In the chaos of tech recce, logistics, callsheets, shot breakdown and planning, we often forget to pause, to sit back and reflect on the finer moments and the small joys that make life meaningful.

‘What do we do as directors or filmmakers to get better at our craft and storytelling?’

 It’s a question that may have occurred to many of us.

The answers don’t always lie in the edit suite or behind the monitor. They lie in the moments between, in how deeply we live, how closely we listen, how honestly we feel.

My views and approach towards filmmaking wouldn’t have been the same if I hadn’t gone to film school. Beyond the understanding of the technical aspects of cinema, what truly shaped my craft was something deeper. It taught me to look inward. Film school made me ask, who am I as a human being? What efforts am I making to nurture my relationships? How aware am I of the world around me, of the stories unfolding in my country, in my city, in my own backyard?

Over the years, I’ve realised that filmmaking is as much about living as it is about learning. It is not only about grand frames and perfect scripts. It’s about the small things that shape the soul behind the camera like the morning light through a window, the laughter shared over coffee, the courage to be kind, enjoying the small things, valuing relationships, travelling often and the patience to grow, inch by inch, every day.

You might wonder, why am I talking about everything except the script, cinematography, art direction, editing or music? Why speak of life when one could speak of technique?

Because all these technical aspects come alive only through the sum of our experiences. It’s the micro-moments we live, our joys, heartbreaks, conversations, travels, and silences that shape our worldview. And that worldview, in turn, shapes the stories we tell and make a story ours.

A director is not just someone who commands a set or frames a shot. A director is the sum of his/her experiences. And nothing gives more joy than when we get to translate those lived experiences into the ad films I create, where every frame becomes a reflection of life itself.

The author is director, Picturewali. This first appeared in the January issue of Manifest, which can be purchased here.