User:Sunder Konar/sandbox

Sunder Konar, a media student of SIES College is a young and aspiring filmmaker and director. With a clear vision in his head, Sunder learnt the art of filmmaking in the very first year of degree college. His first short film ‘Intezar’ was made with a little help from his friends within a short span of two days. Fascinated by the whole filmmaking process and direction, he decided to make more short films and compete in every film competition in college events and film festivals he could. He started visiting various film festivals across Mumbai to meet people from the film industry and build connections with directors, technicians, cinematographers and screenplay writers to gain a foothold in the industry.

‘Night life of Mumbai’ is short film by Sunder which was doing the rounds on Facebook and YouTube and got nearly 800 views in three hours. Shot across three locations, Sion, Dadar and Matunga, it depicted the abject poverty of Mumbai’s homeless at night. But this victory was short-lived, explains Sunder, “The film had one very impactful line ‘Iska jawab kaun dega, kaunsi sarkar’ and the then government considered the film to be against them, so YouTube banned the film after six hours of its release.”

Sunder was not about to let this deter his hopes and visions for the future, and went on to shoot 30 short films as a cinematographer and made several short films such as Job, The Mumbai Song, Gubbara, Words Unsaid, to name a few. Gubbara, a film that chronicled the life of a child who sold balloons for a living, is the film closest to his heart and was almost showcased at the Miami Film Festival but unfortunately lost out to other films in the third round.

Apart from being a great filmmaker, Sunder also used to be a national level boxer and has not only competed but even won several accolades at state and national level competitions. But he describes this period of his life as the most difficult. “I had to take up family responsibilities in 2010 because I wanted to help my mother who was shouldering too much responsibility on her own. I started delivering milk and newspapers from 4.30 to 7.30 in morning, after which I had boxing practice for about two hours and then go to school. Eventually in 2012, I had to quit boxing because I was unable to devote the necessary time and dedication required for such a sport”

Today, Sunder works a Technical Assistant (Scoring Expert) for the Boxing Federation of India and was recently seen officiating at the South Asian Games 2016 in Shillong. While he is still exploring his talents as a director and visionary filmmaker, he also has a job as a Quality Check and Video Analyst at Prime Focus Technologies. He works from 11 pm to 6 am and then attends his college from 7 to 10 am and manages to squeeze in some time to work on his short films as well.

The biggest and most exciting break for him was to land an opportunity to assistant direct for a Hrithik Roshan and Yami Gautam starrer ‘Kaabil’. “Nadeem Shah who is the associate director of the film gave me a call randomly one day and told me to work with him. It was a dream come true for me! The first phase of the shooting is over and I am very excited for the second phase of the shoot to start,” said Sunder.

His next two short films are going to be psychological thrillers based on sleep paralysis and insomnia. While all his focus is right now on ‘Kaabil’; he aspires to become a Kollywood and Bollywood director by the age of 25. He signs off by saying, “Work hard in silence let your success make the noise”.

What’s harder – getting started or being able to keep going?

Getting started is hardest because it is difficult to form a team and garner support for a vision. Executing a plan has always been easier than forming it.and i was always encouraged by Sanikala, my mother ,she fought hard to educate us.

When inspiration is waning, when you feel creatively sapped, what do you do? How do you stay fresh?

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By listening to music, Reading a book, watching a movie, travelling, exercise or meditating. It’s always what takes me away from a strenuous project, which gets me a newer perspective towards its execution when I return.

How much do you think commerce affects your art? Or – How much do you have to compromise as a filmmaker because of financial restrictions or business? inancial constraints are the worst for a film maker only because of this art being time controlled. A specific shot needs is controlled by time, equipment, location and an actor’s understanding. Coordinating all of these factors and still having financial restrictions is difficult for us to manage at times.

Share about Mumbai Song Journey

Mumbai Song Project was Something New Which i wanted to present a anthem for my city. City of Dream – MUMBAI. In Multi language with Rap & Melody Mixture. I was alone slowly Started Creating a new team of all beginners working hard &learning Daily for 4 Months. Gathering all Talented people – Music Director, Co-Director, Rapper, Lyricist, Singer, Cinematographers, Editors, Marketing & PR. Planning Daily & Work in a Zero Budget Tea Stall is our Meeting Place. We gave our Best All the Young Talented People worked unity in Mode of Changing Passion into Glory.

Share about your “Boxer’s Life”

Started Boxing in 8th Std in 2008 Won Medal Several Maharashtra & Kerala State Championship & National Championship. My Coach Krishna Dass worked hard to improve my level in Boxing. Yet I have to go far of course I am ready to give my 100%.

What is the one mistake most filmmakers make, regardless of experience?

Losing patience. One has to control his emotions when dealing with so many factors. Losing patience is a bad experience which each filmmaker surely has a very interesting story about at least once in his life. Even I passed o such phase, now learned to handle it very well.