Ahmedabad Times features Shiladitya Bora

Today’s (09/01/09) Ahmedabad Times takes a look at the ’super achievers’ of Gujarat and talks about FulMarxx founder Shiladitya Bora!

Our very own CEO talks about FulMarxx and also about the movie he is co-producing with Onir and Sanjay Suri.

Shila, everyone at FulMarxx is delighted to see you featured again in a leading daily – Congrats and Good Luck from all of us!

FulMarxx Founder Shiladitya Bora to deliver guest lectures at IIM Ahmedabad alongwith top Bollywood honchos.

(Originally published in The Times of India Ahmedabad edition on october 6, 2008)

Maverick politician Lalu Prasad told them about turning around The Railways. Former president APJ Abdul Kalam ignited minds here. And, for all you know Aamir Khan could be next, talking about what made ‘Tare Zameen Par’ touch so many hearts. Or even queen of K-soaps Ekta Kapoor, waxing eloquent on the boob-tube industry. 

    Beginning this December, IIM-A students of the flagship post-graduate diploma programme will be offered an elective course on ‘Introduction to Contemporary Film Industry’. Top Bollywood honchos like Karan Johar, Ronnie Screwvala, Om Puri, Ram Gopal Varma, Mahesh Bhatt and others have been approached to share nitty-gritties of the industry with students. 

    Sixty five second-year students have already shown interest in the course. “With the entry of heavyweights like Adlabs, UTV and Eros International, film business in India is getting increasingly professional. This has created a need for professional managers,” says IIM-A professor Tejas Desai, who has designed the course. Perhaps the first such course in a B-school, it will cover production, economics and marketing in the film industry. “From film financing to branding, students will learn about creative and business models of the industry,” adds Desai. 

    IIM-A is hoping some big and upcoming names from the industry will be visiting faculty for them. Even independent film-makers like Shiladitya Bora and Ankur Singh have been approached. Among others approached by the institute are chairman & CEO of Eros International Kishore Lulla, actor Kamal Hassan, directors Apoorva Lakhia and Madhur Bhandarkar, head of theatre operations at Adlabs Puja Shetty and Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

Think BIG, Think FAST, Think AHEAD : Happy Birthday FulMarxx

Young Turks

It’s been 12 months, 360 days and beyond. Of us continuing to believe.
Believe in us. Believe in FulMarxx and everything else that seemed almost impossible initially.

Most start-ups begin with a few people kicking around ideas. Some grow into Google. Most fail. And the critical period is usually the first year where success rides on smart decisions and even the smallest mistake can mean failure. And today we complete our 1^st year.

The past one-year has been the most exciting phase of our lives. A tremendous learning period. Of course it was not easy. It never was meant to be. Not for a bunch of postgraduate students trying to run a full fledged company from a classroom set-up. Then there were not so kind words. But its all have been taken in good faith. For every brickbat received, we’ve received ten bouquets.

FulMarxx right from its inception has travelled a journey plagued with snags, only to battle them and emerge a victor each time. We have recently started our second office in Kolkata. We are coming up with three new verticals in next 3 months. These will be joint ventures with TASOL GLOBAL, our web technology partner.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Gautam Jain and Prof. Rajesh Asrani for having guided us at every step. Professor Atul Tandon (Director, MICA) for taking as keen an interest as he has and who’s silent support has carried us through. KGK Pillai( Registrar MICA) who’s dispensed some invaluable advice. Prof. A.F.Mathew  who’s love and passion for cinema has made us the individuals we are today. My classmates of PGPCME who’ve let their support unconditionally.  And of course MICA for the sheer fact that we are privileged to be here and can say it with pride.

Nothing spectacular has ever been achieved alone. The same also applies to FulMarxx as well. Everyone of you all, who’ve stood by us; Ankur Kumar Singh, Pooja Ganeriwala, A.Jain, Shakti Mohanty, Abhishek Kadam, Jay Gotecha, Anand Parikh, Neeraj Sharma and Vipin Kandwal. The strong pillars of FulMarxx as I call them. The extended team of FulMarxx at Kolkata comprising of Aditi Roy and Neil S Mitra who have made enormous efforts to see it a success.

I strongly believe there is no better occasion than this to welcome the new members of the FulMarxx family. Sandeep Malhotra and Lakshmee Narayanee who inspite of their rigorous academic schedule are passionately striving hard to bring out an inspirational case study on FulMarxx. Also Aman Ranchan, Sonal Shekhawat, Reha Rewal, Amit Srivastava and Shreyams Betur the young enthusiastic team who will make our dream of  FulMarxx DOT TV a reality.

