About Me — ‘From a Tea Boy to Typewriter dreams’

It was that frustrating summer afternoon in 2009, being bullied by many due to my weak eye condition, I found an opportunity within, and walked away from the so called ‘great Indian dream’ — Graduation; with a bit of rebellion against the academics and that forever whisper in my heart that said, “there’s a stage somewhere with your name on it.” Armed with little more than a blind hope and exactly rupees 300 per show, I dived into the arts of theatre.

Back then, I wasn't on the stage, I was behind it. Serving tea to the artists, running around with their costumes and shoes, arranging the props and also sweeping the backstage with more love than i would have ever swept my own room. i was memorising lines I wasn't meant to say, and falling in love with the smell of grease paint, script pages and chaos.

By day, I was a call centre warrior, selling demat accounts with a voice dipped in fake cheer. By night, I lived a parallel life, where stories were currency and passion was payment. It was messy, magical and a little mad.

I used to make short films during the little time I got from life with a camcorder that was gifted to me from my family. I definitely was that one lucky kid in the block who’s family supported relentlessly. I shot those films to show it to film directors someday, and that happened. There came the break that cracked the ceiling. 2012 OMG Oh My God, my first film as an assistant director, starring none other than Akshay Kumar & Paresh Rawal, directed by the genius…