My Interview in the New Indian Express (22nd March 2009)

A promising engineering graduate, R S Prasanna ended up doing what he loves most — make short films, says Ranjitha Gunasekaran With handicams available now, many youngsters are taking to filmmaking and learning its techniques. This is the breeding ground for the next generation of disciplined filmmakers
t here are some people who could see an opportunity and walk right past it, and then there are some like R S Prasanna who will create opportunities whenever he can. Take for instance how the 24-year old engineering graduate translated an ordinary film school assignment into a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity . “We were supposed to do a 10-minute documentary and get it reviewed. I decided to interview Balu Mahendra about his filmmaking techniques. Why study only (Akira) Kurosawa and (Martin) Scorsese when we have a genius as our visiting faculty,” he recalled. The ace director agreed and Prasanna crossed his time limit, but no one cared. “It’s the first documentary made on the legend,” he points out.

“He was so helpful and he trusted me. I spent one-and-a-half hours with him shooting the video and my faculty and school were very supportive of this,” he says, explaining that otherwise, all references taught on filmmaking tended to be foreign. Prasanna, always had this passion for films and though he deviated into engineering studies, he eventually ended up exactly where he belonged. “My father loves theatre and acting and I was always on the stage through school. But my whole family is into management so I took up engineering. There I started making short films with a digital camera. One such film won an award and I received it from the famous film editor Lenin,” he explained.

After completing his studies, Prasanna enrolled in film school with his parents blessings and there he quickly realised that not everyone who gets in, makes it. “I took my assignments seriously and always aimed for film festivals,” he recalls. “The stage was my training ground. I have acted and directed stage productions while at school and that experience definitely helped in my filmmaking,” he says.

One such film of his called Art, took him to the Gateway reality show, a talent contest for young filmmakers which also led to opportunities and inputs from Hollywood. “It was a wonderful opportunity and experience. In fact, I keep in touch with many participants,” he grins.

This year another honour came his way when he was selected by the Goethe Institute to attend the Berlin Film Festival. “I wanted to meet as many business people as possible and make them aware of the short film movement that is sweeping India. With handicams, many youngsters are taking to filmmaking and learning its techniques. This is the breeding ground for the next generation of disciplined filmmakers,” he says.

“My father always told me, that even if you want to be a toilet cleaner, you should always be the best in that. They are very supportive and proud of the recognition that I have got,” he says. At present, Prasanna is a writer with Abode, a company which he says, aims at making honest and sensitive films. “I am working on developing my own film right now. Something with a Ruskin Bond story . I would love to make a children’s film because there are so few films like Makdee out there for kids to watch,” he explains.

— ranjithagunasekaran@epmltd.com