The journey and life of a short film director who aims for academy awards?

It is unimaginable for most and a dream for a few to win the academy awards. The highest level of award for filmmaking in the world. One of the categories for winning the same is the Academy Award for best short film.

While most of us watch movies and appreciate the efforts put in by the artists in bringing out magic on the screen, we rarely look at the history and the personal struggles they face during the journey. What takes place behind the curtains leads to what we get to see on the screen. If one is into filmmaking, the aspects that go into it behind the screen would interest them more. Nobody wins an academy award their very first go. The journey of their life puts them in a situation to be able to pick one.

On my all-India cycle tour, I had the privilege of meeting Avinash Sen (going by the screen name Ekalavya Sen), a 29 years young short film director aiming for the academy awards. Having come there to work for a Bollywood movie location screening, he seemed to be making the most of his time by meeting people and learning from them.

Insta profile: https://instagram.com/eklavya_ekf?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

I learned that Ekalavya has already directed, cinematographed and edited, 51 short films, 5 documentaries, and 100+ music videos in his 6 years career. From that, he has won 3 international awards and 9 national awards.

From speaking with him, I got to learn how life and the journey of an award-winning short film director is.

Table of Contents

Beginnings of an award-winning short movie director

Born in a small town in Himachal Pradesh, as a kid, Ekalavya watched a ton of movies. All his pocket money until college would only go into watching films. Soon after he watched a movie, he would act out a Monopoly play by the river by himself. As early as 7th grade, he would write stories but keep them to himself. He was an introverted kid who never even told his parents that he enjoyed acting until 12th. All the skills he acquired in isolation are what have come of use in the last 6 years is what he said.

Ekalavya said that his grandfather is his souse of inspiration. Having completed his graduation in 1940 under British rule, his grandfather worked for the Gujarat railways for 36 years. An extremely talented personality, he could speak 10 languages and even wrote Gujarati theatre plays. His dad is a forest department clerk who again is a movie buff. Ekalavya always got cassettes from his dad that had the latest movies in them. The family that he was born and raised in was conducive for him to learn about movies.

Although he could imbibe quite a lot from the movies he watched, his family was typical and expected him to enrol on an engineering college, disallowing him from pursuing a profession in movies. Ekalavya did not sense this as a setback. He took the opportunity to act in theatre plays and write scripts at the college where he studied. Even though he earned a job as an embedded developer through campus placements, he didn’t let go of his passions. In 2015 when he graduated from college, he joined as a technical assistant at a film-making firm earning 1000 rupees a day. During this time, he worked as a camera attendant and a production assistant.

He also tried getting into the national school of drama in 2015 and 2016 which remained elusive. So, he took up a short course in digital filmmaking for 3 months and did a 1-year diploma course in cinematography in 2016.

Struggles of an award-winning short movie director

Ekalavya’s struggles in filmmaking started from the time he was in college. He was allowed to write scripts in theatre plays for which he wasn’t acknowledged. He went on to write a script on ragging at colleges which went on to win 3 awards in inter University competitions. Unfortunately, he wasn’t credited for any. He says he still has the scripts ready with him which he wants to make a web series on one fine day. He has named the series ‘Rise of a Criminal’.

He made his first short film using a phone. A film named ‘Long Step’ was based on a sports drama. Observing his talent, his friend Mickey Singh gave him an opportunity to write and act in one of the movies named ‘Tower Number 25’ which was his first short film where he acted as a Muslim gangster.

As his mind started functioning from here on, he quit his job to pursue his passion for making films. Ekalavya said these were really hard times as he was bankrupt and had no money. He attended wedding shoots and events to earn and make some money to purchase a camera. Cannon 1200d was his first camera. 2016 and 2017 were the peak of his struggles. He came to Mumbai upon the promise of his cousin that he would find Ekalavya a job in the film industry. Having come there he was only offered a stay and left to himself to deal with the situation. He would travel for 2 hours in a local train back and forth from Kurla Kamini to Goregaon to work as a casting assistant. A job he found by himself. He couldn’t stay close by as he didn’t have a place for himself and had to stay with his cousin. In these two years, he also worked as a production assistant and a freelance writer for serials. Two of the serials Meri Durga and Udaan which were screened on colours had some of his scripts embedded into them.

The growth phase of an award-winning short movie director

His struggles saw an end towards the end of 2017. He made a short film on drug abuse in Punjab, called ‘White Trap’. He followed it up with a movie on child marriage called ‘Riwaz’. Finally, his first breakthrough came when he won his first international award at Kerela International Film Festival in December 2017.

Ekalavya said he was unstoppable after this. He made film after film following these two films. He had no money until 2018. After that he got many music video offers as a film director. This saw a steady influx of the much-required financial aid. Although his passions were in acting, he got more recognition as he was noticed for his direction skills. Some of his music videos have views in millions.

During this time, he also started working as a small film worker in the film industry in Mumbai. Side by side, he would pour all the money he earned into short filmmaking. It took him 2 more years to finally find a producer for his short films. After COVID, he got the best film award for his movie ‘the pillow’ in November. That very month, he also won the 75 creative minds of India award at the International Film Festival of India, Goa, conducted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcast. He won the award for an unstoppable filmmaking journey. He was the only single person from Himachal Pradesh to make 51 short films and ranks 1 for the state.

