Pooja Hegde, from Bangalore, is a fresh and funky new female filmmaker in the short film scene. Her film, Pop, that is releasing this week in ShortFilmWindow is quirky, multilayered, adventurous and rather funny. Pop has some delightful sequences - for example, in how many films will you will see a female protagonist driving on road and seeing the road turn into a video game console.  A film school graduate, this film, was her diploma film and unlike most of film school films, it is very urban and very contemporary, and very "Pooja" . Pooja was shooting for an ad ("the pressures of real world -the realities of rents and bills") and we caught her for some interesting conversations to get a peep into her mind and her journey so far.

Hey Pooja, Can you tell us about yourself. About your background and how you got excited about filmmaking?

I’ve always been a jack of all trades. I was a good student and quite competitive, so I got a merit seat in a great engineering college and was all set to be a lucrative something in some IT company. Or perhaps I would have gone on to do management after that, because that is now the next big thing. I chose mechanical engineering because I actually loved physics- but no surprises that I was the only girl in a class of 70 boys. This coupled with the drudgery of a hyper-competitive, stifling environment of my 'top ten' college was too much to handle. In less than a year I was miserable and I just had to get out of there. Of course there are the parents who need convincing and they allowed me to leave on the sole condition that I did a mass communication from an all-girls college Mount Carmels. I took the plea bargain. The laid back environment of an arts degree put me to sleep for 2 years as our course explored journalism, advertisement, radio, phonetics, Shakespeare's sonnets and psychology. Now looking back they have all probably added somewhere, but back then it all bored me. It was only in the final year when our course finally got to the film module that I woke up. We were put into groups of 4 and each of us had to make a film. It was my first experience with this medium and I loved the randomness of the tasks that go into making a fillm. I wasn't confused any longer. I knew what I wanted to do.

You have been to a film school too. How has that training helped you?

Every time I even hear the term 'film school' I get all misty eyed with nostalgia! I studied in WWIL in Goregaon and I'm glad that that the mystic hills of Film City and Aarrey Colony were my first living experiences in Mumbai. I think it is the most idealistic environment to learn to explore one's individual and collective voices. Everyone who has gone through a film school training, regardless of where they ended up after that will always cherish those years where you live in this film student clan, an environment isolated from reality- eating, studying and dreaming about cinema. It wasn't just the formal training that helped, it was more the ambience of collaboration. I learnt to respect other's creative visions and help them in putting it together as they would do for me. We did have very real factors to deal with while making our projects like tight deadlines and compact budgets. We learnt to produce our films efficiently, and I realised the value of a limited but dedicated crew. Film school helped me in every way except for getting a job. But it gave me the confidence to dream big dreams even though immediately after the high of directing my own short films I ended up being a scummy 3^rd AD types at an adfilm production house.

Your film Pop is outstanding and has lots of energy and quirk to it. It is fun and multi-layered. From where did you get the idea of the Pop ? How long did it take to write the script.

Thank you! My initial fascination with visual medium came from watching tons of Channel V in its heydays. I loved music videos and would have been quite happy just doing that if there was a more established industry for it in India. So for my diploma film, I just wanted to shoot a few music videos basically, and needed to structure a story into it. From my jaded 'mass comm' perspective there was something I wanted to say about consumerism, globalisation, media, advertising, pop culture and a whole lot more.... But I didn't exactly know what I wanted to say let alone how. I let all these thoughts float around in my head for 6 months, missing all my script submission deadlines except for the last. Finally, I with just weekend left. I had one long conversation with my roommate and he gave me the outsider's perspective I had been looking for. All my fragmented thoughts got consolidated into a character and the script just flowed from there. I was done in two days, though now I wish I had spent more time ironing out the narrative. I'd had a slightly different character in mind, but when Lianne was cast, she added her own inputs to the character and made it her own. In fact most of the costumes and props in the film were all siphoned off from her flat -that kind of convenient jugaad goes a long way in easing the budget, too!

Can you share more details about the project -shooting format, number of days, budget etc. How much of post work was required? What was your biggest challenge while making the film ?

