Chapter 7: A Point to stand

"I didn't allow you as I thought that you're just escaping from your math and science. But now, I've seen your real interest. So ... you're free to venture any road now. ALL THE BEST!!!"
I was so happy to hear these words from my father. But then I heard the same voice inside
'Its good that your father gave you permission to venture film making. But you don't have any contacts. You wanna place to start with. What's that?'
Next answer that came to my mind was 'A.V.M studios'.



A.V.M is one of the biggest film studios in India and many great directors and actors started their career from its gate. I heard some one saying film making is nothing but making contacts. A.V.M studios is the place where one could find lots of assistant directors and associates, even in the nearby Tea shops. I took my first step towards my career. I took a share auto and got down near A.V.M. My plan was to find some assistant directors or associate directors, to hear their experiences and to discuss about my career. I thought I could get an idea about the place to start. But finding an assistant director is not an easy task. You've to keep your eyes and ears sharp. You've to look each and every people keenly, the things that they carry, the matter they speak. If one has 'Schindler's list' in his hand, then there's no point in thinking. He's an assistant director for sure. If you see a group of people discussing about 'La Vita e Bella', then they're assistants for sure. Even if you find an assistant director it's not a sure thing that he'd spend his time talking with you. I spent three valuable hours by 'waiting, hearing what others are speaking and mostly staring'. Finally ... after 9pm, I decided to leave the place. Then I suddenly heard some voices ...



"A character should not contradict itself. That's the basic rule for a characterization. But that director knows nothing man ... literally nothing about characterization. His characters have no point."

I was so happy to hear those voices. I turned to see some men standing near the hotel opposite to the studio. I went near them with my fullest hesitation.

"Excuse me"
"Yea ...?" Among the group a young man in his thirties replied back. He had a really long beard.
"I'm Karthick. I ... I wanna ask you something."
"Yea?"
"I'm planning to take up film making as my career.I wanna hear your experience in the field. I guessed that you're assistant directors. Where am I supposed to start?"
"First, I should ask you a question ... Do you have some one whom you should support?"
"Yeah ... I have to support my family. Atleast I've to give them something until I make it big"
"Make it big huh? ... You want me to share my experience? Hear it. I've been an assistant for 11 years. I didn't make anything big!!!"
"I heard some assistants are leading a good life"
"They're rich ... You wanna achieve something in cinema? Then you ought to be rich, I haven't got a single chance till date. Because my story had some values. I have a script about a small child and its dream world. No one wants to make these kinds of stories here. Do you have an item number in your film? Then welcome aboard. What kind of story do you have in your mind?" I was terribly disappointed by the reply.
"It's about an amateur journalist who's in the war for the first time"
"Ha ... That's not gonna sell anywhere man, your story has some values.I guess, there's no place for a song in it"
"Yeah"
"What film made you choose film making?"
"Children of Heaven"
"Go home boy ... Do something useful in your life. Dreams are not real"



By the time I reached my home, I was in no mood for anything. I was lost in thoughts.
Late that night, I was lying in my bed, faking my sleep. I heard my mom entering the room.

"What's it?"she asked in a blunt tone.
"What's what?"
"You're so excited when you went to A.V.M, what happened now?"

I told her everything, right from 6pm to 9.30pm. Each and every word of that assistant director. I finished by saying

"Film making is not for me, I guess"
"You didn't even start. But you're thinking of giving up. I thought you're a strong guy with full of confidence. What happened to you?"
I was shaken by her reply. I saw a whole new mom.
"When you're so in love with something, you should not let it go. Be it a girl or a profession"
What the ... My mom said some great one liners that day.
"But mom ... I wanna support this family and I really don't want to leave film making"
"I know ... But before you say anything, I wanna tell you something. Do you know that there's an education loan for higher studies?"
"What? Do you want me to study MS in engineering?"
"No ... "
"Then ... "
"I'm saying ... you could do your film making abroad"
"...."
"What's that expression?"
"...."
"I know ... film making here is for rich people. People generally think that studying abroad is so costly. But there's always education loan. Many of your cousins are in abroad studying MS. They're middle class too. There comes the advantage of Indian money. Prasanna (One of my cousins) went to UK, last year to study Masters in Chemical Engineering. But today he almost finished repaying the dept. But he didn't even finish his course. He went there, got a part time job, he worked so hard and now he's looking after himself and sending money to his parents. Why can't you give it a try? ... But remember, its not so easy as it sounds. Prasanna is sleeping only for 3 hours a day !!!"
"I know, I could work hard mom ... but I just don't know whether this is a good idea"
"Just give it a try"



