ROMP - 1

We reached his office 15 minutes before our allotted meeting time. We were shown upstairs to his conference room by an office boy who politely asked us to wait, switching on an AC and placing two glasses and a bottle of water on a centre table before leaving. 

The next 10 minutes were spent just looking across the room, breathing in its calming, woody smells, bathing in its dim ceiling lights, and gaping at the massive bookshelf, as a small part of our brains worked out what angles and lighting would work best in there. 

We were there, after all, to do a recce. Technically. 

So anyway, ROM and Bharathi, his wife, entered and introduced themselves. We sat across from each other. 

I sensed that we were expected to start talking about our work, our stories, etc.

At one point, ROM interjected to say, "Yes, I follow you on Instagram." A silent 'yay!' - silently - burst forth. 

The next hour was spent discussing neurodiversity and the state of the discourse. And as is the nature of these kinds of talks, topics endemic to the system - caste, religion, corporate workings, the human psyche, the majoritarian mindset, etc - were touched upon. 

Best of all - we got to thank them for all their amazing work - Delhi 6, RDB, Aks, Mere Pyare Prime Minister... 

Then we walked around the space as ROM showed us around, suggesting different areas for different kinds of shoots. It was surreal. Things like these feel unreal when they're happening, and not too different from a dream, in retrospect. 

Then we left, but not before taking a picture with the duo. For about 15 minutes we just wandered the streets of the suburb, not knowing where to go or what to do next. As the fuzz wore off, I called for an Ola rickshaw and we left for home before the evening traffic would ruin what had been a perfect day thus far. 

One last thing - ROM invited us over to a bookstore event addressing human scavenging, scheduled for early next month. 

And he said to coordinate with him directly about the space as well. 

Hello, 2023

20 days into January. 

The last few days of 2022, and the first few of 2023, were quite amazing. 

For starters, we shot our first short Spectrum docu. It was a brand project, and about a topic very close to our heart. Put together a great team for it, too, and it's come out quite well. Aditi really is a good director. 

Second, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra followed us on Insta. THE Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. Freakish coincidence that I'd been watching Delhi 6 just days before this happened. But yes, turns out his daughter Bhairavi had been following us for even longer. Maybe they asked him to check us out? Don't know... but good Lord. The creator of Rang De Basanti and Aks and Mere Pyare Prime Minister and Delhi 6 is following us. Holy cow. 

Third, Jo McGowan-Chopra - Executive Director of Latika Roy Foundation - wrote us a very sweet email introducing herself and their work, and telling us how much she liked what we were doing. She invited us to their all staff meeting, and we went, and we had the most amazing weekend ever. Firstly because it's just so goddamn fun to travel with Aditi. And also because we stayed in this amazing place called Antara, which is a really, really posh old age home, and they gave us the 2-bedroom suite, their biggest, most plush room! 

Dehradun is so lovely, and so were the staff at LRF, who heard us out and later came up to us and said they resonated with our story. 

Then, of course, two or three days ago I put up a story asking if anyone would be willing to lend us their place on a weekly basis for our shoots. And not only did a bunch of people write to us offering their space, among them was... you guessed it!... Mr Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. 

God damn it... is any of this even real? 

For the longest time none of us could process what was happening. Just today I've written an e-mail to him telling him all about us and our work. So hopefully it works out. And if not, there's another person in Chandivali who's offered up their space, so we have an option anyway. 

And last... we have two very cool social media campaigns coming up, and one very cool brand talk. 

Things are finally moving, and it's so encouraging to see people write in on IG and LI and FB every day thanking us for our work, asking if we could collaborate, and offering their space and time and stories to us. 

ETA: We also got featured in an article titled '9 feminist movements that smashed hegemonies in 2022.' This was a total surprise. In fact, we discovered the article 15 days after it had been published. 

Haven't had the time to blog often, but this is not how it's going to be. Will blog a LOT this year, for sure. 

Anyway, here's a post Jo McGowan-Chopra put up about us today.