From the Director's Chair – Vedanti
Contributed By - By Sneha Ranebennur, AZIndiaTimes correspondent
As James Cameron once said, "There are many talented people who haven’t fulfilled their dreams because they over thought it, or they were too cautious, and were unwilling to make the leap of faith". But this was not the case with Rahul Ram, director of the upcoming Kannada movie Vedanti - the murder mystery.
Rahul, a software professional from California, USA has fulfilled his dream of making his first ever movie Vedanti which is ready to hit the theaters in US on June 16th, 2018. The film is made completely in California, USA and all the cast and crew are Kannadigas living in USA. You all must have heard a well-known proverb "There's is a first time for everything". And this was the first time for everyone working on the movie. The actors, directors, producers including the crew. None of the members associated with the movie had any real time experience working on a feature film. Rahul didn't go to film school, but he went to the movies. If you are determined to learn, no one can stop you. Such is Rahul who says he learnt film making through online classes. Film making is truly a fine art and a collaborative team effort.
Join me in conversation with the director himself and let’s get to know his side of the story, after all film making is all about story telling in the form of motion picture.
1. Why did you move from making short films to feature film?
Rahul: I always wanted to enter main stream film making and short films were just the entrance gate for that. Short films have taught me a lot on the process of film making. It was a playground for my experiments and to learn from my mistakes, since it was on a small scale.
2. Tell us why your script is paramount in the movie?
Rahul: I think for any movie, script is the king. For a King, there is no point in having great army or great ammunitions or any aesthetics of that sort when he doesn’t have an idea on how they could be implemented. Likewise, script will always play key role in how director would narrate a story and how he would implement the techniques of film making from paper to production.
3. Background score of Vedanti is good; can you please talk about it?
Rahul: Films are audio-visual presentations. Audience can tolerate shoddy video, but never poor audio. My team and I have worked very hard, irrespective of the scale of the project, to make sure the audio, be it sound or background score, is high on standards.
When scoring for Vedanti, Srikant Krishna, my MD had a great understanding of what I exactly wanted from this project. We have put in close to 7 months of effort to make sure the background score is on par with any other *wood films.
4. Auditions/screen tests - how many did you go through?
Rahul: None. When it came to Vedanti casting, most of my cast were performing on stage when I was planning to cast them. I had seen their live shows to judge their potential and approached them for collaboration. Most of my casting for Vedanti was based on mixture of talent and passion in the actors.
5. Making a theatrical always puts a great deal of stress on career/finances/friendships. Did your team ever face these and if so, how they managed?
Rahul: The major stress was on the time management and work load management. Unlike other film makers, I had a proper day job and all I could do was use my rest of the time for Vedanti. If not for help from my friends, Vedanti would never have been completed as expected.
6. Making a movie is like a dream for many. Can you talk about your story and what can inspire local youth?
Rahul: I always wanted to tell stories. When it came to film making, I feel understanding the craft plays key role, as all your efforts in making the movie is revolving around how technically sound you are. I knew with proper budget one could get the quality of production but telling an engaging story was purely an art and I am lucky to have been trained from great Hollywood screenwriters. (Thanks to all my online courses) I also knew editing was as important as writing a story. A director who fits in-between writer and editor in the process, becomes asset when he has sound knowledge in all three departments. I trained myself for a year on film editing too. All the learning has been experimented in Vedanti and I am taking a lot of learning from my current project to my next.
7. Final Notes on what people can expect from Vedanti?
Rahul: Vedanti is carefully tailor-made for all the detective or crime TV series lovers. Although Vedanti fits in as a feature film, the theme and approach has been done as for any pilot episode. If this pilot experiment kicks off well, you will expect many mind-blowing projects from same team.
We all wait in anticipation for upcoming movies by famous directors and actors. May be this movie does not have big-known director or actors but with desire and determination nothing is impossible. Encouragement for the young and budding talent is the best support one can give. If you have been following the social media trends recently, Sunil Chhetri the Indian football captain said that people wait for someone to become a Hero, worship the Hero, talk about his whole journey only when he has become the Hero and is celebrated. It’s very important that when someone is trying to become something we must give that person adequate amount of support and encouragement. Therefore, go and watch the movie with your family, neighbors and their neighbors and so on... sans any low-high expectations, fill the theaters and enjoy the movie with your favorite drink and popcorn and allow the movie to make its own mark on your heart and mind.