Indias Leading Colorist Sidharth Meer

TITLE: India’s leading colorist | Sidharth Meer | Future of Indie Films | Bridge PostWorks CHANNEL: Vaibhav Munjal Podcast DATE: 2026-04-19 ---TRANSCRIPT--- You can actually make a great film. And all of these guys are really good at that. It’s at the marketing distribution where they fail. And I feel like you have to think absolutely backwards about this thing before you make a film.

Absolutely. You start with putting your budget there first, you know? Forget about the budget for film. Crazy. You You first put 5 to 10 crores there. That is what you need for a decent theatrical release in India right now. Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Webamunjal podcast. My today’s episode is with Mr. Siddharth Meer. Sid is one of the most renowned colorists in the film industry. He is the founder of Bridge Post Works. In fact, I reached out to him for help. Then he arranged a training session on coloring a film for my team. I really admire this guy because he is at a very interesting intersection of like the film world, the technology world, the storytelling world, the editing world. about everything. And he’s always curious to know more. So, without further ado, let’s jump right inside the conversation I had with Siddharth Meer. And please subscribe to Webamunjal podcast. Hi Sid, how are you? Good. How are you doing? Welcome to our podcast. Thank you so much for having me. And thank you so much for everything. You saved our film. [laughter] For those who do not have context, like I recently made a film and I reached out to Sid like to give my team a workshop on coloring and he was kind enough. Like Prithvi was there. He was kind enough to do it. [snorts] So, thank you so much. It like changed our perspective about everything. The way the reds are moving, the way the black is pancake, very different from the sequence. Yeah, yeah. No, I spoke to Prithvi after that and he said, “Yeah, this was like a proper master class.” Yeah. [laughter] I like asked him like he was like, “Of course.” And we recorded like and I couldn’t like like take my like camera off only. I almost asked him to roast our trailer and he’s like, “Yeah.” He’s like, “No, just green is destroying this. Green is destroying that. Lose the green.” Like I have been directing for a lot of years now, but I never professionally done the coloring part of it. So, I wanted to learn it and it was life changing. But like I also want to know when it comes to the coloring part of things, do filmmakers in India know what exactly happens? I know files are coming in. But do filmmakers know what happens in your studio? Yeah, actually a lot of them are present for the session. So, they pretty much go through the whole process with us. Especially on docs. Because on docs, what happens is that usually you have a DP who shot it, but then it takes a long time marinating in the edit, sometimes like 2 to 3 years, you know, for like certain documentaries. And by the time, you know, it comes to actually doing the final color, they’ve kind of moved on to the next project. And usually a lot of these DPs shoot internationally as well. So, they’re probably in another country at that point in time. And then it’s usually the director or maybe a producer who you sit with and you go through that process with them. And they’re pretty attuned to the process. They understand what goes [clears throat] into it, why we do certain things. And they also sometimes come with references. Nice. And then yeah, somehow magically things kind of just work out. But does it also happen like they people have just fully outsourced it and they never even know what you guys do and you just send them a cut and they’re like, “But yeah.” Yeah, that’s also something that happens. In the case where it’s either remote where, you know, they can’t be present in the same city, in the same room with you. Or where they completely trust your instinct and your expertise. Or sometimes it’ll just be like, you know, I trust the DP what he shot and I trust you what you’re going to do with him. So, then they just let me and the DP kind of sit and finish it. Like Vikram Motwane is one of them. Like he never comes on the grade. He never comes on the grade. No, like you have to literally force him to actually come and see something. Like I remember Jubilee, we had to force him come see episode one. He was like, “Huh, now I know what it is. Rest I’ll see in the mix.” And professionally, apart from being a colorist, you have also been a DOP and you have also done one more thing, right? Like you have like been a cinematographer. Yeah, yeah. So, cinematography, visual effects and then you do color. Yeah. Do you still pursue those? Do you like doing it? No, but I kind of found like a good sweet spot because color is kind of like a mix of cinematography and VFX because a lot of the tools that we use are compositing tools or they’re derived from them. So, it’s like a perfect marriage between those two crafts. And when did you start doing all of this? Where which was your first in point into the world of filmmaking? First in point was actually going to FTII and doing the FA course back in 2002. So, this is like 24 years ago where I actually watched what good cinema is for the first time in my life. And you had like a program which ran for like, you know, 4 to 5 weeks. And every single week you would watch like, you know, a lot of films. I think we watched like 99 or 100 films over those five weeks. Everything from like, you know, features to shorts to documentaries. And that’s why I kind of got introduced to, you know, the world of international cinema, independent cinema, apart from what I had already seen in terms of Indian cinema and, you know, American. Which we had exposure to where we could, you know, go to our library and pick up VHS tapes as rentals and then watch at home. So, that was like the first entry point in terms of, “Okay, this is what I want to do. This is what seems interesting.” And cinematography aspect of it was like the most interesting aspect at that time cuz it was a little technical. I was a little you know, technically sound at that time. I had a lot of experience with like computers also. Like I’d done, you know, a lot of hardware engineering stuff during summer between, you know, ninth and 10th. So, there was a little bit of curiosity on how to actually create an image. So, that’s what I got into first. And then I signed up to do a cinematography course in Pune itself at the Whistling Woods Institute of Media Studies which Subhash Ghai also organizes. And that was, you know, the starting point on that journey. And which was the starting point of establishing your company, Bridge Post Works? I think that happened slowly over time after, you know, doing a lot of independent projects as a cinematographer and then as a VFX supervisor. It took a while to understand, “Okay, like, you know, something that I want to do in terms of color needed like a formal company structure.” So, I think it was a proprietorship around like 2009 onwards. And then 2013 or 12 or 13 onwards it became a private limited. You are right now the founder of like founder side of things be done. Like do you have to also do a lot of managerial work? Yeah, yeah. It’s a It’s a It’s a lot of leadership work, you could say. Because now we have really good people to actually manage stuff. So, we have a great, you know, producer team, admin team. We have a great accounts team. So, we take care of a lot of that stuff. And now it’s like really making like leadership decisions most of the time. Tell us a little about this key some of the principles you have in regard to like leadership which you figured out over the years. These are some of the fundamentals I believe in and I try to think of it as some other way. Yeah, I mean again, it comes from the kind of cinema that I have watched, you know, while growing up, the kind of cinema I want to be associated with, the kind of stuff that we want to make, put out in the world. So, it kind of draws from that. And essentially, it’s uh It’s very simple. It’s like, you know, there are certain things that you want to be part of and we kind of go all out and do those things. Like in FTII, like one of the documentaries that I watched in the FA course was Anand Patwardhan’s Ram Ke Naam. Yeah. And like for me, like a bucket list item was actually to do something with him. And recently, I got the opportunity to work with him on the World is Family. And somehow that just happened. And like these are like, you know, things that maybe happened like 24 years ago were kind of take shape later. The focus is on meaningful cinema and putting stuff out that you can be proud of like, you know, many, many years later. But I’m more interested in the dealings you’re having with the employees right now because when creative people are also doing the management part of it, like it really excites me because that is something I