We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nidheya Suresh. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nidheya below.
Nidheya, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?
Even after I’m gone, I would like my art to continue inspiring people. I want my films (and hopefully, eventually, TV shows) to make an impact on others, and make them feel seen, or be there for them during difficult times. Recently, my film, The Rose Garden, screened at the California Women’s Film Festival, and I had so many people in the audience walk up to me, and tell me how much the story meant to them, how they related to it, and how they wished their siblings could see it too. It was one of the most wonderful, and overwhelming experiences of my life. Sometimes, I still can’t process that happened. It was that surreal and awesome.
So, really, I want to continue doing that. I want my art to matter and help people. Recently, while going through some personal issues, I turned to the show Modern Family, and I have to say that show HEALED me. The eleven seasons brought me out on the other side a much happier, calmer person. And that’s part of that show’s legacy.
So, if my legacy is even a fraction of that, if it helps just one person, I will be happy. And I want to be known as someone who did the best with what she was given.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m a filmmaker and writer, and I’ve had years of experience writing, directing, and producing movies. I made my first film Idée fixe, with my former producing partner and good friend, Ahlan Williams. It was a thriller about a girl whose best friend is brutally murdered. Then, Ahlan and I moved on to our next film, Tabitha, a horror film about a pair of parents experiencing extreme grief at the death of their firstborn, and the lengths they go to bring her back.
After that, I pivoted to more drama, issue based films, and directed my first solo film, Maa, about a young gay Indian woman, having to come out to her mother. I also made the short films For Better or For Worse (reunited with Ahlan Williams for this one) and Bandaid, which dealt with issues like infidelity, immigration, etc.
In 2022, I produced the upcoming sci-fi film, Until Death Do Us Part, directed by Leonardo Daccarett which is about a quirky investigator investigating the sudden death of a wealthy man.
The project I am most proud of is my short film The Rose Garden. It’s my baby. I teamed up with previous collaborators and actors Ria Patel and Kankana Chakraborty on this film. It’s about two estranged sisters who are forced to come together upon the death of their parents. The film is close to my heart and deals with family issues as well as talks about mental health, which is a taboo in the South Asian community.
I am so passionate about mental health issues and sibling relationships, that last year I joined the team for the short film Trigger, as the line producer, which is also about two siblings and how their mental health struggles keep them from actively communicating with each other.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
When your art manages to move just one person. If one person watches my film, and resonates with it, nothing can come close to that feeling. I’ve gotten multiple awards for my films before, but nothing, I promise NOTHING moved me as much as people coming up to me – total strangers – and telling me that I should never give up on making movies, that they couldn’t stop crying and wished their friends and family could see it. Nothing.
Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?
When we were filming The Rose Garden, we lost our location the day before COVID and had to scramble to rearrange the SCRIPT to fit filming everything in one location. But, at the end of our shoot, I just wasn’t satisfied. The big scene that the entire film hinged on, didn’t work in the new location, and while the performances were good, I felt so empty inside. I felt such dread and disappointment, when one of my leads and co-producer Kankana Chakraborty urged me to reshoot the last sequence and do it again.
It was a hard thing to manage, we had crew members flying in and out of the state, and we wanted to retain most of our crew to make it work. But after we spoke to our department heads, nearly every single person came back to make it work. And we are SO glad we did. After the reshoot, all of us were so happy and satisfied. It was a delightful feeling.
Contact Info:
- Website: [email protected]
- Instagram: nidheyasuresh
- Twitter: nidheyasuresh
Image Credits
Sharayu Mahale Ahlan Williams Gabriella Martinez