I take this opportunity to thank each one of you’ll for having been with us and take the liberty to believe that support will extend to all our forthcoming endeavors.

Warm Regards,
Shiladitya Bora
Founder CEO, FulMarxx Integrated Filmed Entertainment Company 

 

Sattar Minute

“Itni Shiddat se maine tujhe paane ki koshish ki hai; ki har zarre ne mujhe tumse milane ki saajish ki hain”.

(re-posted with permission from Vipin Kandwal)
It was drizzling Sunday evening of July 2008 with a short film maker who recently owing to his diligence proved that he stands tallest amongst all around him. Last April, he marvelously brought to life his long cherished dream of organizing largest international short film festival of India. With infusion of life into his dream, the walled city of Ahmedabad witnessed the rising of a new name “Shiladitya Bora”. I was with him to chit chat with him on what next?

He was real warm in greeting and with all formal hospitality stuff settled on sofa across the table standing between him and me. Aviator fame ‘Howard Hughes’ peeping from a poster behind him, his room was fragrant with his passion for celluloid and every element inside testified his zeal of making a mark in film industry. With half finished cigarette butt held delicately dangling between his fingers, Shiladitya, told about what plan he has for future. He was still modest and had no sign of air of achievement. It was now he talked about ‘Zindagi 24 frames per second (Z24FPS)’, his maiden full length feature film. Believe it or not, as the conversation progressed, quite casually and friendly, I breathed, ate snacks, drank beverage, heard him and saw around but what Shiladitya did, I observed was, sipped, breathed, drank, saw, felt, ate and heard only and only his plan on how he will bring to life ‘Z24FPS’ exactly replicating his imagery of the story and creative aspirations. 

I was increasingly curious to understand why he is so passionate about just another project. Is it because Z24FPS is the first project, which can make or break his fortune in Bollywood? May be it because failure of the project financially will drag him several years behind and discourage him to take another leap? Or is it because he has dropped out of college placements which necessitates requirement of backup support? Can it be due to just another step to look like a passionate producer? I was really struggling to construe what Z24FPS really means.

My struggle was brought to halt soon when I realized that irrespective what Z24FPS finally comes out to look like, but Shiladitya wishes to create a masterpiece of art which shall frame by frame be enjoyed by audience irrespective of geographies, histories and language they come from. Z24FPS, Bollywood or Hollywood are not tantalizing terms for him. Due respect to all existent and non existent masters of film industry, he has a desire of being like nobody but himself. His style and persona like any individual is unique and if reflected in his movie shall essentially make Z24FPS more than a film. Keeping cost, revenue, star cast etc aside Z24FPS anything less than a grandeur is not acceptable to him. I was eager to meet the man after I recently joined the Z24FPS community on two of the social networking websites and read about him. About Z24FPS, if I divulge details it would be like stealing from audience a fun of enjoying a real treat, hence, I shall restraint myself from doing it, however, the audience agape I believe, will appreciate international treatment of the film, rich in content and full of finesse. Right from the first public imagery available on Orkut/Facebook, Shiladitya was personally involved in every small aspect of creative process and looks continuously doing so until Mr. perfectionist finds absolute alignment of his visualization and the engineered end product. When asked how he has managed to achieve all that he has, he shyly and modestly quoted “Itni shiddat se maine tujhe pane ki koshish ki hai, ki har zarre ne mujhe tumse milane ki saazish ki hai”

(re-posted with permission from Vipin Kandwal )

You owe it 2 your dreams.

Dreaming is a dangerous thing…more so when done with your eyeballs showing. It alters the norms, makes you think beyond logic (often uses a different kind of logic), overlook the sane voices and sides with the one that tugs at your heartstrings.  Ours isn’t a very different story.

Born out of a 4pm class banter, FulMarxx journey wasn’t all hunky dory. Shiladitya knew it wont be easy…the very concept of short films seemed unfeasible to many ..”too futuristic, not suitable  for Indian viewing sensibilities”… Some said.