also do professionally. Like I have been doing it. I am creative but I have a team to manage. So, what if let’s say a colorist who is in your team makes an error? Like what’s your way of dealing with it? I’m interested in that. I mean, on the creative part of it, it’s hard to make an error because there are multiple choices you can make while doing color on a project. Like so, that is really a personal aesthetic. And everyone has their own personal aesthetic. Like like people would call our studio producer and ask like, “Hey, can I work with Prithvi?” Because he has a certain aesthetic. “Can I work with Himanshu?” He has a certain aesthetic. Or they’ll ask for me. You know, so they all call knowing that, “Okay, this is the kind of aesthetic that we want for our film.” And these are the colors we choose to work with. And that’s how we kind of get assigned our role. So, on the creative side, there are no errors you can make. Errors can happen maybe in conform, in like matching stuff, or like in the final deliverables where there’s like, you know, technical aspect to certain deliverables where, you know, they can be [clears throat] errors there. But we also have like a great QC team. So, the mastering and QC team basically make sure that everything is quality checked before it goes out. Those things are kind of set in place because we have workflows that have been set. So, you know, okay, this is how the material is supposed to be brought into the system. This is how you’re supposed to do the conform. This is where the files are stored. This is where it’s supposed to go out. This is where it goes for QC. So, you set up those systems right in the beginning and then you don’t have any issues later. Everyone is following those systems. And let’s say if creatively there is no problem, what if on the other side of it like the logistical side of it. What if someone is coming in late? What if someone is super slow? What happens then? I mean we haven’t really faced any of those issues. So it’s hard kind of say. Yeah. I mean it’s about identifying who you know would fit within the structure. Like how do like how do you make sure that you hire the best people? I mean everyone is trying to I think the ones who are right now at Bridge are all trying to work on the same kind of films. No one here actually wants to work on like a really out and out commercial Bollywood kind of film. Why is that? I don’t think it matches the aesthetic. It’s the kind of films that you grow up watching and that’s how you kind of you know develop that sense of cinema and that’s essentially the kind of people that are there right now. And like when it comes to the other like companies which are doing this part, the great part of things. Difference let’s say if there is a super mainstream film. Like what grading choices would they make which is very different from something that would happen at let’s say Bridge. I think and this is something that I was actually watching yesterday. There was this film called Raja Saab where someone had actually brought it up as a reference for something that we were supposed to do and they said can you just watch this one section of Raja Saab because this is what I think the producer is looking for. I was like okay I’ll watch it. And then watched it and I realized that okay maybe they’re saying this is what the reference is for that because it’s actually night but it’s actually very bright, you know. So like for a certain producer they might feel safe. Okay other night so it not bright audience you know suspension of disbelief okay take it. Whereas our aesthetic is kind of the opposite where we feel like at least for me if I feel like that is breaking my suspension of disbelief it can’t be that bright, you know. That looks almost like day. Have you seen Game of Thrones? Yes. All of it? Do you know what happened in season 8 when there was this battle scene and people people later realize it’s too dark. They couldn’t see the whole battle and it blows my mind like Game of Thrones has like the like they have all the money in the world. After this error over over until it released the matter short and dark I don’t know. I mean this is something that I I don’t have an answer to like what would you like like if you have to make a guess what would your guess be give me a was the where which was the part where they couldn’t get it. I think it was just intentionally there because that’s what they wanted it to be. I think that’s a creative choice. I I think it’s a creative choice at the end of the day. Like where you leave your you [snorts] know your peak white level for a certain project like I think that is a creative choice that you make and maybe for this particular episode this was the creative choice. Maybe they expect everyone to have like perfectly calibrated screens to watch it on because when I watched it at home I had no issues. I can imagine [laughter] I can imagine someone who’s watching it on a bad display you know in like a brightly lit room with like the curtains open and then they can’t see anything. You know there’s like all of the daylight reflections on the screen. But when I watched I had no issues seeing it. But do you calibrate for bad calibration? Let’s say for like the worst kind of possibilities curtain fully वगैरह. Do you make sure up give them come be the kind of there? I mean this is something that recently we’ve been doing where we basically switch the lights on in the room and just do a final check once with the lights on to see that okay is everything kind of registering because there are certain people who might watch it in this kind of environment. So what we might do like on a recent project where we did a trailer for something where we did our grade in what a calibrated environment should be and put the lights on watch it and be like okay maybe some faces their expressions which are kind of getting lost. Let’s just bring those faces up for those few shots, you know. And then we switch it off and just work on that. I know Bridge also does a lot of like grade for like the OTTs, right? And people consume a lot of OTT on their phones. So do you guys also do calibration in regard to the phone? We don’t calibrate for the phone but we’ll probably do a QC check once once it’s you know exactly like we usually send out reviews to directors and DPs either on Pix or Frame.io. So we’ll probably check it once ourselves on our displays on our phones and see if it’s fine. I mean it’s films that you kind of keep re-watching like F1 is one of those where I kind of keep going back and re-watching that film just cuz it’s a lot of fun and it’s very entertaining and it’s like the perfect like down time kind of film. That’s something where you know it just it’s seamless it’s almost invisible and that’s what I kind of aspire to do you know grade which is absolutely invisible. There is this Tom Ford film like I don’t know if like if you’ve seen it. It was I think it’s directorial debut where he played with the saturation a lot. So it was about like a gay romance where like a girl if a guy is seeing someone else the reds would like start like bursting on the screen. It would get so jarring the reds would like like just like amp up like anything. So I always like the films where color where it it needs to be invisible then you know it’s great work. But someone experimenting with the form of colors is also very interesting. It works for certain films you know where you know the form is kind of like that where it doesn’t then break your suspension of disbelief. And you also did like I think the grade of one of my favorite documentaries Placebo. Yeah yeah because Abhay is a friend and that’s a documentary I just cannot recommend enough. I can get you some footage and I can call you and tell you what the most exciting project to do cuz that was the initial days of us working on the digital vision recorder system. So we actually brought this brand new grading system at that time and it had a lot of these restoration tools built into it. So you were actually excited to try it on a lot of this material which looked kind of you know very shaky and very noisy and try and make that better using all of the tools that we had. And literally like that project because the system was so new and there weren’t any trainers for it. I have graded that film with like the manual of the software open on the side. Like I’d actually go through the manual and be like okay this is something that I can do to kind of you know work on this. And like a very stupid question but I want to understand what I need to do like let’s say where everything was outdated or film shoot on everything. What grade So you would have a lab that would basically take care of that. So you would have a you know completely chemical process where you would process the film and then you go to a color timer in the lab itself who you know work on your film and then they print it accordingly. And you had like very limited