate, but get their work out there and allow anyone in the world to see it. How has the internet helped you get your work out there, and where do you see things headed as technology continues to alter how things work?

Internet is one of the boons in this current scenario. Triggerstreet, an online community founded by Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti is one of my bigger sources of inspiration. I learnt a lot from that website, made some great friends who share the same passion and they gave independent filmmakers like me, a platform to showcase their short films. You not only showcase them, you get reviews and also have a chance to be part of their festival voted by audience. My short film ‘The Séance’ was one of the official selections in their festival and it gave me huge confidence.

I am also blogging about my film experiences, and can you believe that I found my sound supervising editor Kunal Rajan, thru my blog?  He is a young guy who has worked in some independent Hollywood films with a good resume and commented in my blog, wanting to meet me. I said ‘Okay, can you fly down to NJ and meet me with your reel?. If I like your work, I will recommend your work to my producers and he did fly to meet me from LA’. When you see such kind of passion, dedication and talent, you feel how blessed you are with this internet era. If the internet was not there, this could have never happened!

The kind of role Youtube plays in this US election is one of the biggest examples, how influential the internet is!  There is no need for a filmmaker to wait for festivals to recognize him. If you have talent, thanks to internet…you will be heard and seen!

Many Directors seem to belong to one of two camps, either pro-filmschool or anti-filmschool, with talented filmmakers having emerged from both camps. What advantages (if any) do you see in getting a formal education in film, and do you think that with filmmaking information being available for free on-line that it will have an effect on the amount of cinematically literate people and thus an effect on filmmaking in general?

Why should somebody dislike the idea of film schools? Film schools are necessary. I won’t say that you have to learn filmmaking to be a filmmaker but if you have the means and opportunity to learn something towards this craft, why not use that opportunity? There is a huge difference between watching films and making films. For making films, you need to understand the science behind it and where else you can learn the details in such an orderly manner? I came across some wonderful books, and films because of NYFA. I met some wonderful passionate people because of my schooling experience.

Although, film schools can only teach you the process, but it can never launch a filmmaker. As a filmmaker, you should know how to apply what you have learned. Getting your foot on a professional set is not easy and film schools can give you that experience through short films. Just like by getting a paper and pen, you can never become a writer. You should have a wild imagination, brains and an urge to express to become a writer. Film schools are just resources and it lies on an individual for how they use those resources. If somebody asks me, ‘Do you think film schools are helpful to be filmmaker’, my answer will be a big ‘YES!’.

Also, how do you see the proliferation of cheap computers and HD cameras having an effect on the filmmaking process? Will making a film becoming easier and cheaper, how will filmmaker have to adapt to get their work noticed in an increasingly "crowded" film environment?

Regarding its effect on filmmaking in general, I will say this. When blogging came into picture, each and everybody became a blogger and started writing for the fun of it. After some time, enthusiasm died and only passionate writers withstood time and are able to attract visitors. Having camcorders and an editting system doesn’t make a filmmaker …having good ideas and the ability to translate them onto the screen does!

Getting noticed has become very easy nowadays. Thanks to film festivals, internet outlets…the process is easier.

And finally, what are you working on next, and where can people stay informed about your work?

I am still in the post-production process of ‘Achchamundu! Achchamundu!’, and we are nearing completion. As far as my next project goes, I am thinking of making ‘The Séance’, into a full fledged American main stream horror film. Currently, I don’t sweat about it since we have a huge responsibility of selling this film and making sure ‘AA’ reaches wide audience. Investing time and energy towards a film like ‘AA’ needs lot of guts since it doesn’t follow any of the usual formula of Indian films and I thank my producers Ananth Govindan, Asma Hashmi, Ramzan Lakhani and Srinivasan for their support in my vision. I have a website which will be updated then and there with my work details and its Arunhere.com.

I wish each and every aspiring filmmaker out there reading this interview only one thing – “Never stop dreaming! Whatever struggle you come across in this journey, face it with courage! One day, you will realize...It’s all worth it!’”

Thank you very much Mr. Vaidyanathan, it was a pleasure talking with you. 

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