I had the honor of sitting down for an interview with the cast and crew of the short film Maayanagri (A City of Dreams), the winner of SCAD’s Student Shorts Jury Award for Artistic Excellence at the Film Festival. I had the pleasure of interviewing the producer Manav Gandhi, director Sourab Reddy, lead actor Adi Nathani, and assistant director/editor Anirudh Balagopal about their experiences working on this film to learn more about the inside works of creating an international film.
What was it like casting and finding crew, locations, and other resources in Mumbai (Bombay)? How was it different from working on a film on campus?
Gandhi – We honestly didn’t have the movie cast a week before we actually shot it. There was a lot of back and forth. Adi was the only locked actor that we had from the States. Everyone else you saw in the movie on screen was locally cast in Mumbai, and we went through a casting agency that helped us find some actors we liked. In terms of other resources, I had extended family who worked in the film industry in Bollywood. They helped us coordinate the whole shoot locally, and that was how we merged it with what we had here.
What was your directing process like? What inspired the story of this film and its location?
Reddy – We actually went to Bombay a month early before the shoot to find all the locations for the film. Then, stuff changed a lot once we were in production, so we had to adapt. I had these few shots in my head before writing the script. The movie is basically a pretext for Bonnie and Clyde, so that was the main inspiration for the story. I wondered what if I placed them in India and especially in Bombay cause it’s the city of dreams.
What made you gravitate toward this role?
Nathani – I think realistically, as much as I would love to have a good answer, I was lucky enough to have these guys as my boys, my family. Sourab took a chance. I have always wanted to shoot a film back home in India, that’s where I was born, and actually, it’s ironic because the first ever theater I did in India, I had to play this gangster, and this film made it full circle. In terms of gravitation, I believe that everything we get in our artistic pursuit falls into place the way they’re meant to be based on everything you’re going through at the moment or have been through in the past.
You had a large crew working all over the world on this film. What was that like, and what challenges did you face?
Balagopal – Our director of photography was from Vietnam, and everyone else was Indian. The hard part, even though we are all Indian, was the grasp of the language and the slang. As an A.D., you must be vocal, so I needed to know how to connect the dots. The people in India didn’t treat us like students, and the project wasn’t seen as a student short film, and maybe that’s why the product that came out looks like something you’ve never seen before in a student project.
After filming in Savannah for the past three years on campus, shooting out in the real world must have been a transformative and different experience. What were some of the challenges you faced in the process and some key learning points?
Gandhi – Working on student films is different from working back home. Everything needed to be scheduled, and it was up to industry standards. Each day you had on the schedule were thousands of extra dollars, so it was all consolidated into three days. As Sourab said, the most significant part was adaptability because we didn’t have room, the time, or the money not to get what we needed.
I know all of you graduated this year. I would love to learn about your plans ahead!
Nathani – I’m currently in LA, and the plan is to start booking things and finding a way to make this city mine.
Reddy – I’m back home in India, trying to find my way into the industry. I’m writing a new feature. Hopefully, I can start working on it soon.
Balagopal – I’ll join Sourab in India with the same mission to work in India and expose the movies made there to an international audience.
Gandhi – I just accepted a full-time position at Company 3, a post-production company in New York, and I’ll be moving there in two weeks.
A special thanks to Manav Gandhi, Sourab Reddy, Adi Nathani, and Anirudh Balagopal!
Interview by Evan Skovronsky.
Graphic by Eve Friday.