‘Three of Us’ Paatal Lok director Avinash Arun talks about making films and battling depression: ‘After my debut, I felt I was on Mount Everest, but then I started sinking’ Bollywood News
In Talegaon, a small town in Maharashtra between Pune and Lonavala, Avinash Arun read an interview with Subhash Ghai, a film director he was a big fan of. There, the filmmaker was a student at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and Avinash, who was in his mid-teens, was informed by his father that this was where the filmmaker would be made. It was stated. he was fascinated.
A few years later, when he told his father, who works in a textile mill, that he needed to make a short film to get into FTII, his father withdrew Rs 50,000 from his provident fund and gave it to him. This was the first film produced by Avinash, but it was never made and he lost all his money. “My father didn’t say anything, but he was happy that his son at least tried. That’s exactly where my story begins,” says Avinash Arun. He is now an accomplished filmmaker whose films like ‘Kira’, ‘Paatal Lok’ and recently ‘Three of Us’ have created a gentle ripple in the Mumbai film industry.
Father’s love of movies, son’s dream
Born in Solapur, Avinash Arun is the second generation in his family to be educated. His father was the only one he graduated with a double, and his mother did not pass the 10th place. “She still doesn’t know what my real job is! No one in her family has ever asked me this.Baba, what standard are you? ”
Apart from three sensational directorial works, Avinash’s portfolio includes serving as the cinematographer for some of the most acclaimed blockbuster films such as Masaan, Drishyam and the Yash Raj film Hichki (starring Rani Mukerji). I am. However, as he grew up, his father’s love for movies grew and he had only one movie theater in Talegaon and he traveled 40 km to watch movies there or to watch movies on the big screen. I used to travel to Pune. This was passed on to the filmmakers as well.
Avinash grew up just wanting to make films. He wanted to apply for his FTII direction course, but he was hesitant as he was not confident about his financial background. “I didn’t read many books, and on top of that, I was worried about how expensive it was to make a movie. So who would finance me to make a movie? My parents didn’t have any money.” , no one knew about me. I thought that a student of cinematography would soon be able to earn money, but I didn’t have any money, so I did this out of necessity. . It was a very practical reason.”
There was a small government agency in his town that ran part-time photography courses to help uneducated children open their own photography studios. Avinash then enrolled in the course and shot many wedding videos and birthday parties before FTII happened. “I also sang in orchestras to earn money.”
Big breakthroughs and small cracks
Avinash was 16-and-a-half years old when he worked as a setter in Soumitra Babu-Sunil Sukthankar’s Marathi directorial Devrai, starring Atul Kulkarni, Sonali Kulkarni and Amruta Subhash. For his next project, he was promoted to production assistant, where he studied at FTII and was working with acclaimed Marathi film director Umesh, who was making a diploma film.He met Kulkarni. Avinash assisted him and then he ended up assisting almost 5 to 6 batches of the Film Institute over 25 Diploma films by the time he joined as a student in 2006.
“I still remember crying on my bike ride home when I saw my name on the list. When I joined FTII, that moment is seared into my memory. I just wanted that. I don’t get excited about meeting anyone, but it does make me feel happy and warm, but studying at FTII and learning about film was a great experience for me. I feel it will continue to be the most important time of my life.”
When I left FTII and arrived in Mumbai, it was a different world. The Solapur boy’s first overseas trip was to London, where he was working as an assistant to cinematographer Anil Mehta on Imtiaz Ali’s Cocktail. “I was watching the film and clapping. In the first shot, I saw Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone. It was my first ever Bollywood set-up! I was naturally nervous,” he laughed. .
But soon, Avinash experienced the ultimate euphoria when his 2014 directorial debut Killa captivated audiences across the world. The drama was selected for the 64th Berlin International Film Festival and won the Crystal Bear Award, followed by the National Film Award for Best Marathi Feature Film. Avinash Arun arrived, but it was too much for him to accept.
“When my first film was my own directorial work, it was very overwhelming. I couldn’t stand it, all the love started coming in. It felt like serendipity. That’s probably why I went into depression for two years after Kira. I thought I had experienced all the best of the trip. It felt like I was on the top of Everest. So I… I started thinking, So? “
“And then I started to sink, because all I thought about was making movies. Once that was done, I didn’t know what to do next. My years of just thinking like that. It’s been too long. Abukya? Who am I, where am I, what am I doing, and where is this journey taking me? ”
fighting anxiety
Avinash Arun still has pictures of the theater when ‘Kira’ was released in India and was running alongside his other two films, Masaan and Drishyam. Avinash said it was a difficult moment to digest as he felt the highest elation ever within three years of coming to Mumbai. “In three years, one of my films won an award in Cannes, another in Berlin, and a third minted Rs 100 here. They ranged from art-house to commercial films starring big stars. But I couldn’t understand what was going on.”
Avinash soon started having anxiety attacks. When he managed to put aside the weight of his first film, the challenge of his next film reared its head. Since this was not a commercial film, Avinash had great difficulty finding actors.
“The most frustrating thing for me was, ‘Why can’t we crack the second movie?'” It took seven years. The films I wanted to make were not commercial, and my livelihood did not depend on directors. My kitchen was working on a movie shoot. As a filmmaker, I felt like I could still compromise here and there, but as a filmmaker, I don’t compromise. My anxiety got even worse because everyone asked me this. “Oh, you made a really good movie. Now what are you going to do next?” This continued for five years and I had completely given up hope. ”
What made things worse was the people’s ridicule. One of the most common jokes Avinash heard in the industry was, “That’s what a film director would say.” beautiful Not a movie, good movie”. It started toying with him and he wondered if it was just a fluke.
“I told myself that maybe I was just the wonder of one movie. I’ve never called myself a filmmaker either, I’m primarily a filmmaker. I felt like a person. happened. It would always weigh me down. When I first joined the company, I was asked why I was planning on turning into a director when I hadn’t even started my career as a film director. They called it suicide. But it was a dream for me to make a movie, so I had to do it. ”
restore peace
During the five years he was unable to direct his second film, Avinash gained experience working in “all kinds of films”. So even as he struggles with severe anxiety, the chaos of a movie set keeps him grounded.
“It was my work that saved me,” Avinash said, crediting Paatal Lok for spearheading his journey as a maker. Following the huge success of the Prime Video show, Avinash along with co-creator Ishani Banerjee has created yet another solid series, School of Lies. He followed up the show’s acclaim with his second film, Three of Us, which hit theaters last month, calling Avinash one of the most original filmmakers in the country today.
“Today I am in a better and happier state. I only shoot occasionally for myself and friends now, but for at least the next five years I want to focus on directing and my filmmaking abilities and explore more stories.” I have spent the equivalent of almost four years on film sets, which means my karma is helping me a lot. That’s the only time I don’t feel anxious. And I know how to shoot and I know how to chase my dreams,” he added.
(Tag translation) Avinash Arun
