Work hard in silence. Let sucess do the talking. - Unknown
“Celebrate every victory - no matter how big or small.”
One thing all my successes have taught me in life is to be humble. Among the various achievements and goals that I wish to conquer in life, this section is just some of them - it is like building a wall - brick by brick!
AD Sessions with Zoya Parvin
Zoya Parvin is an actress and assistant director known for various films such as Gully Boy (2019), Raees (2017), and 24: India (2013). Along with this, she has worked with various different projects, helmed by various talented directors from the industry. She has worked on Geeli Pucchi, Ajeeb Dastans, 2021, directed by Neeraj Ghaywan. She was also the 1st AD on Anurag Kashyap’s Choked (2019) and also has worked with him on various other projects like Sacred Games.
Attending these AD Sessions with Zoya, helped me learn various tricks and tips of becoming an Assistant Director. We broke down scripts, and learnt how to plan and prep a project straight from the stage of Pre-Production.
Additionally, I learnt how to use Movie Magic MMS - EP Scheduling, used in the industry for the scheduling of various shoot days.
All the proceeds for the session were donated to Hemkunt Foundation, a foundation based in Delhi that is currently helping India fight the second wave of COVID-19.
These sessions, which lasted for more than 3 days, were very insightful and filled with learning. And Zoya was fun as always!
The Print’s Democracy Wall 2020
The Print’s Annual Event: Democracy Wall is a free speech campus initiative that takes the idea of free speech and meaningful engagement with governance, politics, and society to Indiaʼs most vibrant campuses. It offers young and aware Indians a platform to express their thoughts and aspirations: in voice, prose, verse, painting or music.
I was in the core team that arranged and organized the event on 7th January, 2020 in Pune. The event saw a wide array of experts and speakers coming to talk to the students including journalist Shekhar Gupta, ex-IRS Officer Himanshu Khatri, actor Rasika Dugal, singer-songwriter from the band Indian Ocean, Rahul Ram, among others.
You can read more about it here: https://theprint.in/democracy-wall/
Below: Pictures with IRS Officer Himanshu Khatri (Left) and actor Rasika Dugal (Right)
Certifications
Academic Excellence
In the beginning of 2020, I was felicitated by Symbiosis Centre for Media and Communication at their annual alumni meet ‘Proxy Check’ for excellence in academics.
I had got the highest Grade Point Average (GPA) of 9.0/10 of my batch and was 0.2 less from getting the highest in the Centre.
India Film Project IX
India Film Project is a content festival held in Mumbai, India. The festival features a flagship 50 Hour Filmmaking Challenge, where participants are given 50 hours to make a film after which a panel of judges selects award winners.
I was felicitated for having participated in the 50 Hour Filmmaking Challenge, in which I wrote and directed a film in less than 50 hours.
In True Spirit, 2019
In True Spirit is the annual sports extravaganza of Symbiosis Centre of Media and Communication. I was felicitated as I was in the winning team of Batch 2021 in the sport ‘Cricket’.
With respect to cricket, I have also represented my school for the Giles and Harris Shields among other tournaments, and my degree college for Flame Univeristy’s annual event Kurukshetra. I have also played club cricket at Bombay Gymkhana, Mumbai.
Featured in Mid Day
Before entering the world of broadcast news and television media, I started penning down various articles, just like a journalist would do, and often them to various newspapers like the DNA YA.
My inquisitive and curious nature got me to ask questions about everything under the sun, almost to everyone who I came across. I wanted to know ‘why?’, for almost everything. This would eventually help me in my storytelling and scripts which I later wrote.
However, this inquisitive nature of mine finally got me a feature in one of India’s leading daily newspapers, Mid Day. I got the opportunity to combine my nature with cricket, and ask a question to one of India’s greatest players, Rahul Dravid, at the Dilip Sardesai Memorial Lecture.
My question was even applauded by Harsha Bhogle, who insisted leading journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, to hire me for prime time television!
You can read more about it here: https://www.mid-day.com/sports/cricket/article/Rahul-Dravid-reminisces-about-those-two-half-centuries-15598181
…And More Certifications - and a World Record!
Satrang 2020
Satrang was Symbiosis Centre for Media and Communication’s first-ever virtual fest. I participated in several of the events such as the Treasure Hunt, and even reached the finals of the event ‘Whose Khel Is It Anyway’ - an improv comedy event.
View the teaser here
Guinness World Record
I was part of a gathering at St.Xavier’s College wherein, with association with Child Rights and You (CRY), I helped create a World Record of holding the most number of sock puppets in the air in one single location.
Read more about it: https://www.cry.org/yellowfellow/#
Eco-Warrior
I was felicitated by Mr. Aditya Thakeray, the State Environment Minister, Government of Maharashtra for actively participating in the ‘Majha Vasundhara Abhiyan’ - an initiative to make the environment more cleaner,greener, and sustainable for us to live in.
Online Certificate Courses
Taking advantage of the COVID-19 lockdown imposed in the country in 2020, I decided to try my hand at various things. Among learning new softwares, and the ukulele, I made the most of my time by also attending various workshops and doing various courses. I did three certificate courses - one on Screen Writing, one on Film Criticism and one on Adobe After Effects.
ScreenWriting
“It all begins with an idea.”
Instructor and prominent screenwriter Dani Alcorn was my instructor for this course which helped me dive into the functions of a screenplay. Right from identifying and analyzing films, to building character and their arcs, scenes, mise-en-scenes, and finally, learning how to market and pitch our screenplay, this course covered it all!
Film Companion
Taught by four prominent film critics - Anupama Chopra, Sucharita Tyagi, Rahul Desai and Bharadwaj Rangan, this course gave me a glimpse into what it is like to be a film critic.
The basics of film journalism, to how to critique films written and on video, to what one must look out for in a film and how to analyze a film, this course covered it all!
Adobe After Effects
Adobe After Effects is a software that I had never learned. I started experimenting around Adobe Illustrator in the lockdown and After Effects just happened to come to me. I grabbed the opportunity and Louay Zambarakji, the instructor did not disappoint.
Right from creating basic shapes, to animating figurines walking, playing with text and images, this course gave me a basic fundamental understanding of Adobe After Effects and I can’t wait to play around with it more!
Organizational Posts and Achievements
RUSH 2020
RUSH 2020 was the first-ever inter-collegiate festival hosted by Symbiosis Centre for Media and Communication, that saw the participation of more than 40 colleges from in and around Pune.
As part of SCMC’s student council, I was in charge of the sport of volleyball and organizing the matches, referees, scoring- it was all my responsibility.
Event Coordinator
Being selected as an Event Coordinator got me a spot in the Student Council of SCMC. As an Event Coordinator, I worked closely with the cultural coordinators to organize and make sure that all the events in college like Vaividhya, the inter-batch cultural fest, Madhyam, the literature and debate competitions, Lecture Demonstrations, Orientations etc. run smoothly.
Recently, the cultural coordinators with the event coordinators organized SCMC’s first-ever virtual inter-batch festival ‘Satrang 2020’.
Immaculata OC
Immaculata is the annual cultural extravaganza of St. Mary’s School, ICSE. I was part of the Organizing Committee one year but mostly stuck to my duty of being a school-coordinator.
I was the point of contact between the participating school and the hosts.