The world is often unkind to new talents, new creations…the fear is not of the dark, but of the unseen. But dreams are crazy things; they cling onto you as if they are the only way forward; the only right path… and FulMarxx was never born to conform anyway…was it? 
7 months of toiling day-n-night, running from a sponsor to the other and putting all the acts together… on 26^th of April 2008 FulMarxx was a reality… bigger and grander than what the founders had ever imagined. Over two days, 43 entries out of a total submission of 189 shorts were screened and the quality of the films screened spoke volumes of the fest’s success. FulMarxx Shorts Fest is now India’s biggest short film festival, with a resounding international participation… and that, in the very first year of its inception…with renowned Bollywood personalities like Tanuja Chandra, Onir and Makrand Deshpande on the jury…media splashed the papers with FulMarxx bytes. When pan India visibility was unthinkable, participation from 18 countries is what it ended with!!

It was a bold start (at least we thought it was!) and a brilliant one too. India is a country in transition…for every handful of masala flicks we had a ” Iqbal”, a “Bhejafry”,” Aamir” and a “Tare zameen par”… all path breaking films in their own right. Even though the Bollywood potboilers continue to rule the roost the kafka-esque thriller NO SMOKING became hot topic for coffee time conversations.

FulMaxx is an offshoot of such changing trends. It realizes that a story doesn’t have to dwell on its audience for a whole 180 minutes to be told.  In times when more and more people desist from taking out 3 and a half hours for a flick, FulMarxx comes as a breath of fresh air. In its quest to encourage shorter formats of story telling, FulMarxx also raised a few pertinent questions…what makes a story worth telling, are there any standards? What makes it good or bad? And who decides?

As we move into the second edition of FulMarxx, here is hope that the insanity continues and a few more walls be shattered, in the discovery and promotion of the New. India will see the world with new eyes, eyes we never knew we had…and a dream lives on

See ya at the movies

FulMarxx Shorts Fest VER 2.0: 25th, 26th & 27th APRIL 2009


Submission starts 1st OCTOBER 2008

Cheers
Sherwan Ahsan


FulMarxx Shorts Fest : India’s Largest Short Film Festival

Tarantino- Film making – FulMarxx/100

Most of us love watching good movies. How obvious statement is that… but the truth is that its just a form of entertainment for us, and we somehow manage to leave out the “art” aspect of it. Why we do that is a question many will choose to answer differently. I accidentally stumbled upon this question when I had lots of time and I decided to watch everything contained in the DVD which no one is really much concerned about- the special features. I distinctly remember the movie: The Basic Instinct. After watching the special features which had making of the movie, producer notes and such, I realized that what I had seen was not merely a 120 minute collection of scenes and dialogs , but it was an expression of some one that was nicely wrapped up with all the necessary decorations to make it pop into life.

After that, I make it a point to watch all the special features, gathering trivia of all the movies I like, specially Tarantino, from where this piece draws its title. I have come to appreciate many of the movie critics terms like “bad editing” , “good story line”, “directorial indulgence” and such. But one documentary that really added perspective to my vision was “Spielberg on Spielberg”. Here the man himself speaks about his movies, how he has portrayed modern day terrorism and its effects in the War of the Worlds and such social issues in other movies. You really appreciate a director as an artist. Its amazing what a good director can do with an inspiration that might otherwise pass as a trivial event for some one else. Talking about directors, I also enjoyed reading Mahesh Bhatt’s diary entries of the time he spent with the renegade philosopher U.G. Krishnamurthy ( not the G. Krishnamurthy who is the more famous one. Trivia- U.G. gained much of his fame actually bashing the hypocritical discourses of G. Krishnamurthy).

I have always thought that inspiration is a useless thing if it does not transform into action. So I have been well influenced by all these movie makers and I am ready to take it to the next level. What have I done? The most I could do for a start was try and dig out some aesthetic taste within myself using a digital camera. I completely lack in education on photography, but with whatever chance I get, I try and capture some image in the best way I think possible. I have read almost all literature I found out of my google search query “digital photography”. But believe me, in this age and day, if you want to get serious about anything- from a good cuppa to a relationship, you gotta dole out the dough. So my reluctance on funding my new found passion by buying Nikon N40 or something has resulted in the stunted growth of my hobby.

Just at such a cross roads was I, when I heard from my old time friend. He considers me a friend-philosopher-guide so that makes things more interesting, which I will explain later. This friend of mine goes by the name Shiladitya Bora. He was my junior in hostel. I always found him intriguing. Sometimes I thought that he had some creativity in himself but he landed up in an engineering college due to some mishap, and this has rendered him confused and wasted. Sometimes I thought that engineering was something he was using to cover up some diabolical plan he had hatched to take over the world or something…hehe But by the end of our time there, I thought that he had been always been heading in a direction which none of us really understood, hence the various incorrect conclusions. He was set to take on his creativity and out it on visual display- sketches, paintings, still photographs, moving pictures, MOVIES…. now with the advantage of hindsight I know that these come straight out of a director’s work board! And at that time I thought that he was merely flirting with different kinds of arts… naive was not I??

