We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sohil Vaidya a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Sohil thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Learning the craft of cinema is a life long process. I am alumni of University of Southern California where I did MFA in Film Production with specialization of Writing and Directing. But process of learning started way before that. I started working on the backstage of a local theater group in Pune. I was introduced to few film people there. I was always interested in cinema. I started making my first short film around 2012. I borrowed a camera from my friend and gathered few close friends who would help me realize my vision. This film was selected at International Short Film and Documentary film festival of Kerala which is one of the top festivals for shorts in India. This boosted my confidence. I eventually applied to USC and got selected.

No one can teach you cinema, not even film school. They can teach you tools which can make your learning curve smoother. In the end, you have to discover your art withing you. You travel, read, watch lot of films, and keep working. Obviously its not an easy route. You face many rejections. Making films is a tough job. But you know as they say, and this might sound cheesy, but pain is temporary, film is forever. Its true.

Sohil, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I work as a Writer and Director. As a writer, I work with my colleagues(Producers, directors or fellow writers) to flesh out the core idea and the directors vision and carefully craft it into the screenplay. My method involves constant re-writes and feedback loops to get script to the optimal point. As a director, I am meticulous in not drifting away from the vision we have set for the film.

I make shorts, documentaries, music videos, corporate films and branded content. I have team of fellow creatives like DP, Editor, Sound and Producers with whom I collaborate very often. These are some of the top notch people from the industry and I have developed a long withstanding relationship with them.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I am into reading lots of books and as a filmmaker I watch lots of movies. The few books which has deeper influence on me and changed the way I think are; History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russel, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Discovery of India by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Kosla by Bhalchandra Nemade and Sculpting in Time by Andrei Tarkovasky.

Movies that changed me forever are There Will be Blood by Paul Thomas Anderson, Uncle Boonmee Who Recalls his Past Lives by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock, Contempt by Jean Luc Godard, Dogtooth by Yorgos Lanthimos, Shinning by Stanley Kubrick, Mirror by Andrei Tarkovasky and Apu Triology by Satyajit Ray.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Hopefully to create something long lasting, something which is not disposable like fast food. I mean, one shouldn’t start making art with that obvious intention in your head. Sometimes artists doesn’t know what they are creating would resonate across the decades or centuries. But the aim should be to make your art earnestly, filtering out the noise that surrounds you. Some of the greatest film ever made were trashed by the critics or audiences when they had come out. ‘Vertigo’ received the negative reception by critics when it was first shown in San Fransisco. ‘Tropical Maladies’, a transcendental masterpiece by Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul left audiences and critics divided at Cannes Film Festival when it premiered in 2004, ‘Shinning’, ‘Blade Runner’ and ‘Fight Club’ all were received with lukewarm response in their times. Now we look at them as classics. Conversely, some mediocre films are hyped instantly and get forgotten in the flow of time. Cultural zeitgeist is a short lived thing. The idea is not to fall prey into creating art that caters to it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sohilvaidya.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sohilvaidya/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sohil.vaidya/
• Linkedin: https://in.linkedin.com/in/sohil-vaidya-185a55114
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sohilvaidyaofficial7709
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6078961/ https://vimeo.com/user18524354

Image Credits
Heyjin Jun Sagar Shende Harshad Gaikwad Digvijay Thorat