FILM INTERVIEW: RAJ NIDIMORU AND KRISHNA DK
Dynamic Directing Duo Develop a New Niche of Indian Independent Cinema
It was a cool August evening in Los Angeles, atypically cold for this time of year. The skies over the The Grove were slowly turning gloomy as a thick marine layer crept in from Santa Monica. Amongst the hoards of people wandering around one of Los Angeles’ most trendy shopping centers, Krisha DK stood in front of the doors of a major bookstore chain without a jacket. He was shivering a bit, as if to indicate the weather was a tad too cool for him.
A small debate suddenly broke out. Just how cold is it? Krishna hypothesized it was in the mid- to upper-50s. The party of two who met up with him disagreed, saying while it was uncharacteristically cold for Southern California standards at this time of year, the temperature was probably closer to mid-60s.
Suddenly, everyone busted out their cellphones and started researching weather websites. After asking around to a few people what the local zip code was, it was quickly revealed that the weather was about 63 degrees. Unfortunately, Mr. DK did not quite have a good read on his surroundings.
Lucky for him and his writing partner, Raj Nidimoru, they are much better at reading how to entertain people in whatever surrounding they may find themselves in. After all, they have spent ten years together, trying to perfect the difficult art of creating compelling films.
Oh, and for the record, “Nidimoru” is not a Japanese last name. In fact, his name is as Indian as he looks.
Fresh off their recent Bollywood project, 99 (which released in India and the United States back in June), the filmmaking duo of Krishna and Raj are slowly finding an interesting niche as international men of creative cinema. Behind it all, they are a couple of pretty cool geeks – who, at the time of this interview, were also quite cold. At least they had a purpose for visiting Los Angeles last week – they were here to do some casting for their next two films.
With formal academic training as computer engineers, Krishna and Raj jumped ship a few years back and decided to risk it all by trying their hand at film-making. Thankfully, their first attempt at a movie was rather tasty – nowhere near as gloomy and sad as the weather just outside The Grove last week.
It was back in 2003 when Krishna and Raj got their feet wet. While originally from India, the rookie filmmakers actually made their splash in Hollywood with Flavors, a romantic comedy which featured an ensemble cast and delved into the lives of love and the life of Indian immigrants in the United States.
Apparently they liked the way their debut film tasted, because they returned to the filmmaking buffet line for more, though they certainly took their sweet little time. It was not for another five years before their next project came out – this time, the Bollywood production of 99.
Through it all, Krishna and Raj are actually having quite the fun time – and what is making it all fun is the fact that they are…well, being different and non-conforming. In fact, they see themselves as “genre-busters.”
“We want to do a two-film thing on a similar subject, kind of like comedy-crime — something realistic,” Krishna said of their two projects currently in development.
“This one we are setting in America. It’s a crime-comedy-family movie — kind of a genre-buster,” he said of one of the projects, which is kind of a follow-up to 99 and will be aimed for Bollywood audiences. To be filmed in India, the unnamed project is actually already written.
However, Krishna was quick to downplay the unnamed third project as a sequel to 99. Instead, it is just a different film with the same unique tendencies found in their Bollywood debut project.
“If you liked 99, you will love the next one,” Raj told Buzzine in an exclusive interview, again reminding us his last name is not Japanese in root.
Actually, while their third project is actually Bollywood in root, it will definitely have a very American feel to it, as it will be set in the United States; casting was also completed here in Los Angeles.
“We are working on two scripts, basically,” Raj added. “The first one is Bollywood in nature, the second is more global.”
So the truth comes out – perhaps he is onto something, being an Indian filmmaker living in the United States with a Japanese-sounding last name. Turns out, Raj’s vision, shared by Krishna, is to be a pair of trailblazing international filmmakers who can produce a movie for anyone in any country at anytime. Well, perhaps more on their schedule than anytime – but still, it is not just about being creative; it is about being globally unique!
“We don’t know which one is going to take off first,” Krishna added, as if to imply global cinematic domination may come before strengthening their Bollywood base. “We’re going back to India to see which one to go with.”