So Shila comes up to me and says I have started this thing to get entries for short films… why dont you make a movie or something? Frankly for some one like just the thought of putting an amateur effort at an unknown art that we are not sure exists, for display and public approval (critical basing?) is intimidating enough to scare me off. But I have started thinking up of ideas and will try and do something. I am sure Shila will help me out and this will be interesting. Now the part about friend-philosopher-guide. I have been playing the pedantic to Shila since I know him… now I will have to learn from him… a role reversal that I am really looking forward to. He is a nice guy and I am sure he will keep the casualties to minimum… hehe

Good luck to me…

Piyush Patra, Minneapolis, US of A .
(re-posted with permission from Piyush Patra)

An Outsider’s Perspective.

Buddy I want to make a movie but there are so many stumbling blocks. Where do I get a good script from? What about the crew, equipments, the financial expenses and most of all, being a full time student means NO TIME!! Anyways, does it cost me anything to drop a mail to FulMarxx Help desk, explaining my situation? So, I write a short note to them, explaining my doubts and inhibitions, and I very well forget about it.

Next day, I open my mailbox and I find a well structured clarification for all my queries. So here I am, with my version of what they communicated to me.

Script?? A good story definitely forms the skeleton of a landmark film, but that’s only one aspect. A simple narrative, a small day to day affair can as well make the base for a major achievement. So what can I pick up?? Probably, something from my own life, something which is a part of my dull routine or anything that I relate to. Definitely, there are a lot of stories in my life that can be presented.

What about the crew and the gadgets……

Well, I am competing with the professionals, but does that mean I need to be equipped professionally?? What if I use a handy cam? To this, FulMarxx says “You are more than welcome to do that”. Wow, that’s good news!! If Mira Nair can do it with Monsoon wedding, why cant me?? Who knows, I might be the next big kid on the block. So now, the crew hurdle reduces to finding the actors. Hey, I got so many friends who are pretty good real life actors. I can surely pick them up.

Now, the major constraint “TIME”. But guys, it’s a short movie. Add to that, I have the option of choosing the time duration of 10, 20 or 30 min. Even with the location hunting, script writing (Mind you!! I already have a story to tell), several retakes and editing, it would be all done in at the max 4, or maybe 5 days.

To recapitulate, I got a mental plan. I got the right people, a simple but convincing storyline, I know how and when I am going to execute it and wait a minute, I figure out it wont cost me that much.

It appears that the obstruction was only in my mind.

So friends, I am all set to be a part of this Short Film Fest.

Will you compete with me???

Amit Singh, Prospective Filmmaker and a full time student.

Just a small correction..:
Monsoon wedding was NOT shot on HANDY CAM. But the camera was Hand held to give the direct perspective view in first person.
Many people have this confusion.. so just felt like dropping in this note !
Peace n joy

Gaurav Chhabra
Founder Director, Humlog
Chandigarh

“Abhi nahin to Kabhie nahin”

A mechanical engineering graduate by qualification, a software engineer by profession, sadly enough I never felt at home at any of these places. My heart dwelt in the works of Satyajit Ray, my feet moved at the beat of Bollywood dance numbers, and my eyes searched for the cinematic expertise of Gurudutt’s camera in whatever I perceived. “Life mein ek milestone film banana mangta hai” I would say to myself. But I could never make a move beyond that thought. I could never clear the mental blockage set in my mind. What I could just do is shoot the videos for outings, picnics, celebrations and farewells. But when it came to professional work, my hands would tremble, my confidence would go down and I would say to myself “Phir Kabhie”.

But what do I see here!!! As I check the website and I read this blog, I get a feeling that this is the opportunity I waited for, all my life. If I don’t do it now, I would be losing a chance of the lifetime. This is the time to leave all inhibitions, assemble all your gadgets, put on your creative shoes, and set it rolling. This is the time to say “Abhi nahin to Kabhie nahin”. What am I waiting for …….. I just got to get a good script, get my crew and say

Roll Camera and Action!!!

Neha,Prospective Filmmaker and a Software Engineer with Infosys Technologies ,Pune