My days with Indywood Film Carnival 2016 (2nd Edition).
Some of my friends were asking me how I joined the Indywood Team for the Film Carnival. I hereby would like to write about my journey with South Asia’s Biggest Film Carnival.
I was looking on Mr. Sohan Roy’s Facebook Timeline on the last week of August 2016 when I found his selfie with one Mr. Vipin. I ended up sending Vipin a Facebook friend request and he accepted it. Vipin was in Hyderabad for the promotion of Indywood Talent Hunt. He asked me about some colleges here and asked me if I could help him in his plan of action. I didn’t show much interest initially. But one day, he updated on Facebook that he is at HCU for the promotional activities. I pinged him immediately. I told him that my classmate is a HCU professor’s daughter and that he could meet the HOD of Drama & Theatre Arts - Mr. Anantha Krishnan, to promote Indywood Talent Hunt among their students. As one of my friends told me that Mr. Anantha Krishnan was in Germany for his programme that week, I couldn’t help Vipin.
Vipin asked me if I could meet him at least that evening. I went to meet him at Begumpet, near St. Francis college. On our first meeting, he told me that he had some difficulty to converse with people in Hyderabad as most of them speak only Hindi or Telugu. I was amazed at Vipin’s dedication towards his job role when he told me that he had already covered promoting Indywood in most of the colleges and important places in Hyderabad even without having any friend to help him here. He asked me if I could join him and work together. I agreed to the idea almost instantly. I wanted to start going to places for Indywood’s promotional activities as I felt that I could also satisfy my desire of trying something new and explore my abilities. On the 30th of August, Vipin had gone to meet the Student coordinator of Villa Marie college to take the names of interested students for registration and I had to wait for him to come back. I decided to go to theLandmark store in Begumpet and see if I can speak to someone from there, as I had once seen potpourri of poets and aspiring writers organized there. I walked in and understood that it wasn’t the right time for the Talent Hunt promotions. I walked out to get into Ray’s Music Shop in Somajiguda circle and met a Guitar Teacher Mr. Ravi Teja, who told me that his students would be interested to take part in the Music Direction category of the Indywood Talent Hunt. I then met Vipin near Yashoda Hospital. We then walked into all the jewelry stores in and around Punjagutta in search of crown designers for the Miss. Indywood pageant. That same evening, both me and Vipin stormed into Lamakaan to promote Indywood Talent Hunt among the budding artists present there. We met many young musicians there and even put our Talent Hunt poster on Lamakaan’s bulletin Board.
We then continued our promotional activities in JNTU-Kukatpally and JNFAU-Masab Tank where we met the very helpful HoD Mr. Rahman. Panorama photography specialist Mr. Lenny Emmanuel (Member of Photographers association of India, President of Hyderabad Photographers Association) helped us with references from SV College of Arts, Madhapur. We even had in-person meets with authorities from Annapurna Acting School and Ramanaidu Film School in the next consecutive days.
Throughout these days, I met hundreds of aspiring individuals waiting for a platform like Indywood.
Vipin then left Kerala to complete his event related assignments over there. I stayed home.
When Vipin rang asking me to write the Emcee Script for Miss.Indywood Beauty pageant, I took it up as a challenge and it was a whole new experience for me. I learnt more about Indywood’s motto and even had to watch many international beauty pageants to get an idea about the beauty business.
I finally wrote the script and e-mailed to Vipin. Though the European standards of Beauty were being considered in our country, I did certainly learn that beauty also comes from within.
Some of my friends and classmates were ready to volunteer for the Indywood event. So, I contacted Vipin and gave him my references for volunteers. I had to reconsider my plans to join the Indywood event for the 24th to 27th of September as I had to complete my script works too. I informed Vipin that I wouldn’t be able to come down. On the 23rd night, I received his call once again asking me to turn up. I finally made up my mind to leave Ramoji the next morning, even though I was sad to stay away from my Ruby boy for the next 4 days. On the cloudy morning of the 24th, I stood near Bata Showroom, Lakdi-ka-pul to take the pick-up vehicle. Vipin called and informed that I had to coordinate for the pickup of four women who were coming to participate in the Miss Indywood contest (India’s premier Beauty Pageant), on my way to Ramoji. That’s how I met the gorgeous ladies Miss. Anum Khan, Miss. Angela Gracias, Miss. Krupa and Miss. Triveni Rao. I had a gala time with them and Mr. Swamy (Official Vehicle Driver) on our way to Indywood 2016 Venue.
