We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rohit Jasud. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rohit below.
Rohit, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the best or worst investment you’ve made (either in terms of time or money)? (Note, these responses are only intended as entertainment and shouldn’t be construed as investment advice)
Although fairly a rookie in the film industry or rather in my own creative journey, the most valuable thing I have realized is investing in yourself, both time & money.
We are societally programmed to invest in X to get 2X/3X – 10X returns, but when you invest time to learn something, read a book, go on that solo back packing trip, go on that random date; you are bound to get an unconditional asymmetrical return – aka getting a better understanding of the world around you, achieving a calmer state of mind, finding a new business idea, finding a wife even!?
Not too long ago, I came across an interview that hosted Cillian Murphy that highlighted him emphasizing the most important thing an actor can do is live their life until 30, not sustain but truly experience the journey. I doubt I could truly fathom the gravitas of that statement until I broke my conditioned cycle of survival as an artist.
Unless you aren’t born cocooned up in the entertainment world, you are conditioned to believe you have got to ‘struggle’, and so did I! But when things started falling apart for me, I desperately wanted to cling onto something that would abstain the injuries only to realize you truly are the captain of your ship and the master of your fate. So, yes, you need to crash to realise you crashed and why you crashed and how you could rectify this crash.
Amidst all the chaos in my head, a spiritual awakening sprung upon me. Now, I am not the most religious person but when you deal with the concept of patience head on, consistently trying to better your craft and work on obscuring opportunities, its only normal to wear out emotionally and mentally. With abundance of content splashed your way everyday, what drew me most was the mental balance and well being and the spiritual connect to it.
One of the biggest influences for me has been the Bhagavad Gita. Its lessons on duty and finding purpose have really helped me navigate ups and downs. There’s something so grounding about its teachings that helped me find clarity when things get a bit chaotic. Along the way while purely consuming this text, I felt a calling in my bones to go to the Himalayas. And eventually, I found myself living in a metaphorical world in the mountains where every single experience made me hyper aware of the ground reality of experiencing life and not just blatantly living. I could surely dive deeper into that whole experience but I might run out of pages here!
In brief, listen to that inner voice, accept your shortcomings and challenge the reality, just know life doesn’t come at you but from you with the conditioned and unconditioned choices we make. When you truly look past the circumstantial crisis, maybe just maybe you would come to a realisation how investing in yourself will always give you asymmetrical returns and nothing in the world will make you a happier person but yourself and your choices.
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.
It’s fairly ludicrous how an Actor loves to talk about themself, but when barged at questioning what they do, we rather step into deep self-analysis. That being said, I am an Actor, a Filmmaker and an aspiring screenwriter who also models, works as crew in productions and while juggling all of the above I am endeavoring to build a business to sustain my creative portfolio.
Growing up in equally business and film centric family in India, I was exposed to most facets of the world where I could see and still see myself thrive in. Hindi cinema or more popularly “Bollywood” had me by its whim, especially in my adolescence. Unknown to most of my peers, I started in the industry as a child artist working in regional daily soaps and a couple commercials which eventually led me to film production sets and my growing aspiration to be a filmmaker.
Cut to my university in Bombay, as every Indian household would strongly suggest, I was streamed into a getting a “real education” to prepare myself for the realty of the world i.e. a business degree. Soon, COVID hit and the world shut down with a blink of an eye and I found myself in my room consuming a minimum of 5 films a day. I believe my father first noticed that self-burning hunger in me that needed me to be exclusively in the world of storytelling. I credit where I am and where I will eventually be to him. He pushed me to drop out of college and pursue what my heart desired; ending up in a film school in New York in the middle of a Global Pandemic!
Every film has an inciting incident that pushes the story forward and I believe this was for me. New York City. One would fail miserably to comprehend this place as a whole, such was its mystic. From one film school to another theatre school I pushed myself to build my core to be malleable, yet amiable. Introducing myself to playwrights, theatre artists and frankly theatre as a whole deepened my affection for the craft, while also being equally engaged in the world of Cinema. Fascinatingly both these avenues are so unlike one another yet so intertwined that one had to master one to be good at the other. Post school, I still don’t think I could fathom the entirety of it, and that’s the beauty of this curious creative world.