Perhaps India is a strong litmus test for them. After all, if you are only as good as your last project, it is only fitting that the film-making duo return to the location of their most recent cinematic success – Bollywood.
That success took a while to happen, mostly because 99 was one of the films adversely affected by the revenue-sharing dispute between Indian producers and movie theater owners last spring. Yet, just as they did not let the powers that be define their style of film-making, Raj and Krishna did the only thing they knew they could do in light of the standstill – take matters into their own hands and have the film release, regardless of what producers and movie theater owners were arguing over.
Just like that, Raj and Krishna made like strike-busters and released their movie throughout India before an agreement was reached by both sides.
Of course, an agreement was indeed reached about one week later, but their rebellious act proved one thing: Raj and Krishna have faith in the uniqueness and quality of their work and believe the movie-going public will appreciate what they bring to the silver screen.
“With 99, we wanted to make one film in a genre,” Krishna humbly told Buzzine. “But at the same time, we wanted to elevate it and give a platform to it, in the sense that this just isn’t another comedy – there is something more to it. That’s when we got the idea to make it a historical fiction, where you take a historical event and then fictionalize it.”
He added that a common theme of their first two films, Flavors and 99, is ultimately the same as Shor (the working title of their planned international film) and their yet-to-be-named Bollywood film, to challenge themselves whilst being original and creative.
“With Shor, we are trying to expand and challenge ourselves,” Krishna added. “We’re trying to get a wider audience, more people involved. Our sensibilities (and tendencies) will be the same, just our genres will be different.”
To which Raj also said: “Even with Flavors, that’s what we did. We took multiple stories, put them together, and challenged ourselves to make it different. Hopefully we’ll expand the reach of what the film is targeting.”
It seems to be a common theme — this international appeal for a wide-cast audience, but neither filmmaker considers themselves to be trend-setters.
“With Shor, we are not necessarily targeting the Bollywood audience; we are targeting an international audience,” Raj boldly stated. “But I don’t see anyone like us (on international film-making stage). I don’t know if we want to set a trend, but that’s where we are. We have our stuff, which we call it nowadays, and it’s in America, but we are living in India and we are making our next films in India.
“We don’t want to tie ourselves to just one geographical location or genre. We want to make all types of different genres. We’ve done Hollywood, we’ve done Bollywood, so we can do all these films.”
And just like that, Raj clarifies the collective vision he shares with Krishna. It is not so much global domination through international cinema. Instead, the writing and directing pair just believe in their capacity to pretty much do…well, anything – all they need is a paper, a pad, a camera, some actors, a computer, and time.
Oh, and they insist on being uniquely different too.
“For us, it’s pretty important to make an original film,” Raj was quick to point out. “We kind of take pride in the fact that we take a lot of time developing our script. If I make the same film as whatever is out there, then they can put someone elses name on it.”
Okay, so they want to do more than just put names on movies. Ultimately, though, Raj and Krishna are just doing what they know best – being creative and challenging their personal limits on a daily basis. Anything beyond that is reading too much into their work. While they take pride in being different, they are not trying to use film to preach about how to live life. In fact, if anything, they truly have respect for anyone and everyone who takes the time to watch their films.
“I don’t think you can make a movie that attracts all cultures and everyone will love it,” Krishna humbly said as the outside temperature continued to dip. “You still cannot make a film that satisfies everybody, but you can make one that everyone can sort of accept, to an extent. We want to be original and make an honest film. Don’t take the audience for granted.”
Raj was equally as frank and humble, adding that their collective outlook is quite simple, really.
“I don’t think we are qualified enough or experienced enough in life to be giving social messages to people just yet,” Raj stated with sincerity and genuineness. “I don’t know if we want to be an educator from that angle, but what we do want to say is we are making good films. Just put our heart into it and a lot of quality into it — that’s the message.”
Indeed, it is a message that will surely make the temperature rise and ultimately break through the gloom that sometimes fills the skies, even at the oddest of times.
