When she played the role of Gul Iqbal in Chakde! India nearly a decade ago, little did she expect that her tryst with films would turn into something exceptional. Meet 29-year-old Arya Menon, whose production Amdavad Ma Famous was awarded the Swarna Kamal at the recently held National Awards. In a candid tête-a-tête, the producer who was studying at Christ College in Bengaluru when films took her on a creative journey, opens up about life behind the camera and more…
Ask her what her Gujarati film is about and she says, “It’s about an 11-year-old boy Zaid, who’s nuts about flying kites. It’s set in Ahmedabad during the Kite Flying Festival and is directed by Hardik Mehta, and produced by me and Akanksha Tewari.
I have a company of my own called Remarquer. We mainly do advertising work and Amdavad was our first documentary.”
How did the project happen? “I met Hardik through Vikramaditya Motwane. He had told me earlier that Piyush (director of photography) and he had shot the kite flying festival and were going once again to convince Zaid and family to shoot some more. I had a really good feeling about it, so I decided to invest in the film,” she says. Interestingly, Arya wasn’t even aware that her film was one of the contenders for the national award and the announcement took her by complete surprise. “I was confident that the film would work well abroad. But winning the national award was something else altogether. My parents didn’t react when I called them. They called me back and asked me to repeat what I’d said. My grandmum and sister quite literally lost the plot! My parents now have an answer for everyone who asks them what their single, 29-year-old daughter is up to, living alone in Bombay!” says the award winner.
Arya’s rendezvous with films happened when she was 19 and studying in Bengaluru. She can’t help but miss the ooru’s weather as she reminisces the good ol’ days. “My childhood friend Godfrey lives here. People like him keep me grounded, so, I wish I could visit more often. I miss the general temperament of Bengalureans. There are some insanely talented people here who do not want to get caught up in the Bombay rat race,” she smiles.
Why did she make the big jump from acting to production? “I made some random choices post Chak De. In retrospect, I’m glad everything happened the way it did. A dear friend sat me down and reminded me about what I came to Bombay for. I always wanted to be a writer-director-producer. I have worked under some exceptional bosses — from Sajid Nadiadwala to Ram Madhvani. I consider myself lucky to have worked with Vikramaditya Motwane,” she says.
For someone who owes a lot to advertising, the go-getter would love to start directing commercials now. “While I’m looking for a producer, I want to continue producing for the directors I love working with. I’m getting into feature film production too. There are one or two gifted storytellers I have met who are meant for the movies. I want to pull out all stops for them. I don’t know the ‘kind’ of films I want to produce. I’ll trust my gut feeling as always. The first one will probably be a docu-feature and God willing, will begin very soon,” she signs off.
