Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Vishnu Vinod Pillai. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Vishnu, thanks for joining us today. Can you tell us a bit about who your hero is and the influence they’ve had on you?

My hero is the Indian filmmaker Anurag Kashyap. Coming from a completely different background, Mr. Kashyap broke into the Hindi film industry by volunteering to work for free. This gave him leverage where people started to recommend him, and soon he was getting credit and money for his work as a writer on many TV shows. His first two movies were not released until years later due to budgetary and legal issues, and the first film to release bombed at the box-office. In later years these movies have been termed as classics, but at the time he was going through a lot of mental stress. What got him through was his policy to keep doing the work. Critical acclaim had always been showered upon his movies, but it was commercial success that eluded him. Around 2009 this changed, and today he is lauded as one of the greatest.
This taught me that we have to keep doing our work no matter the obstacles. Forget about success as that will follow if your intentions and hard work are pure. Because if it was that easy everyone would be doing it.

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 am a writer, director, editor and producer based in Los Angeles. I graduated with a Masters in Film and Media Production from New York Film Academy, Los Angeles. I also happen to be an IT Engineer with about five years of experience as an automation tester. However, my passion had always been movies and about two years ago I took the decision to switch to the entertainment industry. My first step in this major change in career was to attend film school in order to gain knowledge about the filmmaking process, and also to create a network of like minded people whose ambition in life was movies.

After graduation I have worked predominantly as Film Editor on short films as I fell in love with the art of cutting while in school. This has helped me in honing my skills as a director and writer as well, because I believe that the process of editing gives you insight into what works and doesn’t work in a movie and also gives you a different outlook on how to approach a story.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect is the journey I go through while creating a project from it’s inception to the final output.

When I have been struck by an idea for a screenplay, it is very exhausting to complete the writing process and go through different drafts. This cannot be completed unless it is a story that is personal to you on some level that it makes you restless until you have written it down on a page. But this process is also fulfilling to the soul unlike any other job I have done, where it feels like you are losing a bit of yourself.

The same is applicable to directing where you see the scenes and characters you wrote down come to life. The feeling of perfecting the shot to what you envisioned it to be, working with different department like Cinematography, Production Design, Sound, Costume and Make up to get the image that will tell the story the best you can is another rewarding aspect of the job.

Last but not the least, the process of editing. This is one of my favorite jobs in the world, as you are writing the story again. The edit makes or breaks the movie and you even have the power to rewrite the entire story differently from the script if you want at the edit table.

All of these together makes this the most rewarding job I have ever done, for it is rewarding to the soul.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

One thing non-creatives fail to understand is the reason why we sacrifice financial security and the safety net of a 9-5 job to do something that is so unpredictable and risky. I faced the same issue while quitting my job as a Techie, to make the people around me understand why I want to give up a job where I get a fixed income every month, to do something where I shall lose everything.

That “Why” is something you cannot explain, it has to be felt.

There have been days when I am on set for more than 12 hours a day. I get home, maybe have a light dinner and sleep, only to wake up early to do the same thing all over again. But when I was working 9-5, the 10 hours of sleep I used to get was not enough, whereas now even with 4-5 hours of sleep I am refreshed enough to go through another 14-hour day on set.
The difference between both the scenarios is passion for the work I do. It makes me feel like I have achieved something with my life during those rigorous hours, but that does not mean that you need to go through extreme hours to achieve that feeling. If you love your job you cannot help but feel that at the end of the day.

So if your work is not fulfilling and there is something else you are passionate about but are too afraid to do, I say take the leap for it might be the best thing that can happen to you. And unless you try you will never know.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: vishnu_pillai_7
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vishnu-vinod-pillai
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm13967505/?ref_=ra_gb_ln

Image Credits
Dilpreet Shah Usman Ghani