Some mysterious events are the talk of the town. Amongst these strange incidents there is an introvert, soft hearted guy Romeo; he is a kind and compassionate being. He has no family but an aunt Nice who cares for him like a mother. Romeo is happy being single until one day he meets Layla, a passionate social worker who makes Romeo experience love. Will Romeo fall or rise in love? It is our pleasure to interview the award winning director of Bloody Romeo, Mukesh Asopa.
How did you start making films and what was the first film project you worked on?
As a child I was always inspired and fascinated with the films and grew up watching Rambo Series by Sylvester Stalone, and action movies of Arnold, it was my ambition to become an actor and a filmmaker. I studied films at BJAS and then started developing my own scripts and involved team to develop projects . My 1st film where I acted was Karim followed by Reel Zombies Directed by Dave Francis, Pastor Greg an American Production in Toronto, there was no looking back thereafter. I started working on my own movies like Aisha and Rahul, The Taste of Relation, Zombie Beach, Chambers Gate, Depth Of Pyaar, Bloody Romeo to name a few.
What genre of filmmaking are you looking to work on and why?
I enjoyed working on different Genres and not restricting myself but the favourite for me is Horror, Thriller, Action,Drama, Romance and Mystry. A lot of my movies includes blending of Genres.
In Drama the content driven stories are my favourite so are the stories inspired by real events. When it comes to horror I love more on fantacies and the stories with a lots of scope to build the tension for the audience. Action and thriller are the ones which depends a lots on the visions of story to be told in a certain created environment.
What is the most challenging aspect of being an independent filmmaker?
Limited resources and budget are always challenges for an independent filmmaker. It adds to getting best talents hired for your project when you also have to compromise on the quality of cast and crew you are hiring for your movies.
How challenging is it to fund indie films?
Funding an independent film is a very challenging task. When you are working on a project with not known names it is hard to get the movies distributed with the lack of confidence from the investors, but it is not the same like before and things are changing fast with the unique stories which do gets lots of attention from movie lover audiences and with the OTT platforms it is not like old days anymore.
Please name three of your most favorite directors. How have they been influential in your work?
1) Quantin Tarantino- The violance in his movies and the connection to the real world out there.
2) James Cameron- The set design and his visions of presenting the environment in his movies which connects to the characters and the story making it so real.
3) Taika Waititi- The dark humour in his movies and the direction for a story says a lot while introducing his characters. One of the most hardest things he deals with in the movie world to communicate with the audience.
What is your next film project and what are you currently working on?
My upcoming feature film projects in development are Postal Code, Sri Dungargarh and an untitled Zombie Movie.
What was the inspiration behind your latest film project?
Bloody Romeo is inspired with the real events which takes place in every city of the world and is not very well addressed in most of those cities.
It is a drama thriller which highlights the most sensitive subject of Suicides.
How did you find the cast and the crew of the film?
Our core productions team announces cast and crew calls and we undergo days and months of interviews and auditions to shortlist and then finalize the cast and crew in our movies. I strongly believe in giving chance to fresh talents in my movies even though it is lots of work on them,
What is the distribution plan of the film and did the film receive any screenings or was it featured in festivals?
Bloody Romeo is submitted in all the major big film festivals of the world and most of them are the ones that receives submissions in thousands with no time for their programmers to even watch and review the submissions if the filmmakers or the casts are not famous. Like our previous films Bloody Romeo did secured few awards and official selection in the hollywood and we are still waiting for results from over 40 film festivals as of now from different countries. The festival which do care for stories and content and the ones which believe in the Independent filmmakers and their talents and strength in the coming time will welcome our movie for their programming.
Why do you make films and what kind of impact would your work have on the world?
Making films which can add to the society in its improvement while entertaining them is the sole objective of my movies. Stories that can connect families, countries, races and environment are the ones which inspires me to create on.
In my opinion movies evolved as the biggest source of information in connecting the world, technology,languages and the souls.
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