tools to kind of manipulate the color at that point in time. Now obviously you have unlimited but because real time you have to take care of every like the frame of film you change the monitor so how would they exactly do it? So they had like you know system where you could actually preview the image and then make certain changes and they would get stored as a punch card which would then get fed into a system which would use those corrections to flash the correct amount of red green and blue light when making the print. You know one of the things that we had gone for the film with session talk it’s a line that stayed with me. In fact we are making a making video of scenes from a situationship where we have kept it where he says color job off with sub separate sub separate you see the luminance difference. So first you need to seek luminance difference again something I didn’t know but I kind of knew. You know the subconscious luminance error so that’s also very interesting. First you have to take care of that luminance is consistent technique like if someone doesn’t go to a film school how can someone learn it like can someone learn grading all like through YouTube end to end? It would be a little challenging without you know the right kind of setup. I think it’s very important to have a display that’s trustworthy which is calibrated for you to actually you know make the right choices. For that it’s best to go into room that has that setup more if you can you know source that. But it’s not too hard to learn it off the correct resources online and I I wouldn’t say YouTube is like the best resource but there are you know certain websites that do offer courses which are paid courses which are taught by professional colorists or professional you know color trainers which would be a better choice to make versus YouTube. I got a mainstream about so well like when I ask music maybe like someone who scores the films sub-Saharan African Hans Zimmer right directors with someone would think of let’s say a David Fincher. So who is that colorist who is like the most famous in the world the go-to guy of all the big film makers? Stefan Sonnenfeld name is like pretty much you know consistent when it comes to like the best films that are out there. F1 is also his actually. So he has done F1 and which are some other films that he has done? I mean any you know film that is probably in like the top 20 worldwide box office hits pretty much done by him. What are you saying? Like the Avatars and like Not Avatar, but pretty much like if you would take an average of like the top 20 25, like his would probably list out on the top. Okay, okay. And what’s the name again, sorry? Stefan Sonnenfeld. So, he’s the founder and colors at Company 3, which is the shop that started out in LA and now has multiple branches all over. Have you met him? No, I haven’t. Not yet. Do you intend to Hopefully, yeah, maybe if there is an opportunity. And does he also do indie films? I haven’t seen his credit on like like indie indie, but probably yeah. There is I think a wide variety of stuff that he works on and you can just you know, go through his IMDb and you’ll find some stuff. If a film film shoot and they want to get their film graded in bridge, what’s the process? So, you would process it. Now you have the opportunity to actually process it in Bombay at Monsoon Film Lab. So, Karan Talwar and Krishna Kija have now set up a lab for processing 16 and 35 film in Bombay. So, you can do that. You just need to scan it once it’s processed and you scan the negative at 4K ideally at you know, whatever location you choose and then you bring us those scans. So, those are 16-bit DPX scans and then we can start working on it just in the same way we would do other stuff. So, I’m actually very excited to be working on now the next generation of filmmakers who will be shooting on film. You know, I also like interview a lot of comedians and there’s this like comedian question comedians come out here. So, in same ways I want to ask can colorists come out here? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s it’s it’s No, no, no. It’s not shitload of money. Like we we have tough months where we like we have a certain threshold where we need to kind of break even and there are certain months where you would know that or damn. Okay, so this is not going to be made. So, then you have to kind of figure out how to kind of make ends meet cuz you have salaries that go out every month. But yeah, at the end of the day it it’s still a decent enough profession. But it might also be happening because consciously you might also be saying a no to a lot of films that you don’t want to color like maybe the outrightly mainstream films. Yeah, so a lot of stuff that we say no to is probably like when we watch it, we’re like no, this is a bit too like you know, television type stuff which we don’t want to be associated with. Or if it’s you know, the people who you really don’t want to work with. Like there are times where you’ve heard certain things and or you’ve experienced it, you know, in the past where you work with certain people and they’re not really nice people and then you’re like, okay, in this one we can choose not to do. And if you have to just tell me name of a few companies in India Joe color me. So, bridge is one which are some of the other companies who are the pioneers? So, I mean, it started off I think initially with like Prime Focus and Prasad. These were the two big companies and now they’re like big conglomerates with multiple verticals. They do a lot of VFX and sound and you know, camera rentals. They all have like multiple divisions doing many things and then it you know, it broke up into like other smaller companies which now don’t exist anymore. But I think the prevalent ones now are Prime Focus, Prasad and Newb and a few others. Okay. Yeah. Do you also wish to direct or is there anything you have already directed that like Okay. No. You don’t want to direct? No. Why? I don’t think that’s something that I would enjoy or it’s something that I want to do. Like it’s there’s nothing that I actually feel like putting out there myself. I’m happy producing something that a producing, yeah. Yeah. But that is not my skill set. I know I’m not going to be good at it. So, I choose to kind of do what I know I can do. Producing also thing comes from the fact that I I have an experience in doing events and that’s something that I can manage very easily. I don’t get stressed very easily. So, I I can take that part of it and kind of incorporate that into my current daily life. Okay, so two very different questions. Tell us first about this event thing. I’m not aware. So, I actually have an education in event management. Oh, wow. And I also used to be the event director at Broadcast India, which is a B2B trade show. Which happens now every year in October at BKC at Jio. And it used to have manufacturers and service providers from the film and television industry all over the world come and exhibit their wares for the market in India. And that used to happen every year. So, I used to work on that for quite some time before that brand was sold from my parents company to a German brand. And my other question is since you said you don’t get stressed easily, when was the last time you were stressed? Damn, I don’t remember last time I was stressed. Yeah. Yeah, I I don’t I don’t. But if you have to think about it like if you have to think hard about it. By the way, it looks too good to be true. [laughter] Yeah. Wasn’t too stressful, but yeah, like we had our studio’s AC copper piping stolen. So, apparently this is This is happening a lot, no? