Debutant director Amar Kaushik of Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor starrer "Stree" says receiving appreciation from the international film festival for his short film helped him in gaining confidence to work on a feature film with stars.
Working as an assistant director with many filmmakers like Majid Majidi, Onir, Rajkumar Gupta for films like "Beyond the Clouds", Shab, Aamir , No One Killed Jessica, Go Goa Gone among others Amar gained enough confidence to make his first short film "Aaba" that travelled to Toronto International Film Festival in 2017.
"Aaba was set in Arunachal Pradesh and I made the film just to discover if I can actually make a film, after assisting so many. I took money from Raj Kumar Gupta, another friend, and it was really an experiment to discover the filmmaker in me," Amar told IANS.
As the short film went on to win a National Film Award, he said, "Apart from me, it has given the people around me a certain level of confidence to invest money for making a film.
Hailing from Kanpur, the director has grown up watching masala Bollywood film, till the age of 12 when he started watching international films with "Children's of Heaven".
"After watching my short film, Mr Majidi asked me if I am interested in assisting him for 'Beyond The Clouds". He in a way introduced me to the world of international cinema!" said Amar.
Though he did not write the story of "Stree", Amar said, "Transforming one's idea into a film through my vision is something very interesting."
"Stree" is releasing on Aug 31.
--IANS
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