Today, I have worked as an actor in off-broadway shows, over 30 short films, multiple music videos and at least a dozen commercials from Nokia to Valentino. I haven’t frankly reached a realm where I can see myself celebrating my achievements yet. but I am proud of my journey so far and thrilled to fuel this ignited fire. Although, if I had to mention a project, it undoubtedly would be a proof of Concept I have been working on with my co-producers, titled ‘Love() Mave’. I enjoy my job as an actor, but over the course of years what’s truly been fulfilling is being a part of these stories rather productions from day zero. Nothing satisfies me more than having the creative control and for lack of better words producing your brainchild into fruition, as a filmmaker / producer. Hence, I look forward to producing my first feature film shortly and what follows!
Quite recently, I thought out loud how I wouldn’t want to abstain myself from picking at other avenues just because societally I am seen merely as an individual from the entertainment industry. I envision myself making a heartfelt impact in more facets and to name one under the works is a undisclosed software application, also a parallel to the Film Industry especially for the Indian Community.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
If there’s anything I know it’s If there is a will there is always a way and if you truly desire something, the universe will conspire against the world for you!
Things always eventually work out and its my grit against all the odds that keeps my head held high. Around 5 months back, I was going through a real crisis with regards to a project my Co-producer/ writer and I were working on, when we dived deep into our Feature Proof Of Concept short film mentioned earlier. After groundwork research, innumerable re-writes, developing the screenplay into a set motion blueprint for a film, fostering and assembling our crew and possibly capturing the minutest detail for this project to set in flow for a wholesome 3 months, we were broke. Simple, flat broke. We had limited financial resources which could hardly cover 10% of the project until 2 days prior to shoot commencement. No crowd fund-raisers, production studio fundings, private financiers seemed to work. Drained and equally embarrassed post returning empty after all of my producer meetings, the only hope I had left was my grit. My producers and I were the only ones having this extensive knowledge. I knew no matter how south things go, I couldn’t let the ensemble energy break. My original co-producer was obligated to fall back and push me to shelve our production. It still surprises me what made me conduct myself to function at that peripheral, and I went into full-fledged Director mode, took charge and beyond rationalization directed my crew and producers to keep at it and to have faith in me. It did break me within, to feel helpless but I couldn’t turn my back on 25 other individuals working passionately on my brainchild. I remember speaking to my father that night, he fostered the hope and pushed me to not give up on my hope.
Those 2 days by far have been the most testing time for me and it eventually did pay off. Fundings started pouring in, some anonymous, some from my friends and peers, some borrowed from friends and some donated by my father. We executed the shoot, to my surprise functioning smoother than anticipated. The last night off, the second I yelled “CUT, we can Pack Up”, I broke down; embraced my core team and left the set. Rushed to a quiet alley amidst the bustling East Village and might have sat in silence, cried for sometime, whispered to myself, “I did it, I actually f’n did it”; wiped my tears, might have heard a song by Frank Ocean, got myself together and rushed to help my crew pack up.
I just can’t give up. I am not programmed to give up and I doubt that’s healthy but I know I am made for bigger things and if I have to stir and make an impact, I need to be strong-hearted. Whether one should celebrate this or not is subjective. But I truly hope if ever someone stumbles upon this piece, it makes you not want to give up and know you aren’t alone, things do eventually fall into place, be consistent and have a monster of a grit in you.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
To keep this absolutely brief. No matter who you are , what you do, where you come from, read ‘The Creative Act’ by Rick Ruben and ‘The Bhagwan Gita’. These two books have shaped me tremendously in the past year itself. Many a times you’d expect something like The Gita, the most popular Hindu text, would merely explore Hinduism as a religion, but fascinatingly it imparts you with little to no religious annotation rather a way of life – exploring the concept of perspective and time.
Also trust your instincts. They come to you for a reason, some things are beyond rationalizing, that’s where you must trust your instinct over intellect. Circling back to Cillian Murphy, one must truly experience life before rushing to thrive in the creative world. And if your work lies beyond that realm, learn to take things as they come and go and always have a learner mindset.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://app.castingnetworks.com/talent/public-profile/f509f630-10c0-11ee-8fbe-5d19c377510b
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rohitjasud.com
- Facebook: www.instagram.com/lovemavefilm.com
- Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rohit-jasud-83340a15a
- Other: https://app.castingnetworks.com/talent/public-profile/f509f630-10c0-11ee-8fbe-5d19c377510b
Image Credits
Photos by Lisa D’Souza & Zuzanna Mach