I discussed this idea with dad and sis. My sis was so excited as usual. Dad, after a long thought

"It's a good idea. But are we financially capable for this?" He looked at mom.
"We're not gonna give him anything. If he decided to go, then it would be by loan" my mom said.
"What if this same thing happens there. What if he continues working as an assistant for 11 years THERE. Atleast in India, we're there to look after him." The conversation picked up a pace. But then, I interrupted,
"Dad, even if I continue to work as an assistant for a long time, I must say assistants have their standard pay THERE and there are lots of film jobs and other jobs to do"



That conversation went on for hours and atlast dad said "Okay ... I believe in you"
The next thing that bugged was 'I've been discussing about a place with dad by mentioning it as 'THERE' for a long time. But I really haven't decided anything about that 'THERE'. Suddenly I heard the same voice inside "WHAT'S YOUR NEXT DESTINATION?"

Chapter 5: Love, Break up and Film making

I didn't know that my life's gonna take a big turn, the turn which opened the door to quench my thirst, the thirst of film making and travelling !!!
It was a bright sunny day, The Re-opening day. I must say that my third year started in a pleasant manner. Lots of good and equally bad things happened to me. Actually my third year paved a way for understanding life to its fullest.



ONE FINE FRIDAY EVENING OF MY THIRD YEAR ...

I saw the real faces of people, people like us, some were so nice by heart, some were so pretty, some wore masks, some were selfish, some were greedy, some betrayed. There's nothing wrong in saying that third year brought out the man in me. As I said earlier, by that time I learned to make my own short movies. I began to understand the trick of bringing life to a script through my first short movie THE SYNC. I shot the movie with a Digi cam. My friend Judin samsun helped me by holding the cameras and planning the shots and Vignesh Ramesh brought out his acting talent. I must say Vignesh is a born actor (No Sarcasm). We worked hard and finished that 10 min movie within 24 hours. I won't say that it's a good movie. But I tasted the happiness in bringing my first script to screen. Every aspiring film maker might say this 'Once you brought your first script to screen, nevertheless how bad it is, you just can't stop.' As said, I didn't stop there. I decided my screen name then, which is also my Facebook profile name 'KARTHICK SAMPATH'. I've to mention here that Karthick is my nick name and Sudharshan is my official. "What stands out in that name?" one might ask, my reply would be "The 'C' stands out" Yeah! Normally the spelling of my nick name goes like this 'KARTHIK'. But my name is 'KARTHICK'. That extra 'C' made my name unique. Try googling Karthick Sampath, you would get all the links of my blogs and short films. Following SYNC, I made four more short films till now. THEDAL, FEVER ABDUCTION, THE KNOT, THE HORRENT.



I'd proudly accept that all these five films are nothing but crap. But it made me understand a bit about film making. I don't care that am making crap movies now. I'd be keep on making Crap movies and BOOM!!! One day ... am sure one day I'd be making great ones.



Not only films, third year had an other 'horrible truth' cutlet inside a 'pleasant surprise' burger for me called 'LOVE'. Love is the magic word which made even the famous and strong writers to blabber. Oscar Wilde says
"When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving oneself, and one always ends by deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance."
Diana Arbus says
"Love involves a peculiar unfathomable combination of understanding and misunderstanding."
But I say
"There's one such thing called 'TRUE LOVE'. But no one could find it, it's in a heavenly place"



But I once thought that I had found it. It was a mesmerizing and heavenly feeling. I floated in the thin air, I felt weightlessness, I felt that I was in the top of the world. But sadly, my true love lasted only for a year. That one year, was a special one, it brought out all my life's love, it was like a beautiful spring season with fresh flowers and blossoms. Each and every human should experience it. But don't expect it to last longer. It won't. It happened in a rainy day.



" I can't meet you hereafter ... Take care"
She gave a gentle kiss and whispered "Good Bye forever"
I can't forget that day. I felt so alone and dejected. I was drenched by rain. It was so late at night. The traffic was so low. The magnificent city was half asleep. I heard the rumblings of rain. The sky was full of thunders and lighting. The lane was so empty as I walked in it aimlessly. Usually I like to walk in rain. That day, it felt like the rain is my only company. Once Charlie Chaplin expressed the same feeling by saying "I like walking in the rain, so no one can see me crying". But later I learnt that even the break up is a best teacher as it taught me a most valuable lesson.
"Never expect anything from anyone ... Nothing's permanent"
Soon I found that it had a hidden message "Time Heals ..."