Mastering all trades
As writer, producer, director and studio owner Arjun Mohan has dabbled in many fields and made a success of all.
Only some people can claim to be Jack of all trades and be a master of all too!
Arjun Mohan, a lawyer by profession, has worked in various capacities at the Dubai airport, following which he started a successful sugar importing business. He also dabbled in the lesser known realm of aircraft brokerage which paid him rich dividends. He also has a family-owned advertising business which has done major ad campaigns for leading brands.
So how did a man who selfadmittedly asserts that, “Aviation is a bug which bit me and never left me," turn into a film producer? Says Arjun, “My personal experience was turned into the film 'One' at the suggestion of my brother Parthan who directed the film which I produced.
The post production work of 'One' happened in a studio in Kochi, and I thought to myself I should own a studio. A month later, the studio was mine!“
The DI and VFX of films like 'Escape from Uganda', 'Punyalan Agarbathis' and the editing of 'Salala Mobiles' is happening in the same studio -named Ministry of Movies which has state-of-the-art technology as well as a VFX team and has worked for leading Kollywood and Bollywood films.
Arjun will turn director with '13 B Hindu Marriage Act' as well as produce a movie titled as 'Back to School'.
Talking about donning the producer's cap, Arjun says, “It was intended to be an experiment, so I learnt about production. The whole film was like a corporate sheet with 25 individual work charts and call sheets for every actor and technician ensuring that the filming process went off like a well-oiled machinery giving me the confidence to take up bigger production works."
He is also very upbeat about his film 'Garuda Puranam' written much before 'One'.
Arjun believes that he was guided by a divine inspiration to write this project.
“One night I sat up in bed at around 2 am and had the complete story in my mind. By dawn, I had written three paras which I showed to Parthan who exclaimed that it was like the grand opening of a big movie. Later, I remember sitting in my flat in Kochi in the balcony and feeling too lazy to write when I spotted a Krishnaparunthu (an eagle) sitting on the balcony railing looking at me as if reminding me to get back to work!" says Arjun, who finished the story.
On the anvil is a psychological thriller written by V.K. Prakash.