The 'Mountain Dew' experience

'The Script' well actually it was strong enough to influence the scripting of my internship schedule. This was the first time that I felt frightened or scared of doing something. Something related to 'theatre' to be more specific. I chickened out, I was being a coward. I tried to escape just because it was an 'un-interesting task' for me. I was frankly a little too bored of the entire scripting process which went on and on from 7 30 in the morning till about 4 in the evening. Not that the script was uninteresting, it was just that I was not at all into the process. It was too monotonous and boring for me to handle.

This was not the end of it though, I mustered up courage and spoke to Rajesh sir about this problem which I had been facing. It felt good to be able to share it with someone. It was good to know that I was realizing my mistakes. The last time I was scared, I ran and ran so far away that getting back was not a possibility. I was lying to myself and to nobody else. It made me feel amazing after speaking to him, I was able to conquer my fears.

I've come back this morning, I was infact the first student to reach and I feel great. I feel a positive energy coming out of my system. The last two days have been great days and this last week, a major learning experience. Dar ke aage jeet hai.

I relaised the last time i'd posted a blog, it was all about the ongoing developments in my film and my movie, but i simply didn't even give a simplest idea of what either one was about. probably that what excitement does to a person. I wouldn't blame myself there.

Well anyways since i did realise, and since i realised soon enough, i think i should elaborate on the two. The film, still untitled, is simply going to focus on the general psyche of different individuals and how entertainment and various art forms affect them in their daily lives be it music or theatre or films for that matter. it is the most simple short film you would have ever watched but i promise an AHA experience after watching it. it just focusses on the expressions and behaviour of different individuals as they walk out of an auditorium's gates.

The book, is the maturation of a very unique concept. A concept of a theatre hand book cum guide sort of a thing. our main objective was that by reading the book completely, any individual with the littlest of idea about theatre and drama can come up with a production of his own. it has the 10 easiest steps to a play right from the conception of an idea, to the scripting, to the direction, the stage set up, the bidgeting, the lights and sounds the costumes etc. not only that, we plan to eventually give it a form where, any individual would be allowed to write his own notes as he progresses along with the book. we are pretty confident that the book can work and the manuscript ready, we just can't wait to get to the latter parts of the same.

besides from all of this, the conception of the VISION 2020 has already started to happen and we have begun ideating on the script. hoping to complete by the week-end. ill keep posting. bye.

The last leg begins

Performance over, workshops over hmm, now what.

The final leg begins here. The last part of my internship where I shall be working on a couple of films and a book. Sounds really exciting and it indeed is. the work has begun just fine, I've been working on the book since January and it seems to be shaping up just fine. Probably just another week or so and the book should be just about ready.

The planning for the short film has also been on since quite some time and it looks like I can really come up with something by the 10th of April, well thats the deadline I've set for myself. still doing a lot of research though.

This is when I realized that making a short film say even a one minute film takes a helluva lot of time. Theres so much that goes into it. The conception of the idea, debating around it, beating it down, chopping it, till the final outcome is perfectly refined and flawless. Planning put the various factors that need to come together for the same. the progress is steady, I'm current;y working on the script for the same and am just waiting for Arif sir to return from his epic tour with Thermal and a Quarter. that is when i plan to really take off with this plan.

Apart form that the VISION 2020 planning is on its way. We're all really looking forward to a finished script by the end of the week. But most important I just cant wait for April to begin when i will finally be able to give wings to both my babies right now, the film and the book.

I'll keep posting the progress and thats a promise till then CIAO.

The performance

3.00 pm in the afternoon we were all gathered again for the final step to the conclusion of the workshop. We all seemed to be pretty pumped about the next few hours of the day. The energies were pretty high and evident. We did a final run through of our proscenium piece, took all the props and moved to the assembly hall where we were supposed to be performing. We set up the space to our convenience and then did a quick visualisation. The crowd was gathering in the space outside the hall and very soon there were quite a few eager eyes waiting for the magic to unfold.

We started with the proscenium performance. It went decently all right but the ending was pretty sad which was unfortunately my solo-piece. There was group of about 5-6 people who just walked in during the performance, it was pretty distracting to be frank. Then we moved on to the playback half of the show. We started with a few random fluid sculptures of which I provided the music for two and acted in one. We moved on to the two very sweet stories. Both based on childhood and young children but I’m pretty sure we managed it pretty well. The music for the second story was highly appreciated which I and Akshay were providing. And then we moved to the conflicts which weren’t very much to our liking as we were being quite repetitive and had nothing new to offer even though we tried to. That I believe was the only disappointing part of the entire performance. We ended with a fabulous giant fluid which helped us end on a high note. But I truly believe I could have performed a lot better had the proscenium part of the show gone off smoothly.

But then my disappointment is just a mark of my hunger towards performing and performing well. This was not the last chance I had, very soon, in the second week of March we shall be performing again for an orphanage and now I’m looking forward to that.

Help me Jesus(in blue jeans)

Coming back definitely has not been easy. After the whole Accenture thing happening so amazingly, I feel weird. Where are those huge office rooms, where are all the bored employees, where are the pre-performance nerves. Where is the half torn script, where are the run throughs.

After waiting for so long, I finally got to perform. It was a test of patience and persistence for me. But suddenly, when I’m back in this phase again, I feel scared, scared to wait. In want to keep performing.

Not very long back, someone had told me, that in this field of theatre, there can be tremendous amount of exposure at a given point in time and suddenly, there can be a glum phase, a period of a long wait. It is those dull times when you need to hold on and believe in yourself even when nothing much is happening around you. Should I say déjà vu?

Like I mentioned earlier, it certainly has been difficult but not impossible. I’m trying to hold on, trying to find something out of nothing and waiting for mid-Feb when I can finally be on stage again. I know that I’ve done it once before, for a much longer period of time and I can do it again. I’ve finished reading Jesus in Blue Jeans. I’m already half way through my next important assignment, 10 easy steps to a play, and vey soon I’ll start work on the short films. Sounds exciting, but the fact still is, I miss being on stage.

Right now the best I can do for myself is concentrate on the other stuff, not miss any more sessions, and wait for another High Performance, to be Delivered