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, it was very funny, but we suddenly like lost cooling in the studio and we had to like shut down all of our systems and then we called the AC technicians and they came and they said, “Sir, the copper piping [laughter] So, then you know, just to get all of that turned around quick enough so that we could get all the systems back up and get the studio running in time. That was the stressful part. Like it was more like a time crunch kind of thing. And when did this happen? A few months ago, actually. What creative chori has come and they got like scammers and like everyone has up their game in regard to thing. It’s very scary, also. Yeah, now we have a CCTV pointed straight at the [snorts] AC units. [laughter] And it’s like a question I ask everyone that there are a lot of failures that everyone goes through in their lives. Which is your favorite failure of your life? Favorite failure? Damn. Yeah, it’s really hard to think of this one. You can take all your time. We are doing a podcast. We need to go deeper. I remember [laughter] when I had asked this question to Varun Grover So, he’s [laughter] So, he kind of said something about AIR only that he wished that he could have released it sooner. Kind of a guilt about that. Honestly, like I I would say not a failure, but a lot of learning like through the process of releasing Sal Band theatrically. Understanding what kind of marketing strategies you need to have for a certain kind of film which also correspond with you know, the release strategy. And I feel like there was a lot of learning throughout that whole process where we could have definitely done like much better in terms of getting the film out there for certain audiences. Just so that you know, there wasn’t any like anyone writing back saying, “Hey, you know, we didn’t get to watch it. There was no screening in our city or you know, there was no good showtime.” I feel like that whole thing is a learning and also we’re trying to kind of build on that. Trying to find better distribution methods for independent cinema. And there’s like a constant dialogue that we’re having with stakeholders within this ecosystem just to try and see you know, what can make things better for us overall. I really liked Sal Band and I also like made a reel on it and I think I saw it in that Dharamshala Film Festival. Yeah, great experience. Great experience. Like it had some of the topics I also think about and I’m like I should have made something. Even you go back to your place and like you are spending a certain amount of days there and you have to meet everyone. I I really liked that film and like a bee like what does the future of Sal Band look like? So, now it’s on Netflix. Yeah, yeah and it’s available for everyone in India on Netflix and worldwide like I think there are you know, separate deals that are currently ongoing and it will release in other countries as well on either you know, VOD or streaming. So, since you are also producing stuff like are people writing to you or like just the producing part of it also can you like produce my stuff? Yes, that is happening. Obviously, you can’t take up everything and right now I’m making a conscious choice to kind of choose very very you know, few select projects like one or two max and then kind of take it forward and once that is also completed like once that completes its release cycle, then to think about other stuff. So, we’ve already got like two in the pipe right now which we’re going to produce over the next few years and then let’s see how that goes. And these are features. These are features, yeah. Are you also producing short films? No. But I’ve past my career. So, we have provided services in kind in return for producer for producer credits on shorts. If someone like gets their film graded at bridge, you take the co-producer. Yeah. Very interesting. Yeah. What did you if I may ask think of the way I released my film? I think this is the future of distribution. I think what you did is you cultivated an audience first and you brought the audience along for the journey and then you put it out there and that is essentially what the future of independent film producing is. So you’re on the right track to be honest. And how will others do it? Like do will they have to build a distribution first and then do the same thing? Exactly. You have to build the audience first. And like let’s say how will a filmmaker build his audience first? That’s the thing. I don’t think the traditional filmmakers who’ve done it all these years are attuned to like the new methods of doing it. So it’s very hard for them to do but anyone who’s in their 20s right now and is trying to build their career, I think that is the way to do it. What did you think of the whole release strategy of Noka Natak? Oh, I actually want to watch that film. I kept hearing about it. Now the only thing is I only heard about creative distribution strategy but I did not hear what the film is about. Like I have no idea what Noka Natak actually is or the film is about but I only heard people saying, “Oh, this is a creative distribution strategy.” Huh. So that is where I feel like maybe you know, if I actually knew more about the film, I’d be probably more keen to go and watch it. So one thing like I want to know what you think of it. One thing which really helped me was like I kind of for particular scenes from a situationship, I was always sure ki mere ko ye theater me release karni ni. Yeah. And is that okay? Like when you hear something like that, what do you think? I think that’s absolutely spot on for certain films. Like the theatrical option is not the right option. I think the theatrical audience is looking for something else entirely. Absolutely. And certain films require a different platform. I think a lot of filmmakers indie filmmakers are arrogant about wanting to see their film in theaters. Then I’m going to go and do the shows at 10:00 p.m. Like it’s happening a lot because the system is not respecting their film and it is giving them bad shows and they’re like I’m theater making and then nobody’s coming to see their films in theater. I think if they like kind of stop wanting validation from wanting to release their films in theaters, it will benefit them. What do you think? I 100% agree with that. Huh. Yeah, it’s better than you know, just going out there and begging for show times which is literally what we had to do for Sal Bandra where literally Naren, one of the producers had to actually call up City Pride and go and say that hey, can you please program me at this time instead of giving me a 10:00 a.m. show. And you know, you had the theater manager at the other end saying that show to take it out there at 10:00 a.m. What’s your problem? You know, it’s like that. Huh. So you know, you have all of those battles when you try to go theatrical because the system is set up for you know, a different kind of film and the audience for that is you know, not this. I think the dark party is that lucky prime time show maybe theater they still look at the people will come and it will be more disheartening and the distributors will get to say I told you so to you. I think where we fail or I think most independent producers would fail is in the marketing distribution part of it. I don’t think it’s in the filmmaking part of it. You can actually make a great and all of these guys are really good at that. It’s at the marketing distribution where they fail. And I feel like you have to think absolutely backwards about this thing before you make a film. And I feel like you start with putting your budget there first. You know, forget about the budget for film. You you first put 5 to 10 crores there. That is what you need for a decent theatrical release in India right now. You know, your P&A should be 5 to 10 crores just for a decent release. Then you work backwards to what you need to actually make your film. And then you calculate the economics of it whether that is the kind of story that people actually go and watch and whether you get a return on it. I think I can share this with you. I want to write a long blog post titled The Narcissism of Indie Filmmaking. This title is by the way inspired from another article which was about the Narcissism of Self-Care. You can come and look at the way I’m taking care of ourselves. So Narcissism gets out of it and I’m like holy this is so true. So because there is a lot of Narcissism in this fact ki hey, I’ve made a Indie film. Now you need to watch it. Now you owe me something. And I’m like why? You can charity aspect of it is you need to support Indian Indie cinema. Why? Yeah, exactly. And people get offended when I say it. I have had this discussion with a filmmaker and like and they’re like no, I said you know, that I asked him to make me understand the difference between patronage and like the the support or something charity. I think the whole approach is lazy. It’s a very lazy approach ki tu aake mere ko support kar. I’m Indie film making. Yeah, everyone is working hard. Why do I support your Indie film? Yeah, exactly. I think you have to be creative about getting the film out there. Yeah. And I think there are way more opportunities now than what people had before. It’s just that no one’s really exploiting them. What do you think of this whole thing where you guilt trip the audience ki you have to come. We are doing this. Bahut hota hai. Yeah, yeah. I don’t think you can do that. No one’s actually going to respond to that. And they are not responding to that. Even while living in Mumbai, like the thoughts you have about this is like kind of you are very open to a lot of things. So how did you like build this world view about this? Because I have a background on YouTube, right? So I understand how to do this. You are in the thick of the game also yet you think about it differently. So where did that kind of view come from? know. Maybe I’m just not in like that mainstream distribution bubble. Got it. A lot of the people who I interact with on a daily basis aren’t part of that either. And they’re constantly thinking about you know, new ways of doing things and just looking at what everyone else is doing. And being like you know, inspired by a lot of stuff. Like