EXPERTS ARE FUNNY PEOPLE AND SHOULD WATCH “LOVE, WRINKLE-FREE” AND RELAX A BIT!

April 13, 2012 By EDITOR Leave a Comment

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I should be chewing my nails nervously since my first film as a Writer-Director is releasing in 40 days(on the 25th of May). But I am not chewing it since I have never enjoyed the taste of nails, though I have heard that it is an acquired taste. Another thing that I have never enjoyed is ‘expert opinion’. I can’t help but smile when I hear an expert – be it in films or cricket. I always find them funny.

In my profession, as an independent-spirited scriptwriter-director, I come across a lot of Experts. These are folks who talk so well that you wonder what they are doing in films. They would give Rahul Gandhi a run for his mom’s money if they joined politics. Also an amazing thing about these experts is that they know exactly “what does not work”, but not “what works”. If you ever get to meet one, mostly they reside in Andheri West, watch them speak passionately about why it is critical that your first film is a ‘safe’ one. They also smartly let you know that once you are more established, you can then make the movie that you always wanted to. Of course they don’t factor in for lifestyle diseases like Diabetes, Cancer, BP, High Cholesterol, and road accidents that have been known to play spoil sport with these plans. When I told them that the Mumbai potholes remind me of my wrinkles and impending death, and I wanted to make a few not-so-safe movies that I believed in, before one of these nicely designed potholes takes my life, they laughed at my ignorance. Experts laugh at ignorant people for a living. I love it when humans laugh. Even when the experts laugh, they look almost human to me. The sound of laughter is always a stress-buster. These experts need it the most. I hope they watch Love, Wrinkle-free, smile and go home happy.

Love, Wrinkle-free is a light-hearted comedy about how Urban Indian society is getting more and more obsessed with looks and smooth skin. I will be honest when I say that if not for these Experts, “Love, Wrinkle-free” wouldn’t have happened. I will always respect them for being so consistently negative since it used to have the opposite effect on me. Right from school days, I have believed that authority is to be rebelled against. Rebellion is fun. For a cause or for no cause. And naysayers like these guys had a role to play in pushing me, a simple middle-class guy staying in Vikhroli West, to try the impossible – to go ahead, raise funds, cast, negotiate, scout locations, get together a like-minded team, and direct my feature film. Adding to the experts’ worries, I wanted to make an Indian English movie. Recipe for Perfect Suicide, they said. I relaxed; at least I managed to extract one positive word from them “Perfect”.

Walking around in cities, and cities are where I have grown up all my life, be it Trivandrum (peaceful but limiting), Mumbai (crazy but potholes worry me), Bangalore (beer, girls and advertising days) or Pune(loneliness), I saw that the world around me was evolving very fast, but the movies and movie makers were mostly unable to keep pace with these changes. I remember closely watching advertising commercials and wondering how these guys are able to get it so right – the right language, the right casting, the right tone, so in touch with the times we are living in. They had their ears on the ground. Unlike in the film world. Here, the producer moves from his home to office to locations to home in cars without his feet touching the ground for more than a few steps. At times I wonder, it would be fun to find out as to how many steps they actually walk in a day. They might be walking more on their treadmill than on the ground. So that should possibly explain the lack of grounded scripts getting their investment!

So we should not be too surprised that Goa is shown the way it is in Hindi films. Goa for many of these “Experts” is a getaway to a world full of bikini-babes, free sex, drinks and drugs. When in Goa, these guys worry about the sun, their wrinkle-free complexion, and rent cars. Renting a car to escape the sun in Goa when you came all the way to bask in it and have some fun! So like I said earlier, these are seriously funny people. Except they are yet to realise this themselves!

Except Kabhi Ha Kabhi Na, and a few other films, can we think of any other movie that got the world of Goa right in the last 10-15 years? It has been my dream to make a Goan movie, and do justice to it. So I listened to my heart, used the collective power of my indie heart, brains and groins to write and direct a Goan movie. This fun-movie is releasing through PVR Directors Rare at a PVR near you. Please do go watch it and let me know what you think of it. The micro-mini budget and the 22 days of shooting didn’t stop us from bringing out a Goa which you would have never seen in Indian movies in the last 10 years.

Now, the Experts say, why make films in English in India? Britishers have left long back. I realised that too. In Love, Wrinkle-free, we used English since the characters are mostly from the Roman Catholic world. And they speak this language there. No rocket science! Also, I google searched and found that India has the second largest English speaking population in the whole world. And an Indian English newspaper, Times of India, is the largest circulated English language newspaper in the whole world. Not to forget the amount of ad commercials that is made in English. The reason one makes a film in Indian English is because many of us speak and understand this language. We might speak with an accent, but the fact is we get it and are moved emotionally, provided the story-telling is Indian. Love, Wrinkle-free is an Indian indie film in Indian English. Let the funny experts stick to their opinion, but the truth is that there are a sizable number of people who would not mind watching a well-made, fun-filled, entertaining Indian English film. That is my belief. If we had more advertising funds,we would have created more awareness about the movie. But I refuse to complain. I am thankful that my first movie is getting released. I am happy.

So the point of this blog is this. Do listen to the experts in the film world and in the media with a smile when they say why something “won’t work”. And use your own brains and heart, and come watch “Love, Wrinkle-free” in the first 3 days of its release. I can guarantee that you and your friends will have a fun time and will come out of the theatre with a smile on your face. Take care, rebel against experts, chew your nails only if you like it (and not because they say it improves your sperm count!). And yes, Love, Wrinkle-free always…Now see you on the 25th May at a PVR near you
Visit www.lovewrinklefree.com for more info.