Fourth
Wall
Right from the time I could utter words, I found myself conversing with characters on larger-than-life theatre screens, or sneakily walking across tinted sarees owned by neighbours – all because of my urge to interpret patterns.
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This need to make sense of the world by connecting things that don’t necessarily need connecting, led me to discover storytelling at an age when I could neither spell nor define the word yet. Becoming the character and narrating dialogues might have been a tool for entertainment for every guest that showed up, but these characters stayed longer than they ever did.
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As I grew up, it became obvious to me that stories are my way of making meaning out of this world, sense out of the spaces I lived in, and connections with the people whose path I crossed.
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In this Fourth Wall of a safe space, I found storytelling.
In the picture: 2-year-old me on my house terrace circa1994
Close Up
My Vision
I believe that every character we meet or story we seek, unravels more of ourselves to us.
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I feel that every story we associate with needs to reflect the emotions of who we are, who we seek to be, and who we want to become.
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I hope to find fellow beings who are on this journey of seeking stories that push them to re-discover themselves and everything that this life has to offer.
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Logline
As a Creative Director, I collaborate with Filmmakers, Writers, Directors, HODs, and Crew of Film, Series, Brand & Illustration Books, to act as the medium who visualises, brainstorms, negotiates, monitors and stitches the story from script to screen.
Life Script
I am a self-proclaimed fiction addict who refuses to sleep before gulping words from a novel, or devouring dialogues from a good old movie.
This passion for stories manifested into my recent stint at the film production house Guru Films, as a Creative Director for a period of over 3 years. Being at Guru taught me that creativity requires you to strip your soul - one layer at a time. In every project that I worked on, I discovered deeper truths about myself, the people I worked with, and the stories we were telling - ranging from feature films to documentaries, series to illustrations books, & everything in between.
Before Guru Films, I worked in the advertising world as a copywriter for over two years at Rediffusion Y&R, Adept Artvertising (now called ‘Foolish’) and J. Walter Thompson for brand like PepsiCo, Dunkin Donuts, Nestle, Nikon, Amway and Snapdeal.
I believe that there is a need to access storytelling, since it is crucial to engage with the audience in the corporate space as well. To delve deeper into this thought, for the past 4 years, I have been teaching multiple courses on Storytelling for a varied set of students at The Vedica Scholars Programme for Women, Indian School of Public Policy, Naropa Fellowship, & JK Lakshmipat University, as well as taking one-time workshops at some of my previous workplaces including SoulTree & Guru Films.
After my first Master's degree from Delhi School of Communication, my thirst to learn more pushed me into a second Master's degree from Vedica Scholars Programme for Women, an MBA with Liberal Arts, where I learnt the art of bringing the otherwise ‘out-of-the-box’ into the mainstream; into heated conversations and everyday decision-making, to connect the dots from insight to action in the stories I witness and create today.
Showcase Recent Work
FILMS & DOCUMENTARIES
At Guru Films, I played the role of a Creative Director for Films set in the genre of Romcom, Fantasy, and Drama. Working closely to monitor, navigate and execute the creative vision of the project with the directors, writers, crew and cast on the project, I immersed myself in the end-to-end production for these stories. Most of all, I learnt, made mistakes, and re-learnt, most in the phases of pre-production and post-production.
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One of the most challenging yet engaging projects was the Pre-Production of the International Feature Film "Chennai Story", where I worked closely with the Director/Writer Philip John and Writer/Actor Nimmi Harasagama.
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Other feature stories include a Bollywood Sports Drama and a Dark Romcom. While walking through characters of many fictional stories, my left brain was equally tapped into, with the Non-Fiction stories that I developed which included Documentaries ranging from the educational "Namami Gange" done exclusively for the Indian Government, to two exploratory series that delve into human behaviour.
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© All rights reserved to Guru Films Pvt Ltd.
SERIES & BOOKS
One unique story as a part of the Edutainment wing of Guru Films, where I led the Creative Team, was for the Illustration Book called Ayurveda Chronicles - a story that explores the Ancient Science of Ayurveda retold through the eyes of a young girl, Amala. This will always stay close to my heart as it aligns with my own belief system - healing through self-care leads to holistic growth and contentment.
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At the production house, I was also responsible for a set of Web Series in the Telugu industry, including a Thriller Drama developed for a major OTT platform.
© All rights reserved to Guru Films Pvt Ltd.
“I believe that stories are incredibly important, possibly in ways we don't understand, in allowing us to make sense of our lives, in allowing us to escape our lives, in giving us empathy and in creating the world that we live in.”
Neil Gaiman