Aim For The Sky - Kavi Nanthan

                      

A couple of weeks back, I got the opportunity to interview Director Kavi Nanthan of the 'Venpa fame. It was such a pleasure to have interviewed him as he is a laid back person who views life from various angles, much like his movie shots.

As I entered his studio and greeted him, I found the place to be quite a catch and it reflected on Kavi Nanthan's work ethics as well as the kind of passion he has for cinema.

I popped a few questions, we spoke for an hour and a half. During this time, I learned one or two things about him and many others about life through his eyes. Interested to know? Let's get going then.

Coming from a family which gives utmost importance to education, he was doing just fine in the early stages of life but not as well as he would like to; academically speaking. 

He used to think only certain people could ace the exams (above 90%) and he wasn't meant for it despite having the potential. Please don't get me wrong, he was doing quite well; he got 80% - 85% for his exams but he had much bigger dreams which was tinted by a grey cloud of insecurity. He faced difficulties to communicate in English and  this became one of the reasons he possessed inferiority complex. 

Everything changed for him one day when he scored straight A's for his UPSR and realized that he was equally smart as his peers, but he just did not know it nor did he trust himself enough.



Fast forward a few years, he was an accountant working an 8 am - 5 pm job. Although its 'working hours' by name, he used to work till 3 am at times. He struggled at first but when he became unbeatable at his game, he started becoming comfortable. Well, it was a professional job which paid well, what more?

Suddenly, he got a wake up call and decided this is not how his story should end; a guy succumbing to his comfort zone was a no go. Accounting was never it, he had bigger plans for himself since he was a kid.

Initially, he wanted to become an actor, he didn't know anything about film making or anything else about the masscom course which was unpopular at his time.

The hype for masscom that we have now didn't exist back then but as he watched more and more movies, he realized he didn't want to be an actor, a director was what he wanted to be.

Although the realization was crystal clear, he had multiple hurdles to jump before he got his break (whether or not he considers Venpa a break. It is actually up to interpretations). The initial problem was procrastination and the million dollar question we all dwell on: "where do I start?"

                  

Hence, he was procrastinating for a few years when he decided he could do it no more. He had an iPhone but he thought it was not enough to shoot his short films and decided that he should get a proper DSLR. He was procrastinating so much until one day his DSLR was stolen and he regretted for not shooting his materials sooner. 

That was a wake up call, he used up all his savings and bought another DSLR, some basic equipment and jumped into the bandwagon with zero knowledge.

Eventually, he started to shoot his materials, one by one while he was still working as an accountant. Some learn theoretically, but he is sort of a practical man so he learned by doing things along the way. 

Then, he released his first short film Soppanam Meithanai which initially got very low views, boy was he discouraged! But one thing fueled him; it was none other than a message from Kuben Mahadevan which said “Bro, you have bright future”. 

Kuben sent it after watching Soppanam Meithanai
and he didn’t stop ever since then.  

The second short film Kayalvizhi  was a turning point for him. It caught many people’s attention and put him on the radar. That’s when Karthik Shaamalan personally approached him and started mentoring him.

He has his mentors who taught him one too many things about direction and film making, he learned from the movies he watched beyond language, he learned from everywhere he could. Then, he released his Venpa short film and it broke the internet. 

The rest was history. It was in Youtube's trending list. 

               

He then realized he has a huge life ahead in film making, hence he quit his 8 am - 5 pm well paying job and decided to become a film maker instead.

Let me tell you something Kavi told me, aim for the sky only then you will fall among the stars. Exact words? "We love A.R Rahman's songs, but when it comes to our movie why is that we set the threshold so low? We should aim for A.R Rahman's level of quality, we shouldn't settle for less only then we will at least get 50% of the quality". Say no more, Venpa's songs speak for itself.

Venpa's Movie Poster. 

As the conversation went on, it was obvious that he, just like any one of us had his own sets of doubts and worries but the point is he got up time and again to get work done in its best form. Marketing the product and what not came only second, he has a staunch believe that if the product is good it will reach people.

With that being said, he doesn't tag people in any of his marketing materials because once upon a time he was resentful that people close to him didn't share his work till something dawned upon him ... If they like it, they will definitely share it so the point is to make something undeniably good so that not just his circle but everyone else will share the content around as well.

Believe it or not, that is exactly what he did and tadaaaaa .....

Right in front of me was a man who just oozed confidence, like he had a never-ending supply of it. When asked:

                

"We often lose confidence on something we want to do after thinking of the consequences, but I believe the worst thing that can happen to me is death, and I’m not even afraid of dying, hence there’s nothing that stands in between that stops me from doing what I feel is right. People call it arrogance, I call it self confidence."

Just wow!

If a kid comes running to him, asking for the best tip he has up his sleeve:

"Watch a lot of movies, no matter what genre or language, diversify your preferences because movies teach you everything you need to know about life, it affects your choices and also influences you for better or worse. Its an escape which is quite relatable to our daily lives."

60 minutes flew just like that and I got one too many take away from the interview. If you are a masscom student or anyone who is struggling in this field, Kavi would like to tell you this:

"Please don't just sit around and think about the depth of the ocean, to know the actual depth you have to plunge in first. If you fail, then fail gloriously for no success ever came without failure. Learn by doing, improve from there, take criticisms seriously, work on those, know your audiences, market your product, tagging 999 people on your post isn't healthy. Instead, create a-share-worthy product and it will definitely go around and reach people."

If you're not inspired by now then it's a medical miracle!

Caution: You might fall in love! ;)