The most frequent question people ask me, is how do you get in? By that they mean how did I come to assist Imtiaz Ali? The honest answer is ‘I don’t know.’ I came to Bombay on a three-month deadline from my parents. I did not know a single person in Bombay in the film industry. I did know a bunch of people from advertising because I had worked as an intern in O&M and Lowe Lintas previously. I was however, armed with a freshly minted degree from LSE. So I had an impressive-ish resume for the corporate world and I passed my resume down to every single person I could. In essence, my story is the story of the travelling resume. Someone in an advertising agency passed my CV to someone in film production. That person in film production passed my CV down to Dileep Subramanian the sound designer who was working with Imtiaz Ali, who in turn gave it to Imtiaz Ali, who happened to be looking for AD’s. At that time he was not ‘The’ Imtiaz Ali… he was a young fairly unknown director making his second film.
When I spoke to him, I was immediately told that he doesn’t hire girls so it was just meant to be a meet-n-greet. So I went in completely relaxed, and had an honest conversation about me, my life and everything else. I don’t know what made him change his mind. I was hired as an assistant director and began work the next day. Re-reading what I just wrote, it sounds straight forward, but this entire process took three-months. I also met several other people and most of them were discouraging. When you know what you want, just brush off the no’s and keep going!
I’m telling you all this, because I want to point out that my entire journey revolves around being an assistant director and then a writer/director. There are other ways to start in the industry and for the roads I didn’t take, I’ve curated the advice of filmmakers we love and admire who know a thing or two hundred more than me! I hope to God, this is useful for you!