It had been quite a while that Girish and I have been talking about making a feature film. Our mantra was to be low budget, make a good film, a sensible film.. and then go out into the industry and find takers. So, I decided to look in to my potli of stories I had written earlier. As I browsed through the folders on my laptop, I happened to see a file named 'The Perfect Girl'.
The Perfect Girl was a script I had written in 2006, inspired by a short story by Haruki Murakami called 'One April morning I saw the 100% perfect Girl'. It talks of a boy meeting a girl and both feeling that they were in love and were perfect for each other. The idea of falling in love in an instant was something that I couldnt relate to, but then there was a saying that I was reminded - that our life is a collective memories of instances that have given us the purest joys in a few seconds. I wondered, what if a boy meets a girl and they happen to talk, just for an hour and it seems like they knew each other for years, that all their moments of life were squeezed in that one hour they were with each other? This thought was in the year 2006.
It was 2012 now. I had experienced love and heartbreak. In September 2009, I got married and then fell in love.This time, I realised love was nothing like that I had imagined. Love was to have conversations, unending conversations, about laughing, crying, fighting... in short I had a new perspective of life, of love. So, it was this experience that I wanted to put into the film.. of having conversations, interesting conversations that builds up feelings in the boy and the girl and bring them together. Now to put a uniqueness to the conversation, what if the film or the part of the film happens in realtime? One hour of screen conversation is one hour of real life?
I told Girish, that we should attempt this film first. It just needed two people and some small roles which we could ask friends to be a part of and pull it off in 5 lakhs.
I then went down to writing it. It took 3 months of writing the script. As the script developed, both of us began to feel within ourselves - Why cant this be a mainstream film? It has its doses of drama, romance, humour... why wouldnt it fit within the existing scheme of things in mainstream bollywood. Why not take it to the next level?
I was meanwhile writing for another film. The film was to go on floors but it was taking a bit too long. Life in the film industry is difficult. Either you are a rockstar or nothing. While the media was talking about multicrore deals, money was coming to us in trickle. My bank account was running dry. I was wondering where my journey in this film industry is heading
And then the phone rang...
The Perfect Girl was a script I had written in 2006, inspired by a short story by Haruki Murakami called 'One April morning I saw the 100% perfect Girl'. It talks of a boy meeting a girl and both feeling that they were in love and were perfect for each other. The idea of falling in love in an instant was something that I couldnt relate to, but then there was a saying that I was reminded - that our life is a collective memories of instances that have given us the purest joys in a few seconds. I wondered, what if a boy meets a girl and they happen to talk, just for an hour and it seems like they knew each other for years, that all their moments of life were squeezed in that one hour they were with each other? This thought was in the year 2006.
It was 2012 now. I had experienced love and heartbreak. In September 2009, I got married and then fell in love.This time, I realised love was nothing like that I had imagined. Love was to have conversations, unending conversations, about laughing, crying, fighting... in short I had a new perspective of life, of love. So, it was this experience that I wanted to put into the film.. of having conversations, interesting conversations that builds up feelings in the boy and the girl and bring them together. Now to put a uniqueness to the conversation, what if the film or the part of the film happens in realtime? One hour of screen conversation is one hour of real life?
I told Girish, that we should attempt this film first. It just needed two people and some small roles which we could ask friends to be a part of and pull it off in 5 lakhs.
I then went down to writing it. It took 3 months of writing the script. As the script developed, both of us began to feel within ourselves - Why cant this be a mainstream film? It has its doses of drama, romance, humour... why wouldnt it fit within the existing scheme of things in mainstream bollywood. Why not take it to the next level?
I was meanwhile writing for another film. The film was to go on floors but it was taking a bit too long. Life in the film industry is difficult. Either you are a rockstar or nothing. While the media was talking about multicrore deals, money was coming to us in trickle. My bank account was running dry. I was wondering where my journey in this film industry is heading
And then the phone rang...
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