Short Movies & Big Plans

Arun Vaidyanathan, an NRI filmmaker living in the US, visited Stuttgart with his horror-shortmovie „The Séance“ and is all set to start planning for his first Tamil feature. And careful plannung is very important for him. In this matter he is completely „un-Indian“.

The latest brain child of the ressourceful ex-patriate: Om Cinemas USA. Take American movies, especially Independent ones, and outsource them to Chennai for post production. It was not without irony (in a very loose Alanis Morissette definition of the term) when Arun discussed this option with John Jeffcoat, the American director of the movie „Outsourced“.

ISHQ:

You are screening your shortfilm „The Séance“ here in Stuttgart. What is the rational behind doing a shortfilm? Is it like a visiting card in the form of a film?

Arun Vaidyanathan: Yes. If you look at the big filmmakers in the West, in Hollywood, you will see that all of them have done shortfilms at the start of their career. If you want to be a filmmaker then do a film! You want to be a chef, then cook! Also you are more free to experiment in a shortfilm whereas with a featurefilm you always have to worry about covering the cost of production. My shortfilm was an exposé for a Horror featurefilm and was meant to attract financers. So what I did is, I took a scene close to the beginning of the feauture and created a short movie out of it. The makers of „The Saw“ also worked in this way. Through the shortfilm I have now attracted two potential investors.

You are an Indian filmmaker living and working in the United States. Do you have to fight any stereotypes there?

That's one good thing about America. There you have filmmakers from all over the world: Korean filmmakers, Chinese filmmakers... The only thing that matters to them is whether we are able to give them good scripts and good films. When I start on a film I show my films to my American crew because I want them to believe in the script and the movie.

So there is no hesitation when it comes to investing in an Indian film? Yesterday we talked about how most Indian productions outrun their budget...

They don't know anything about India.

Lucky for you then.

When I approach American investors I always have a complete script, I bring storyboards and complete preproduction and everything. I can't even imagine to go to the set without a ready script and rehearsals. Not just for budget reasons but also because the film should work! Filmmaking is 50% planning. If you plan well, it will show on screen. It's impossible that an actor arrives on the set with no idea of what he is going to perform and you just presume it will all magically fall into place. It doesn't work this way. A tennisplayer also excersises before he goes to Wimbledon. This is how I see it: If you plan 120%, then 80% will happen on the sets and 50% will show on the screen. If you start with planning at 50 % then only 10% of your original script will show on screen.
Improvisation is good but you need a foundation for that. The stronger the foundation the bigger the building can get. Also the crew will take you much more seriously when you bring in a carefully planned preproduction. We had 5 meetings alone for the lighting of „The Séance“ in order to get the mood right. These meetings saved us a lot of time on the sets later on which is important because sooner or later the crew will grow tired and if they are bored it will ultimately show on screen. In America they value time.

You are just about to start your feature, a suspense thriller. An Indian movie with Tamil actors. Won't there be difficulties because the Indian crew won't be used to your way of working?

I talked to Maddy (notes of the editor: the actor Madhavan of Rang de Basanti fame is no longer part of the project. New hero: Prasanna) about doing rehearsals and he said 'whatever you ask for. You want to do rehearsals then I don't have a problem with that'. He liked the script. I talked to him about my way of working and that I will not make the mistake to reach the sets and then I will have to explain to everybody what they will have to do. The thing is as long as you make sense, nobody will say no.

Do you already have producers for the film?

In filmmaking nothing is final until it opens in cinemas. I have three plans: A, B and C. Option C would be producing the film ourselves in co-production with an Indian production house. Option B would mean a company invests the money and also distributes the film. Option A would be a big budget project with another firm that has shown interest. Now I have to decide which option works best for me and who can make sure they won't interfere with the script side of the film.

In which language will it be shot?

It will be in Tamil and with subtitles. If small movies from Iran and Palestine can reach audiences worldwide then why not a small Tamil film. If the script is good then everyone can relate to it. The Karan-generation wants to be accepted in America. For this I will need a story that people can identify with. I take the art of storytelling from the East and the filmmaking from the West. That's my goal.

In my opinion it's important if you want to be internationally successful like for example Korean and Chinese filmmakers to retain some of your cultural essence...

Yes, my culture should be present in the movie but it should also appeal to a Western audience. The world should have some fun. Ang Lee is from China and I love his movies. If it's possible for him to be successful in America then why not for me?

By the way: how did you end up in films in the first place?

Interesting question. I am from a very remote small town. We had two movie theaters in town and at that time this was the cheapest form of entertainment. My parents were teachers in another town and they alway returned late home from work so we spend the afternoon watching films. Later on I worked for television. And then one day I told my parents as soon as I was standing on my own two feet I would go into films and noone will be able to stop me. I also told my wife what I was planning for the future and she said: 'whatever makes you happy.'. I always discuss my projects with her and what aim the project should reach. She believes in me and supports me and by now also my family accepts my decision. Six months ago I quit my other job and I am now a filmmaker. If there's no fun in what you are doing, where is the sense in that? I have spent 32 years living for other people and now it's my turn.