We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ruchir Kulkarni. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ruchir below.

Ruchir, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Having worked on various projects, choosing just one is quite difficult. I started my filmmaking journey right during the peak of the pandemic. As I broke into the industry back home, I was keen on gaining experience in all media types.
The project that stands out to me the most is the one where I was the chief assistant director for a documentary shot in a small village amidst the mountains of western Maharashtra (an Indian State). We were documenting the story of a group of women standing up against the patriarchal government, demanding certain reforms in their remote village. They were criticized for doing so, sometimes even by their own families. That entire experience humbled me and made me realize the disparity between urban and rural lives just a hundred miles from the closest metropolitan city.
Their voices were trapped under societal norms and our documentary supported their voice and their cause. For the first time, I felt like I was part of propagating a change in society through my filmmaking.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I decided to pursue Engineering for my undergrad. But I didn’t realize that choosing engineering would be the ‘Inciting Incident’ to my filmmaking journey. During my engineering years, I enrolled myself in my college’s film club, where they screened a variety of movies beyond the Hollywood and Bollywood industries. It was there that I was introduced to world cinema and regional cinema from my own country. Directors like Stanley Kubrick, Hitchcock, Kiarostami, Kurosawa, and Wong Kar Wai captivated me. These films enamored me, and something within me pushed me to create my own. This led to my first short film, and the experience was so liberating that I continued making short films with my friends acting in it.
Fast forward to the day, I became a full-time filmmaker. My habit of making short films taught me the fundamentals of filmmaking. Initially, I started as an editor, a role that continues to influence my writing and directing today. Before pursuing my Masters in filmmaking, I worked as an assistant editor on multiple projects. This experience was invaluable, helping me understand the art form and significantly improving my directing skills when I began making professionally produced short films.
Today, I market myself as a film editor, director, and writer. I have four short films under my belt, three of which are currently in the festival circuit. Having written, directed, edited & produced these films has brought me closer to my goal of telling compelling stories that resonate with audiences, leveraging my diverse background and experiences to bring unique perspectives to each project.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

The only thing I wish I had known earlier is the power we already possess to make and tell stories. During my early years, I made films while learning filmmaking from YouTube videos and DIY tutorials. I taught myself various kinds of software, from video editing to color correction. I’ve seen many filmmaking enthusiasts complain about not having the best possible equipment to tell their stories compellingly. Looking back, I see myself in the same position.
After working with a diverse set of equipment, I’ve realized that the limitation in your creative journey isn’t the equipment but the words on the page. I’ve worked on big projects with great resources and indie projects with none but a great script, and the latter always wins creatively. Don’t crib, start working.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Most of the non-creatives just see the freedom that we creatives get, and don’t address the efforts that are put in, in our creation. The non-creatives might not fully grasp the importance of storytelling and the emotional investment of years that goes into each project. They may see the finished product without recognizing the painstaking process behind it. No one wants to make a bad piece of art, and everyone has a right to critique, but the lack of awareness and respect towards artists is something that is not acceptable.
Ultimately a career in any artistic field is liberating and freeing but it also has its limitations, a big one being financial uncertainty; if you are trying to break into the field. The journey of a creative is about constant growth, embracing challenges, and finding joy in the process of bringing stories to life, regardless of the obstacles faced along the way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm14608866/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/engineered_storyteller
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruchir-kulkarni-b68434143
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/thetinyfilmshack