Sure. We shot on HD with the Sony Camera. With an option to shoot on the consecrated 35mm, this is a decision that a I’ve always been questioned about. I'm all for the magic of film but this kind of narrative and the very theme of the story demanded digital. From a production aspect, too, given our limited budget it was the viable option. With an allotted shoot ratio is 1:3 of film and there's no way I could have accommodated all those layers of chroma. Also, the digital format allows you plenty of room to play around in edit and my post sessions ended up being very entertaining. Our production budget was 1.8 lakhs for 6 days of shoot+crew wages, sets, art, costumes, locations, music director, special equipment rentals and the mandatory alcohol for the extras! We still ended up saving 30k. That's the magic of teamwork. I had written the script keeping the budget and free location in mind so most of it was shot in and around our lovely campus. My biggest challenges were time and location. Every director is always crying about time so I won't go there. But shooting my full script, shuttling between so many locations over 5 days was tricky. The thrill of getting the mall location really stands out all these years later. I had improvised on all the other sets by redecorating the school's campus, guerrilla shooting or even adapting my script, but the audience would definitely call my bluff if I tried to cheat a mall but a real one cost a lakh for a few hours. It was the crux of my story and I couldn't do away with it either. With no money for a real mall and no solution in sight, the shoot had already begun. Somewhere along the week my DOP Magoo pulled a few strings and got us permission to shoot in HyperCity for half an hour on a Saturday morning. I can never forget the excitement of our tiny sleep-deprived team when we landed up there- no prior recce of storyboard but we were all so thrilled to be shooting there. It's little highs like this that keep you going.

Where all did the film travel? How have people received it?

I think this is one area where I really need to focus my energies on. Both of my last short films have travelled to a couple of festivals but it was more an initiative from my film school than from my end. I made the amateur mistake of not thinking past post production. This is probably my greatest shortcoming as a filmmaker but I am learning from others and their inventive ways of getting their film out there. This, (apart from the financial challenges) is one of the main reasons for my long gap since my last short. This time I hope to figure a more solid plan of how to get it around.

What do you think is the biggest challenge for short film makers? Why are such awesome films not visible? We constantly look for that solution ourselves, how to publicize them, package them. How do you think we can bring about a cultural change where people are more keen to seek out good short form content?

These are great questions but I'm afraid I'm still looking for the answer. Like I said, this is possibly one of my weakest areas. The main thing lacking is that there is no quality source for  these films and their circulation is low or eclectic. The first step would be to make these more available and visible to everyone apart from reaching the select festival/filmmaking crowd. Once exposed to quality shorts, people will naturally start seeking out more themselves. ShortFilmWindow and other such portals are great for giving access to Shorts. 

You have worked in casting, in advertising etc. What is your perception of the industry in general for  outliers like you. We call you an outlier because your film has more spunk than most of mainstream films and hence might face resistance from majority of film producers. Do you think  the current set up is not very inclusive? Do you feel times will change or are changing?

I choose to be optimistic about this. We are smack in the digital age with so many options to make and market our own films. I believe that there are a lot of conventional producers too, who are beginning to understanding the value of more diverse stories and original ways of telling them. That said, the grand feature film doesn't have to signify that you have arrived. Over the last 5 years I have worked in adfilms, TV, documentaries, features and PSAs. I have found each of these experiences to be as rewarding. I'm a big fan of the internet, too, and I think the cyber space is a much larger stage with access to millions more. Having said that, I do believe that if you want to be able to tell your story in our own distinct way and voice, through any media, you should also be prepared to walk a good distance alone. There have been several inspiring forces in the last 5-6 years who have got their films out there by crowd funding, festival recognition and social media. Easier said than done, though.

In US, a good short film very easily leads to a feature film. In India, why is making a good short film not enough? Also why don't mainstream directors make short films?

I really have no idea why more mainstream directors don't make short films- they're wonderful! The short film format is all the more relevant today with our decreasing attention spans. While it does come with its limitations, I think we need to change our perception towards them as being a feasible form of entertainment, too, rather than just being a stepping stone to making a feature or a process of experimentation.

What are your future plans? Since we love your work, when can we expect your next short?

Thank you. It's been too long since I made Pop. The reality is that working for others, rent and paying my bills has eaten into my years. But I have moved out of Mumbai back to my roots in Bangalore so I have the freedom to concentrate more on my independent work. I have just embarked on making a light-hearted documentary in Bangalore, but it is an ambitious project and will take at least a couple of years to complete. In the mean time, I am also shooting another short later this year, but before we get into production, I want to work on a sound plan for getting it the circulation it deserves this time.

 Thanks for for the lovely and honest interview. We look forward to Pop releasing this Friday on ShortFilmWindow :). More power to you!