By: debbie lynn elias
First time director Manish Acharya is exploding onto the indie film circuit thanks to the inspired romantically comedic mockumentary, LOINS OF PUNJAB PRESENTS. Written by Acharya and co-writer Anuvab Pal, the film takes place over the the course of three days in New Jersey, as contestants via for a
$25,000.00 cash prize in the a singing reality show entitled “Desi American Idol” sponsored by the title pork-loin company. A welcome blend of mockumentary styling with sharp witty dialogue and a myriad of connectable competitors interacting with surprising emotional complexity, LOINS OF PUNJAB PRESENTS is both heartwarming and ridiculously funny, leading me to believe there are bigger and better things to come from Acharya’s vision. I recently had a chance to talk with him about the film.
MSD: What was the genesis of this project? Where did it spring from and how did it take shape?
Acharya: The idea for the film originated in a Starbucks in midtown Manhattan. A friend of mine and I were chewing the fat about the newfound Western interest in all things Bollywood, and we felt that many were missing the factor, that in our opinion, makes Hindi movies so pervasive in Indian culture——the songs. And then we discussed a singing contest I had been to in New Jersey, and the movie began to take form. We started with the kinds of people who compete, who among them takes these contests very seriously, why they participate …… and LOINS OF PUNJAB PRESENTS was born.
MSD: What was your inspiration, if any, for this story?
Acharya: The characters that populate the film, and life, were the inspiration.
MSD: How did you develop the script? Do you sit down and write with a free flow style? Get an idea and develop scenes? Or create characters first?
Acharya: The characters came first. In fact, our first “short-list” had about 12 possible characters, and in the final movie we have six. So I guess, we have enough for a sequel. 🙂 For the process, see the answer below.
MSD: Working in tandem with another writer? What is your process of writing?
Acharya: For LOINS, my co-writer, Anuvab Pal, and I started with a step outline. We would discuss each scene, including the potential dialogs and lay that out, in paragraph format and bullet-point format, albeit in our own shorthand. This ended up being a very detailed and generally unreadable document for anyone but the two of us. Then Anuvab would take that and flesh out the scene. His brief was to write without editing himself. So, for example, his first draft was over 240 pages (final script was less than 100 pages). I would take the scenes he wrote and brutally attack them, sometimes simply editing them, and sometimes rewriting them.
This worked well and played to our strengths. Anuvab likes like the blank page and writes in a stream-of-consciousness fashion. For me, the blank page is an obstacle. However, when there is something on the page that I think can be improved, there’s no holding back. So, we worked quite well as a team. Though we still argue about who is the better disco dancer.
MSD: Was it always your intention to direct this film
Acharya: Yes.
MSD: What was your primary consideration when casting this film?
Acharya: I always look for actors who can take direction, who are capable of executing multiple interpretations and gradations of an emotion, and whose eyes are alive!
MSD: New Jersey – explain the choice of the Garden State. A quirky choice but befitting the film. Did you plan for Jersey while writing?
Acharya: We always had Jersey in mind when we wrote the film. Perhaps that stemmed from the fact that I knew of talent contests, which were not dissimilar to our fictitious contest, that look place in New Jersey. Also, as Anuvab and I had met in NY, and started writing the script there, the Indian American immigrant was really our common touchstone, our shared experience.
MSD: While extremely funny, the story is grounded in great truth. Is this based on a personal experience or was your aim for a little bit of skewering political/socio-economic commentary told in an amusing manner?
Acharya: It was definitely the latter. The characters, while fictitious, are drawn from real-life and the political subtext is intentional. In fact, Shabana Azmi, who plays Mrs. Kapoor in the film, told me that one of the reasons she agreed to do the film was because she agreed with the politics of the film.
However, the primary goal of the film is to entertain. The subtext is there for those who choose to dig deeper.
MSD: You have a myriad of eclectic characters here. How did you develop each? Were they as vivid and alive on paper as they are on screen or did you work with your actors to furthr develop traits, personalities and nuances during filming or did you have everything “set in stone” and actors molded to your words and creations?
Acharya: For each character, I had a complete story in my mind. One could say that for the 8-10 main characters, I had as many feature films playing in my mind. And I was just taking snippets of these films to include in LOINS.
The characters were vivid and alive on paper, which is what helped us get the caliber of actors that we did. However, I believe that casting is 50% directing, and I cast these actors because I believed that they would be the best for bringing these characters to “life.” And they were.
In addition, the editing process further “improved” these characters, by shaping the performances, using smaller pieces of the takes to create a new scene (& hence a different take on the performance), or dialog delivery from one take into the visual performance of another, etc.
I think it would be unfair to the overall creative process to give the credit to the writing, acting, directing or editing of the film. I believe all played an indispensable part in “developing” the final characters.
MSD: How much freedom do you give your actors to ad lib or input into a scene or the character?
Acharya: I believe that the script is to a film, as an architectural blueprint is to a skyscraper. Just as an architect would not move things around randomly, neither should the director or actor. So we always made sure to get the scenes and dialogs as written in the script. In some cases, we would ad lib a bit, but with the knowledge that we had one good one in the can that was exactly as per the script.
A caveat here: in the pre-production period, I would work with the actors and I would incorporate good stuff from the rehearsals and auditions into the script. However, once we got onto the set, the script was the master.
MSD: Your best experience during filming. . .
Acharya: Learning, at a deep visceral level, that the journey is more important than the destination.
MSD: The most difficult or, God forbid, worst aspect of shooting. . .
Acharya: Dealing with difficult or incompetent personnel (whether in the crew or in the cast).
MSD: If there is one thing you want an audience to take from this film, what would it be?
Acharya: A large smile on their faces whenever they think about the characters that they “met.”
MSD: If there was one thing that you personally took from this film, what is it?
Acharya: The film is only complete when the audience adds its reactions to it. And that I am a lot less talented than I thought I was. And I need to improve with my next one.
MSD: What’s up next for you?
Acharya: I am working on 3 different projects right now, two of which should go into production in 2009. The film I am very excited about is a comic thriller set in Tokyo and Mumbai.