just yesterday Nikhil Advani, he shared something on our WhatsApp group about this film called Iron Lung Oh, yes. Yes. made a ton of money but again following that same strategy by building the audience on YouTube. So yeah, these are things you get inspired by. No, yeah because the worlds are like really intersecting the world of YouTube and filmmaking and I’m like really Iron Lung is such an inspiring story because they exceeded all the expectations. I think they did pre-sales about 2.5 million. I think they’re close to hitting about 7 million now if I’m not mistaken. Yeah, Warner Brothers India has released it. It’s playing in cinemas. They have three or four shows in the cinema like right next to my home. Crazy. Like imagine an Iron Lung playing in Goregaon. It has it has more shows than Oh Romeo right now. [laughter] Crazy. Another like person that I’m really who did something very unique in the space is Ashish Chanchlani who made this whole show and released it on YouTube and every episode that he has released is about 10 million views. So like these like are the pioneers like Bhuvan Bam, Ashish Chanchlani and they’ve really paved the way for people like us. So I get very inspired by it. Yeah, they’re amazing. I mean if you can do that and and they know then what their audience is. They know what they want. They have enough of interaction with them, you know, to understand what their likes and dislikes are because they know they put out videos all the time. They know which videos got the most amount of likes. They know what is the content that’s working. The founder of Mad Dog said this ki if content is king, distribution is God. [laughter] And I really liked that. It’s all about distribution. And YouTube right now is the biggest platform in the world. It’s superseded Netflix even in terms of the viewership numbers. Oscars will also be coming to like YouTube in like 2-3 years. They have already gotten the contract for that. So YouTube has anyway been the big game and now it will just go to the next level altogether. Are there any filmmakers that you are noticing in India who are doing interesting stuff? It’s like interesting approach pick curry. This was something to rasa hot gay. No, but I I’d love to actually meet them and I feel like they’re all in their 20s right now. It’s just that that’s not the group that I’m interacting with the most but I think there are people out there who probably you know, either just out of film school or who probably choose not to go through film school and through that formal process but still try to make their own stuff and I think those are the guys who’ll be reinventing the game. I think that it is completely like fertile ground right now for someone to come up and just do this. A lot of these filmmakers are also putting out very interesting stuff on Instagram. Like when I released my film, I needed validation from 10 people and all of those people were in their 20s because I knew ki hum log hi agla karne wale hai. So I’m like ki bhai tu dekh ke bata kaisa hai. And like these people like this is guy Satvik. He puts out these amazing short films on Instagram. So he’s not even putting it on YouTube. He’s releasing his short films in real 9 by 16 format. And people know him as a Instagram storyteller. And he’s he has fundamentals of filmmaking are there. Like he really understands how filmmaking works. And then there is this girl like Vinayak introduced me to Shibu again like extremely hardcore filmmaking happening in 2025 second reel. And I’m like yeah, Instagram tak pe ye cheez ho rahi hai. This is so unique and this is the way forward. Yeah, yeah. No, thank you for saying this. I’m going to go follow them right now like right after this. A lot of people are also doing a lot of great good AI film making like people are like really experimenting with the form. I am kind of like very chill about AI unlike a lot of people that I mentioned it to know AI like yeah I’m not the AI guy. Are you the AI guy? Uh no actually to be honest we’ve been using a lot of I won’t say AI but machine learning tools like for the last uh few years already. So like Resolve and Baselight both already have those tools built in which you’ve been using consistently for the last few years. So we’re taking advantage of it just as a tool you know something that actually improves our process makes things faster for us to execute. And yeah there is no going back from that. We’re just happy to see it grow. What is concerning is obviously people currently using generative AI tools to create stuff and then saying oh this is something that I made whereas it’s actually derived from copyrighted content which is a little challenging uh to kind of sell because just recently I think one of the courts said that you cannot uh get copyright on anything that you made through generative AI. What do you think about the health of Mumbai film industry in general like how is it doing? I mean it’s not that great to be honest at least the way we see it because it’s not a very healthy ecosystem. Uh it doesn’t uh inspire much confidence at least with the current state of things and the way things are going. Uh you definitely need uh people at the top who actually think of the entire ecosystem for it to actually prosper uh and there are some people who are there who are doing that. But it it needs to be a lot more people who are doing that as well. Yeah I think it’s in survival mode right now and every person is just thinking of like how I’m going to get the hand okay that we mommy near the night like break something in the like because mommy’s I think in some ways what held like the whole industry together but when mommy doesn’t happen it like makes me cry. Like like they they do something about it because you know all the right people I’m assuming everyone gets their film for grade to your place only. I mean yeah I mean we have kind of built a small corner for ourselves for certain kinds of people and they know us they trust us they trust the creative uh vision behind like Bridge Post Works as a brand. So someone will come you know for the aesthetic someone will come for you know uh I mean yeah everyone has their own choices and reasons to come to us but yeah we try and you know put our word out there and everyone [clears throat] knows why we do it. We just hope everyone else is also you know on the same train as us. What does the worst case scenario of film Mumbai film industry look like 10 years from now key in the in a very dystopic sense this can also happen? I mean I would say that’s present right? [laughter] [clears throat] I I mean how else would you go from here? Yeah. Yeah I think it can only get better to be honest. I think we are already at like you know rock bottom. It can only just get better from here. And does it help like the system uh in totality when like films like Animal or Jhund like make a lot of money for us or it doesn’t? I mean see a lot of people say there is it’s healthy for the industry cuz that’s the only way like the money gets cycled and it works. So yeah maybe it’s good in a way if there is an audience that is actually still going and watching stuff at the cinema or you know paying for it online for their streaming subscription services that’s one way to keep the economy going. Uh and yeah there is maybe a large part of the audience that actually wants that kind of stuff which is fine. I still feel like you know meaningful cinema has uh big part to play in it as well. It’s just that they don’t get as many opportunities or even the ones that are there are handed out like charity. Uh so as long as there’s some sort of balance even if it’s like a 70/30 I think that will still be healthier. Apart from films what other things you’re passionate about? Travel and food I think. Yeah that’s essentially what it is. Which are some of your favorite travel destinations in the world? Uh Japan for sure need to go back this year. Uh that’s been a long time. Uh but yeah I I really enjoy like slower destinations like where you kind of you just kick back on the beach and do nothing. So like Thailand Sri Lanka like you know where you can just cut off. Uh because you need to reset like at least the kind of work that I’m doing right now sometimes I feel like there is no down time even if you go back home uh you’re not actually shutting off. So you need to get out of the city to actually shut off. Uh that’s the only way to like you know re-energize and get those creative juices flowing again. Like there are days where I would go and I’m like I don’t know what to do today on this project you know and that’s when you realize okay maybe you need a break you need a few days off then you can come back and think about it creatively. Yeah no this is something I also realized and are you also into like good stays good Airbnb’s because that is something I really enjoy like finding the right property to stay. Yeah that’s fun. Like I recently went to Film Bazaar and I