On a digital rhapsody

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She’s young, dynamic and successful. Shailja Gupta, head of Red Chillies Entertainment (US), has just unveiled yet another creative gem. The artist-filmmaker’s latest digital art project, ‘Glimpses — 100 years of Indian Cinema’ is a unique artistic tribute.

The fantastic series of digital paintings capturing the faces, characters and stories immortalised by filmmakers in Bollywood down the decades, reflects Shailja’s innate passion for art. She’s also looking forward to her directorial debut venture, Walkaway, which is releasing in India soon after receiving a rousing response in the US.

Inspiration behind Walkaway:
All characters and incidents are a reflection of some true incidents and characters. On a lighter note, quite a few times I would just sit and observe my friends while they chatted and reminisced, and a few would tell me jokingly that they would sue me if I used their stories. I did a smart thing — I got them to invest in my film! Most of these friends were based in New York during that time, but now they are spread across London, Hong Kong, Japan, Brussels and India.

WHAT THE MOVIE IS ABOUT
Walkaway is a comedy drama. Exploring the subtleties of the Indian mega institution of marriage, from the now veiled urban dowry system to the overwhelming compromises demanded of a cross-cultural couple, the film weaves through the lives of four friends who struggle to balance ingrained values with modern environs in the fast-paced melting pot that is New York.
I guess it’s probably the South-Asian male version of Sex and the City, Darius, Vinay, Shridhar and Soham — single, dating, engaged and married — striving to maintain some semblance of sanity while questioning themselves, their desires and choices, and the importance of unshakeable traditions.
The music by Vishal-Shekhar and Ram Sampath has come in for a lot of praise.

HEADING RED CHILLIES, USA:
As the chief digital strategist, my role is to manage the digital marketing for Red Chillies films and brand SRK. I started with Ra.One which was a complete roller coaster ride, where I got to work on a lot of interesting elements, ranging from social media to digital comics, working with toy factories in China to the creation of 360-degree style guides for the character G.One. I also got a chance to work on a very extensive game design developed by Indiagames, and now with Chennai Express, I am enjoying the process once again. SRK’s taught me the biggest lesson — to work, work, work and not think about results.

‘100 YEARS OF INDIAN CINEMA’:
It was one of those lazy winter afternoons on a weekend in my home in New York. I was surfing and reading about how everyone was preparing to celebrate 100 years of cinema. I started doodling in Photoshop, and before I knew it, my first piece was done. It was of Mr Bachchan. Then I decided to convert this whole idea into a mammoth project, and spent eight months making 161 paintings. Since I grew up on Bollywood films, I first made the paintings of Hindi actors. I am currently working on about 60 more paintings of iconic faces from Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi and Bhojpuri cinema.

Looking ahead:
My next film will be a Hindi comedy. Then, there’s my art exhibition, and lastly, I will launch The Desis. This is a new age digital media franchise based on fictional characters with colourful eccentricities. They exaggerate a theme that has been observed over the years in various sketches and cartoons, but never before on a cohesive platform.