I was awestruck seeing the huge hoardings of Indywood starting from the Main Gate till the 2nd Inner Gate of Ramoji Film City — the world’s largest integrated film city. I walked into the registration room to meet my classmate Monisha after three long years. On the first day of the Carnival, we had an inaugural ceremony followed by start of Talent Hunt contests for the categories of Still Photography, Music Album and Short Film making. The inaugural ceremony of the 2nd Edition of Indywood was graced by Mr. Sohan Roy - the founder and director of Indywood Film Carnival, and many other famed personalities. I was surprised by the turn out and enthusiasm of the participants on the first day itself. Still Photography participants were wielding their lenses to capture special moments of the event and many delegates were posing for them. Short Film making contestants were busy making scripts for their given topic and finalizing shoot locations inside Ramoji film city. Volunteers were busy helping out the officials and delegates alike.
That evening, we had a meet for Film festival in the Main conference room of Princess Street. I had to go with Mr. Gopu and Chinju (Volunteer) to the registration desk and collect the stationary required for the next day’s talent hunt contests. I was elated to meet my classmate Sampath after six long years. He was volunteering at the Registration desk. We missed our transport vehicle to Princess street and had to wait near the 2nd Gate for a car to come. We were sitting in the breezy night under the starless sky, talking about matters of heart. We had our dinner at Sahara. I then went to my dorm and fell asleep.
On the 2nd day (25th September), we had to organize and coordinate for Poster Designing, Animation Character Designing and Acting Talent Hunts. By mid-day, I went to Hotel Sitara along with Mr. Jaiju to meet Mr. Soham Chakraborthy(Bengali Superstar), and explain about the Acting competition rounds as he was the jury for the day. I came back to Princess Street and had a yummy lunch. I met Mr. Ramu (Tollywood’s leading Poster Designer) whom I’ve previously worked with for my film Vaadu Nenu Kaadhu here. He was one of the Juries for the Poster designing competition. I also could meet Mr. Sreeguha (Filmmaker, Academician, Senior faculty at Ramoji Film Academy) who was here as one of the Jury panel members. The results for the day’s contests were announced by 6:30 p.m. the same evening, and the programme was concluded. I made friends with Sreevalsan (Script Writing contest winner) there. Even after the cocktail party, I could see the event fervor spread everywhere. I went to my room along with my friend Monisha after a long day. We ended up talking so much till late night about our days after college.
I woke up the next morning (26th September) and had a walk from Sahara to the Registration desk aiming to click some snapshots of the nature around.
I successfully let the battery die after clicking some random pics and reached the registration desk to take a vehicle to Princess Street. After reaching the venue, I had to coordinate with Mr. Gopu and the volunteers about the timings of the contests. I have made good friends with some of the volunteers there. After the evening results, I met Mr. Cithu, Mr. Ajith (Delegates of Film Market) and went along with Sampath, Monisha, Sreevalsan to Sahara. We talked so much after our dinner, played pranks on each other, played the Dare game, giggled over lame jokes and around 1:40 a.m, I headed to crash.
The next morning (27th September), I started off to our Talent Hunt venue and had a breakfast of lavish spread at Princess Street Café, feeling silly later for having spent my small savings on high bills. As it was the last day of Talent Hunt, we were already feeling sad to part ways. After my coordination works at the venue, I had lunch with my group of friends. They were also busy clicking some selfies with some celebrities present at the event. After many years, I again got to meet Director Rajesh Touchriver. I had a chance to watch the Short Film Screenings at Hall A. After the enthralling song performance by Mr. Pradip Somasundaram (Playback Singer, Music Director) and Still Photograph screening; me, Rahul, Monisha and Sampath decided to leave. We clicked some snaps and finally bade good bye to the Indywood team before the start of the closing ceremony.
Me, Monisha, Rahul and Sampath walked together till the main gate to take a bus back home. We were feeling sad that we are again going to miss each other, but were happy at the same time that we were going home with bags full of cherished memories from Indywood. I wept silently my way back home and held back my tears as I didn’t want my tears to break the vibes. I reached home by 9:30 p.m. and whistled my boy. I saw mom waiting for me at the porch. As soon as I took the stairway, I could feel my heart looking for my little sunshine. I took a slow peep to see my boy sniffing and recognizing my presence. He started crying. As I touched him on his back, he started wagging his little furry tail. I hugged him tightly and kissed his forehead.
-Maruthi Rakacherry aka Ambika Remyaa Paramesh