found like a great place Airbnb in Goa for that. And it was like super like and it’s really great when you know everything is like really well kept and like almost like your own home. So you know okay you know this person is really taking care of their guests. Yeah one of the reasons I go to Dharamshala Film Festival every year is because there’s a property there that I really like. Have you been to Dharamshala Film Festival? Not yet. I I have to go this year. Yeah I’ll recommend the property to you. If we are going at the same time I won’t recommend it to you because you will book [laughter] it. Which other countries like do you like UK Europe? Actually Italy Spain uh those two again like purely for the food. And what I’ll do is I’ll usually book uh the restaurants that I want to go to first before I book my air tickets cuz there are certain restaurants which you know you have to like wake up at like 7:00 a.m. 6:00 a.m. uh to hit that queue uh to reserve it and then yeah once you know your reservation is secure then okay now I’ll do the tickets and everything. Italy must be like a great place for food no? Italy Spain both of them yeah. You know when we were about to cross 500k followers on Instagram so I reached out to my team and said which is the best place to eat food in Mumbai and then everyone suggested me Masque so I took my team to Masque when we crossed 500k followers. It was a great experience and then I saw like you have amazing stuff. Yeah is like the Masque at the top or are there better places than Masque in Mumbai? I actually love going back to places repeatedly like Masque I would do now when if they have a new menu. Uh But I because I go eat out more often I’ll probably go back to places where I can go and discover new stuff in their menu every day. Like I recently went to a cross which is in Kala Ghoda and it’s Himalayan food and they have a extensive menu and I went with three friends of mine and we ate pretty much like only a quarter of the menu and we were full and we were like okay now we have an opportunity to go back again and discover new stuff on the menu. There’s a place I love in Goa uh Grumps. Yes. Have you been to Grumps? Yeah multiple times. Every time I go for Film Bazaar I’m there. Uh same same same same same. Grumps I have taken so many people to Grumps. Grumps because for me like ambience is also very important like like dimly lit places yellow lights and everything and Grumps is let’s say if my aesthetic is Grumps what other places in India should I go to? Like Grumps is the aesthetic the place for me. Have you done uh Comorin in Gurgaon? No. Okay so you should do Comorin Gurgaon then. Something completely not on the map right now because it’s very very new. Uh it’s a cocktail tasting menu uh in GK2 in Delhi uh called Cavity. It’s actually at the basement of Baba and Phyls which is a bar so it’s essentially a bar beneath the bar. Speak easy. Yeah kind of and uh yeah that is definitely worth doing right now and I think uh Paradox every uh month on a Sunday they’ll do a brunch uh and you have to do one of those because they usually have a chef visiting from outside uh and they’ll do like a collab kind of brunch. Where is Paradox? In Lower Parel. Oh Paradox is in Lower Parel. Yeah and it’s the same team as Masque. Oh. Yeah so it’s their bar. Oh wow so this I’m definitely doing. I haven’t done that like place which is above Veronica’s. Yes I I still haven’t gotten a reservation like every first of the month at 11:00 a.m. I’m usually doing something so high priority that my alarm I will miss you know cuz I always have a alarm set to get the reservation but I somehow never get. What’s that place called? Papas. Papas. And I think you have also done that place in Himachal the Na? Na yes. It’s also Yeah yeah yeah. So again like again I was thinking if you know uh that Cine V Festival happens I’ll do another trip but that’s unfortunately not happening this year. But yeah if you’re there in Chandigarh just drive up and go. Do you like Jaipur? I’m from Jaipur. Have you been to Jaipur? I have and I actually found a few interesting places there as well. So so there’s a hotel called The Johri which has you know their own bar as well. Yeah Johri. And restaurant. The restaurant is vegetarian but has a great bar program as well. There are a couple of other places also which I have something how much Johari’s picked up because like now if a friend is coming over to Jaipur, I don’t get a reservation there. It’s booked for days like the lunches, the dinners. Johari has and I think it’s because of Instagram. Yeah, a lot of these places become because of Instagram, right? Yeah. So, Johari has really really picked up. So, yeah. Jaipur is also a great place like in general and it is also getting the attention of the world. Yeah. Yeah. Instagram is the [clears throat] place for discovery. Like even if you see and if we go back, you know, to film, a lot of these reel apps will put out like a 1-minute teaser on Instagram and then tell you, “Okay, download now the app and watch like the whole series.” So, it’s become like this advertising discovery kind of platform. micro drama. Yes, exactly. Exactly, you know. So, there’ll be like 1-minute episode, 60 of them. There’s like a an hour of content, but you have to do it through their app. So, they’ll put like the first 60 seconds as like an ad on Instagram to entice you to download the app and then go watch the entire thing. But is it a lot of Indian stuff or this is Korean Chinese? It’s it’s basically international stuff that I’ve seen that way. But there are other people who are doing the entire series on Instagram. Like Dolly Singh recently did a couple of series of her show “Be My Guest” date, I think it’s called on her channel Dolly Wood Films where she put out everything on Instagram. Where you don’t have to then, you know, navigate to another platform, another app. And Instagram has also started linking reels. I think if you are on reel two, you can you go to reel three. So, that has also made it like a little more interesting. So, when I speak to film people a lot of times, they kind of either look down upon what’s happening in the world of content creation or they don’t know. So, you that is not the case with you which is so good like you know about Dolly Singh and then you also co-produced Kusha’s short film, right? And you also was so like receptive of what we were doing. It’s rare. Like I don’t think enough people who are in like hardcore film industry are that appreciative of the content world. No, I feel like they are the next generation of filmmakers. As simple as that. Like that that is what you want to do, right? You want to continue making films, you have to work with the guys who are going to lead this into the future. I feel like they’ve done it smartly again like building their audiences first. Yeah. Yeah, but why don’t you tell me something like that? I don’t know, but later you maybe. The smart ones will, you know, do it first. Yes, it’s always like the first time is always like, you know, bloody through the wall, but they are the ones who will reap the benefits from it. Which is your all-time favorite film? Has to be Closer by Abbas Kiarostami. Nice. I like it too. I don’t think there’s a better film that kind of blends like fiction and non-fiction as well and just takes you on that journey. And which has been your favorite film from last year? 2025 Sinners and F1, I think those two kind of top the list. Like I can keep rewatching both of them. Like both I’ve purchased on Apple TV and I keep like rewatching them all the time. Did you watch Hamnet? Yes, loved it. Yeah, like and [snorts] like immediately like at the end you recognize the score because you heard the song before. Yeah. And he’s playing now in Bombay from the beginning. No, don’t miss it, please. Yeah, I think I’ll just book it right away. I’m just confused about the seats. Yeah, just get any seat. Doesn’t matter. I know. My brother actually told me just get like the sweet spot which is like somewhere towards the center and then I’ll get yeah because I’m Close it towards like the middle of the hall. Yeah, so that’s where like the speakers would be like, you know, best positioned. Have you had that like box experience where you are like sitting there? [laughter] Bro, I was reading because when you are trying to book tickets on the N Mac website like the way they sell the box I’m like I don’t have enough friends to get it, but I might get it just for myself. I [snorts] need to have a box. But is box from a viewing point of view any better than the other? I don’t think so. The elitist part of it. [laughter] Yeah, I think even dress circle is like better like in terms of viewing because you want to be center like close to center for any kind of experience there. The box is just I guess fun for private families and stuff. Have you attended any crazy concerts in your lifetime? So, earliest experience which I will never forget