Today, Ekalavya has earned a verified freeware profile which is the site from which films are sent for the biggest awards in the world.

https://filmfreeway.com/EKLAVYASen

Ekalavya said that 2021 was huge for him. So was 2022. He won the best film award for an English film called ‘Sirname’ which had a storyline on cast and religion. He won two awards at Kalakar International Film Festival, Indore, for the best story and best film.

This year (2023), he made a movie on the story of a ragpicker girl based on true events called ‘Chappal’. This is the first movie he has produced by himself. The movie is going to be screened in Pinewood Studios, New York, US. He says he is selling the same on the MX player OTT platform.

Ekalavya was quick to jump in and also give me the information that the script was written by a physically challenged girl called Kavya Varsha. She has her whole body paralysed and has only two of her fingers in one of the hands functioning. She uses them to write scripts. This is her 5th award-winning movie script now.

Do check out her channel: https://youtube.com/@kavyavarshaofficial8715

He developed a strong bonding with her and continues to work with her.

Ekalavya is also a self-trained singer. So he sang a song to the lyrics that Kavya Varsha wrote, called ‘Oh Jane Jaan’. Apart from Oh Jane Jaan, he has also sung another song, Safar ek Mera.

Now, Ekalavya says that his speed of making films has reduced but the quality has improved a great deal. Looking back at his old films he takes in a huge amount of inspiration to make better ones. 2022 and 2023 have made a huge difference in his life after 6 years of struggle. He has 2 film studios going by the name EKF studios located in Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh. He has a total of 12 employees and his younger brother takes care of the business. The studios are in a self-sustaining mode right now.

Since he is the director, editor, and cinematographer, for all his movies, he sUd it gives him ample opportunity to do what he likes as an independent filmmaker. This has now given him the stage for the preparation for academy awards. He said it is not easy but practically possible. This year, he is preparing for the BAFTA London film festival and Academy Awards simultaneously. In the future, he wants to complete making the 100 best short films, an unbreakable record.

The mindset of an award-winning short movie director

Ekalavya seems to have achieved in his life what many would dream of in a lifetime. I wanted to know what made him the person he is. I asked him real-life questions that led him to where he is today.

Justifications

On asked why he makes films continuously and never seems to get exhausted, Ekalavya replied saying he is crazy about films. He enjoys telling stories to people. That is the only way he can make himself heard. An artist has to express himself to people in some way, for him it is his stories put on screen. He said he always has a social message in his movies. He can deliver them in any which way, but movies are what he has chosen. He went to the extent to say that films have given meaning to his life.

As we sat there speaking, Ekalavya looked at a spoon/fork stand right in front of us on the table and asked me what I see. When I told him I saw the forks placed on a stand, he immediately jumped saying what he saw was a movie sequel where a murderer picked it up in his left hand and stabbed the opposite person in his throat. He can see movies playing everywhere around him.

He also went on to say that 3 movies by Ranbir Kapoor who is his favourite artist inspired him a lot during tough times.

Rockstar (2010) – The movie taught him how if one has a passion for anything (music in the case of Ranbir, the protagonist in the movie), they have to pursue it at any cost. He said the movie taught him how to become an artist.
Ye Jawani ye diwani (2013) – The movie gave him an idea about how if you want to do something in life you have to live your dreams first.
Tamasha (2015) – Ekalavya said that he was having a heartbreak during this time. It was the final exam in college that day and he decided to skip it. He went to the theatre and got a ticket for this movie. When the movie ended he stood there and clapped alone. He saw his past, present, and future while watching this movie. He was absolutely clear about what he wanted to do with his life.

Validations

Ekalavya said that he would continue to make films even if nobody turned out to watch them. He in fact has done that during his initial days. He said he is positive despite rejections. The camera is what I want to live with all my life. “If nobody watched my films, I will just shoot some creative photographs for myself. I will never let go of the camera” he said.

He also said, making dialogues is his favourite pastime activity. He synthesizes it when he speaks with people and when the right situations arise. He has a notebook where he keeps all his notes. He has 1200+ notes filled in there and he continues to fill it even to date.

Complaints

On asking what his biggest complaints in life are, he said it was wasting time pushing engineering. “I should have given more time to filmmaking”, he said. Now that it is behind him, some of his current complaints are that he doesn’t have a great team. All his team members look at filmmaking as a job. They turn out to be his employees rather than colleagues. “I don’t have a team that is as dedicated as I am” he brooded. If only he had the right helping hands, his filmmaking career would get catalyzed many folds.

Materialism

I asked Ekalavya what would he do if he had all the money under the sun. He simply smiled at me and told “Make better films”. He said he would reel in all the best artists in the business. The ones that he would enjoy working with and appreciates the artistry in them. Right there he synthesized a dialogue: “If I am rich, I will make good films. If I’m poor, I will continue to make films”.

All the while, Ekalavya did not spend any of his money unnecessarily. He stayed at a cheap hostel, he only drank alcohol outside the store to avoid the tax at the hostel. He went out to eat at less pricy restaurants. He said he could easily wish to blow his money, but that is not his vision. He might as well put the same into his movies.

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Asutosh

I am a 31 year young PhD graduate who has decided to travel the length and breadth of India on my cycle, to document the journey of meeting a vast array of people. In my journey, I intend to understand the characteristic features of the people of this nation and categorize them based on their demographics, age, profession, gender, traditions, and cultural differences.