Mrs. Shilpa Krishnan – Director of ‘Tashi’
Director, Producer and Writer of the movie TASHI, Ms. Shilpa Krishnan, was at the 16th Edition of the Chennai International Film Festival for her movie screening. A very chatty, chirpy and fun-filled soul who was nice enough to give me (Divya Jay) some time to chat up and know her story and what TASHI is all about. TASHI is for sure a feel good movie that leaves you with a smile on your face at the end of it…
Me: When and What got you really interested and motivated to get into filmmaking?
Ms. Shilpa Krishnan: I have been a theatre artist for a really long time and have always found keen interest in directing plays. 10 years ago, I saw an online portal inviting entries for 1-min short films and decided to give it a shot! To my surprise, it got selected and was in the top 25. This motivated me a lot and I decided to make some more short films. I made 1 min, 3 min and 6 min short films to begin with.
After this is when I decided to do MAUSAMS, my first feature film, with my colleagues, friends and husband acting in it, it was more of a home video I would say. The film was screened in Singapore and went on to win a lot of awards and more importantly got some real good reaction from the people who watched it.
This made me realize that filmmaking is something I should definitely pursue. I went on to do my feature film, PULARUM INIYUM NAALEKAL (Malayalam-English bilingual) that went to 37 film festivals and won 18 awards… TASHI is my third feature film and I am really glad to have written and directed it, along with being the producer!
Me: All the characters in your movie, TASHI, seem so natural and it doesn’t feel like they are acting! What’s the secret behind it?
Ms. Shilpa Krishnan: This could probably be because of the way I pick the characters for my film. I first find people and then weave a story around them, that way I would have observed those people well and would know which character suits them most and then writing a script around it makes it easy for both me and them. The characters they play comes very naturally to them now and that’s why it doesn’t seem like acting…
Me: What advice would you like to give the aspiring filmmakers of today?
Ms. Shilpa Krishnan: If you have an idea, take a call, go ahead and shoot the film! If you keep looking at only the problem areas, then you will never make a film. Believe that you can overcome all these problems and begin work right away. This is one sure shot way of achieving your dream…
Me: Being a full time working professional, a homemaker and a mom; how do you get time to make films?
Ms. Shilpa Krishnan: (Laughs)… It’s all about priorities, young lady… If you learn the art of time management you can work full time, be a homemaker and a mom and make movies too! Time is something we make and having or not having time for something depending on how much we are passionate about it. My husband and my kid have been very supportive of me and this motivates me more than anything else.
Me: Wishing Ms. Shilpa Krishnan awesome momhood and many more awards and appreciation for her real good work with filmmaking! Best wishes…
Meanwhile, I caught up with Mr. Mathew Joseph (who co-produced, did cinematography and film editing for TASHI)…
Mr. Mathew Joseph: I have known Shilpa for a really long time and it is sheer joy working with her. We established Kathaah Productions together in 2016. Tashi is our second home production. Brilliant Time Management is something I really like about Shilpa.
We have a lot in common and that’s what helps us in working together even better. My weaknesses are her strengths and her weaknesses are my strengths that makes us give a perfect touch to all our work.
I started assisting my dad in photography at the age of 6 and have loved movie editing right from those days. Shilpa and I are planning to start shooting for our next movie titled KATHAAH @ 8 from Feb 2019. It’s a first-of-its kind anthology of 8 eight short films in different Indian languages. The movie will be released sometime in 2019 itself…
Me: Wishing you all success with the film ‘Kathaah at 8’ and as audience we are all looking forward to seeing the film soon…