is Savage Garden. This is like way back when I was like really young. So, they performed in Bombay. That was unforgettable. And yeah, recently I think uh Linkin Park when they came down for Lollapalooza this year. If I can be in it for a second. Did you like the sound and No, the sound [laughter] was problematic. I think the fun was all of us singing Exactly. Yeah, you could hear the audience. heard the Bangalore concert did not have this problem. The Linkin Park because it was a solo Linkin Park concert like Lola Woulda. I was like I’m looking forward Kanye West actually. Oh, you’re going? Yeah. Nice. That’s happening in Delhi. So, I’m like looking forward to You should definitely do Magnetic Fields Festival. I will. I will. I go there every year. Okay. So, and I I’m really into it because I think it’s your vibe and you are into experiences. It’s it’s something. Yeah, my brother has played there, so I know about it, but yeah. Your brother has played there? Yeah, yeah, he’s a musician. What’s the name of your Abhir. So, you can check him out on Instagram. Can I also check him up on YouTube? My YouTube is open right now. I don’t think he’s on YouTube, but he’ll mostly have stuff on Instagram which then you links to other places. Dude, he has played in Boiler Room also. Is he your real brother? Yeah, yeah. This guy? Yeah, yeah. That’s him. Yeah. [laughter] Crazy. When did he play at Magnetic Fields? I think one of the early editions. Okay. What is he up to right now, your brother? Multiple things. I mean, apart from touring and playing, he’s also setting up a space for the next generation of artists to learn. Also setting up like a record store where you can buy vinyl records. And yeah, he also runs the Y DJ program for learning music and DJ. Where is he based out of? In Bombay only. Oh, wow. I’m really I’m really into electronic music. You have no idea like I won’t be able to articulate it. I had no clue like it makes you cool suddenly. Like your brother played at Boiler Room. Like it’s like holy Like this is so much fun. And like he must have also like told you a lot about Magnetic Fields, right? Yeah, yeah, yes, yeah. But up to a large scale because now they are doing it at a at a palace which is so beautiful. This was the first edition where they did it at a new palace and they capped it at 2,000 people. Okay. So, basically it’s very expensive. You must have heard that. I don’t know. It’s expensive and if particularly you stay in the palace, you end up paying upwards of 2 to 2.5 lakhs for like three people, but it’s worth it. Yeah. It’s totally worth it. Yeah. And like have you ever been to a festival where you stayed there for multiple days? No, we haven’t had the opportunity to do that as yet. But do you think you’ll enjoy electronic music like that? I would, yeah, for sure. But do you enjoy it like in general? Do you enjoy your brother’s music? I do. I do, in fact. I actually enjoy discovering new stuff through his music because his music like his sets usually go through different genres and different artists and a lot of the stuff I haven’t heard of before and it’s like a mix of like international and Indian artists. So, it’s lovely just discovering new music through him. Has your brother worked on any films also? I don’t think so. Okay. Okay. Yeah, because in the film like like we made, we worked on this producer / DJ called Film. So, he also played at Magnetic Fields this year. And he works very closely with Alokananda Dasgupta. So, yeah, yeah. I love like musicians in general. What else like do you have any book recommendations for us? I mean, I recently started reading this Manu Joseph book “Why the Poor Don’t Kill Us”. I’m like on page 56 or something. Are you liking it? It’s interesting. I mean, I kind of liked his writing style more than the content. So, I like the the wit and the sarcasm in it more than the content. Yeah, I like the book and Manu has really helped us with our film. I don’t know if you know. Manu has called our film “She Was From a Situationship” one of the best written films in the last 10 years. His Mint column is about our film and we [laughter] are like holy that’s so cool. And we I I attended his like Have you been to JLF? No, I haven’t. Yeah, so I attended his like session at JLF and like it was very interesting. So, yeah, like the ideas of why poor don’t kill us like are like very I don’t know. They can also offend at some point of time. Yes, it’s a little rage baby, but like overall the book worked very well for me. And do you also read a lot of books on film? I do actually. I’ve read quite a lot not in the recent years, but like while uh studying film and growing up, um a lot of books. Uh that Ray wrote as well or Andre um a lot of books on editing, cinematography, uh color uh stuff that goes through like all of the craft of it. Which are some of the like most important books on color out there? I mean, I would say like just to start with the most basic is if it’s purple, someone’s going to die. If it’s purple, someone is going to die. Yeah, [clears throat] by Patti Beloni. And then there’s In the Blink of an Eye by Walter Murch. Like those are the two like I always kind of refer to. Why is the title If It’s Purple, Someone Is Going to Die? So, she’s documented in the book uh the use of color and the use of color psychology in certain films and she’s gone through certain film examples and is listed there like certain films are there where they’ve actually, you know, suggested or put in the color purple there in a moment or just before for a moment where someone actually dies. Really? Yeah. Like I’m thinking like holy purple. [laughter] Ah. Very interesting. Another question I have for you is a product that you purchased for less than 10,000 rupees that you would recommend to everyone. Like right now, air purifier to everyone. But I I think you get like smaller ones for less than 10K, but I recently bought like the AQI monitor from Amazon, which is like for like 4,600 or something from Temtop the company and I’ve been monitoring like the PM 2.5 level at home and at office and I’m just trying now to make sure like every single room that I’m in, like the PM 2.5 is like below to 15, which is like the WHO standard. Crazy. Yeah. So, the for 4.6K, you just get the monitor. yeah. So, then you can just check what the PM 2.5 levels are in all of these rooms. And now we’ve ordered air purifiers like new ones. We already had ones before in the studio, but because the ones we ordered, the filters are no longer available, we have to change the purifiers themselves. Uh so, now we’ve ordered new ones for the studio as well. But why is it so expensive just the monitor? I think this is just maybe a slightly higher grade sensor, uh laser particle sensor that it is. No, unfortunately, I don’t. You should have ordered it. But I’ll show you the link. You can check it out. I keep the air purifier in my room always on and like which brand do you trust when it comes to air purifier? So, the one I have is a Coway one at home and the ones we had in the studio were Molecule, but unfortunately, Molecule no longer sells the filters. So, because it’s I think an American brand and they stopped selling the filters, so we found two recently on Amazon, but now even those are running out. So, now we’re changing the air purifiers themselves. So, now we’re getting Air Steril, which is like a UK brand, but we know now they’re serviced uh and sold in India. So, we have like continuous parts supplies as well if you have to change stuff out. So, you’ve got four coming for all of the four studio rooms. We even have a Air Steril coming from the washroom, an Air Steril for the pantry. Uh so, we’re basically going to make sure like the entire studio is like completely Yeah, I’m sorry we don’t have an air purifier in the studio. [laughter] I do have one in the my bedroom, which I I never turn off. I never turn it off. I love the imagery of walking into my room and the reading being 10. Yeah. I love it. [laughter] But yeah, like I think it’s so sad and bad what’s happening in Mumbai now when it comes to the air quality. I think this is the only way now, right? Like you just do every room you enter must like have the right I but I’m so like freaking out right now. I’m thinking should I get one for the car, you know, cuz now you get like smaller ones that you can actually put in the cup holder. That That’s what I was coming to, yeah. How does the car air purifier work? I think they just have like tiny ones again, same filtration technology as what would go in the home air purifier, but like miniaturized and it’s powered through your car’s USB. These lockets also came in Beach Candy where you wear it. Yes. But were they good? Like I’m not sure. Not used it. Haven’t heard much from anyone about it either. And are you very health conscious? No, I’m not very health conscious. I mean, if you see I’m like especially like when it comes to food and stuff, like I I don’t think about it. look very like fit. I think maybe that’s just like decent metabolism, but I’m not really getting as much exercise as I should. Uh in fact, right after this podcast, I’m going for physiotherapy to like fix my shoulder. Crazy. Yeah. And are you into any sports? Uh no, but I’d love to. If I get the opportunity to start tennis again, like I’d love to. Nice. Yeah, yeah. I go to Jew to play tennis. So, I’m going there tomorrow also. Some very good coach. If you want recommendations, let me know. Do you take supplements and stuff? Yeah, like just omega-3 uh and um uh what was the other one? I forgot. Magnesium creatine? No, not magnesium. Creatine, yes, I was taking it earlier. Uh I stopped it for now uh cuz I had to do like some blood reports and you have to stop it for like a few weeks before you do your blood test. Is that so? Yeah, yeah. Otherwise, it shows up shows some errors in your uh all your function tests and stuff. And uh protein? Protein, yeah. Okay. So, just protein powder you have? