Storytelling begins from within
I had a pretty unsteady childhood till I was about 9 years old. I grew up with a lot of fear, rage, and trauma. For a long time, I didn’t realise its impact on me. Or well, I knew the impact, but I didn’t know the different ways in which the impact could exist. I grew up always wanting to be in control of situations. When that didn’t happen, I was hit by a wave of emotions so uncontrollable that the only way to feel better was to let it all out, in the form of tears or screams.
When I was in the 10th grade, in the middle of my board exams, I had the opportunity to go to a film set. It was only for a short while, and it was in the middle of the night, but I was amazed by every individual’s attention to detail while working. I guess I had never before questioned how films were made — I’d never paused to think about the work that goes into one scene. It was that night that I decided that I want to work in films, in whatever capacity possible.
As I began to learn more about it and obtain more knowledge, I found myself leaning towards production. I knew that it was what I was made for. I love order, symmetry, and clarity. It makes me happy to see something fall into place, in the manner that I have imagined. Viewing information in a clean and organised manner makes me feel at peace. There are times when I’ll sit on excel and work on grids just for the sake of making me feel a little more organised. I’ve always been someone who is precise and to the point — someone who struggles to write long format content (like this).
In the 4 years since I’ve started working, I feel like I’ve tried to pick up as many skills as possible. I’ve gone from being an associate producer and writing scripts, to editing audio and video content and becoming a stylist. It’s taught me how much one person can do and how much there is out in the world to learn. At The Mavericks, while I can’t wait to dive back into video production and have my incessant need for organisation back, I’m so excited to pick up new skills from my peers! I want to add more rows and columns to the excel sheet of my life. I want to take on new challenges.
In many ways, I feel like I have my childhood to thank for what I have chosen as my career path. The lack of stability then meant that I needed everything in my life to follow a certain structure now. I love having the ability to plan a day to the minutest of details and having that kind of control over my surroundings. And while the structure has helped me stay grounded, it has also taught me the ability to mould myself in several different manners, accepting everything that comes my way, and finding a way to make the best of each situation. I love being the producer of my own life.