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And are you a vegetarian or non-vegetarian? Non-vegetarian. Still you take protein? Yeah, yeah. I I I don’t think we get like great sources of protein around us, right? Are you like very particular about it? You don’t miss the protein shake. not particular about it. I’m like I mean, I’m I’m trying to stay on track, but it’s a sometimes a little hard, so. What’s one thing which is exciting you at this moment and one thing which bothers you a lot at this moment? Exciting is like this current phase that we’re going through is going to create some breakout artists and I’d love to like collaborate with them and see what we can probably create together. I think as I said, like this is going to be like the best time for the next generation of artists like break through. Do you have any names like that you can tell us like look out for these folks? No, don’t have any names as such, but yeah, I mean, I’m looking forward to discovering just as an audience and then maybe like finding a way to kind of, you know, collaborate in some way. And what’s bothering you at this moment? I mean, damn. Just the ability to like uh breathe clean air, to be honest. Yeah, man. It’s It’s It’s getting a little trickier. Uh and the thing is that you want to make sure that it’s safe for everyone else around you as well and that requires a lot more heft and push at a community level, which I hope everyone around us can see and kind of galvanize around it Yeah. and then do something about it. I think my team would also have some questions for you. Vinayak Hindal, any questions? So, there’s this general perception now that all films have a very flat look. And I’m sure as a colorist, you would be getting all these OTT mandates that it has to be at a certain level. So, so why do films look flat? I mean, I I honestly don’t think they look flat. I don’t know why everyone else says look flat, but and there is no mandate from any of the OTTs in terms of what it should look like creatively. Yeah, in fact, I also didn’t know this until Prithvi told us. I mean, I thought that Netflix would say that our tube light has to be green. No, they don’t say that. This was surprising for me. Yeah. I think it’s just maybe certain artists get inspired by other artists and then there’s like just a trend of doing like probably the same thing. Uh but there is no mandate from anyone to do a certain thing a certain way. You do it what you feel is right. And we have a lot of creative freedom in terms of the grade with all of the cinematographers that we work with, the directors we work with. Like we’ve gotten zero restrictions from anyone. Like the only time we’ve been told like uh by any director, not even a cinematographer, is that hey, can you just make sure that I can see the eyes because in this scene, like the emotion is in the eyes. They’re not saying much dialogue. It’s all through the eyes. So, can you just make sure we see that? I’m like, okay, yeah. That for sure we can do. Got it. Got it. Do you notice these trends? Like I remember uh I was trying to learn color grading. Like I’ve been trying to learn it for the past 10 years. Around 10 years ago, everything was a lot orange. Yeah. Everyone used to like preach that particular thing. Now everything is about film emulation. Yeah. Is there anything coming up that you can predict that this look will be famous in the future? Uh yeah, video emulation like VHS. [laughter] Yeah, what we were discussing. Like the old film look like like the 480p. Yeah, yeah. Not only that, but just like like Betacam, VHS, you know, analog video sources. Handycam and like yeah. Exactly, exactly. Like I’m seeing a lot of people do that now. Uh we’re also working on some projects which we’re going to try and do that. But I’m very happy seeing like this whole cycle of some uh film returning. Like you had like a period where film actually died out and you know, Kodak at one point was like close to bankruptcy. And now you see Kodak coming back, you see film getting back in the mainstream. Like I think 70 or 80% of the best picture nominees this year are shot on film. Crazy. Uh and you have like resurgences of people even in India now shooting film. Just yesterday a cinematographer took the the Monsoon Film Labs number from me saying, “Hey, I’m shooting my next commercial on 16. Can you please send me Karan’s number?” So, you know, I’m just loving seeing this and again it’s going to be like the the younger artists are going to take it up and bring film back. This is so interesting. 80% of the 70 80% of the best film nominees Yeah, yeah. Think forward. Cinners won battle after another. Yeah. Uh what else is there? Hamnet is there and what else is there? We going to have film crazy. Dream dreams. I I don’t know what Dream Horse is shot on, but yeah. But a lot of stuff is film now. But no, this was amazing. Said like uh I would love for you to see our film and like you had such a big contribution to it because I love the idea of like learning a lot because I’ve never been to film school and I’m very anti-film school in general because I’ve never performed well if you put me in a classroom. Everything I’ve learned is when people are not looking at me, but I also know when you don’t go to a film school, you have to study harder. So, this is how I’ve lived my life and then just reaching out to you, “Hey, can you help us with this?” and you doing that. Have you done that for others as like like do people reach out to you “Come and teach session us about it?” No, this was the first actually. Uh we’ve done this for the first time. So, people are not also not asking this also. No. [laughter] [laughter] Yeah, I have another question. Some people have this perception that shooting in black and white is like lazy. Like you don’t have to color grade if you’re shooting in black and white. Do you agree with it? No, no, you do have to grade it. [laughter] Yeah, yeah, very much. Like we did Second Chance that way. And in fact, Second Chance even before they went to shoot, we actually built the black and white lot for them so that they could monitor on set in black and white correctly so that whatever they put in terms of production design or costume, cuz you choose certain colors for certain gradations of you know, luminance of the gray, those would represent correctly. He’s shooting us by the way on a LUT right now. Yeah, yeah, because we have been playing with LUTs and there is one LUT. So, he has been lately not shooting on log. He’s shooting on LUT because he’s like for podcast it works. So, yeah, does that bother you? No, [laughter] no, it’s fine. I mean, what you can do is maybe just as long as you’re not baking it in and you just shoot log, you’re using the LUT as preview on your monitor so that you then have the ability to grade underneath the LUT instead of on top of it cuz you’ll have more latitude to grade underneath. We might have to send this podcast to Bridge [laughter] for the first one. No, this was lovely, Sid. Thank you so much for doing this and anything you want to plug, anything that you want to give a shoutout to? No, I mean, yeah, just want to plug Bridge PostWorks. I mean, that’s essentially our brand. Yeah. And we’ve built it with a lot of love and care and happy that it’s getting, you know, a lot of love back now. Yeah. And yeah, happy to stay on this journey and meet more interesting and young folk and keep doing this. And if someone has to like kind of get the updates of Bridge PostWorks, so Instagram is the place for it? Instagram is the place for it. Our website is also pretty well updated with all of the work that we keep doing. But yeah, the Instagram is more like uh whenever we’re like have a film out there, the immediate announcement is there. And then if there’s like, you know, a festival run for a certain film, that we’ll post about it as well. Lovely, lovely. So, thank you so much. This was amazing. Thank you. [music]