The Write Choice

“The Write Choice” , written and directed by me.

Project Type: Short Film – Director
Location: Bangalore
Year: 2024
Tools Used: Canon R6, Canon 5Dii, DJI Ronin, Scenarist, Adobe Premiere Pro, Audition, Photoshop, Da Vinci Resolve, Affinity Photo.

“The Write Choice” is a short film that I wrote and directed for my graduation project at Srishti Manipal Institute in April 2024. The film is inspired by a short story written called ‘Amar Jeevan’ by Shri Sudarshan.

I had read the story earlier in 2023 and I thought it would translate well into a short film. It also fit in perfectly with the prompt for our graduation, which was ‘Winners and Losers’.

This was an intense project, right from the ideation phase to post production. I think the scripting was by far the toughest part of the process, since I had to contemporize it. I had a hard time taking from the original and making it my own in a meaningful way. The pre-production phase of going location scouting, getting permissions, putting together a crew, making prop lists, the shot breakdown and scheduling was also rather taxing, but it was a good exercise in this aspect of filmmaking.

The shoot schedule was also intense, with a lot of scenes scheduled for the first day and very early call times for the two remaining days. There were mishaps and miscommunication at times, but it was still a really fun experience and a lot of takeaways.

FILM SYNOPSIS:

Adarsh, a young out-of-work author tries to reconcile his love for the craft of writing while not earning an adequate income with the idea of compromising on that in order to make ends meet.

CAST:

Prateek Sultania as Adarsh Kumar
Suhasini S as Rashi Kumar
Kiran H Lakhani as Mr. Kapoor
Srishti Shenoy as Receptionist
Tanvi Bhalerao as Intern

CREW:

Writer, Director, Editor – Ved Murarka
Director of Photography – Suryadevsinh Parmar
Sound Recordist – Archita Wadhwani
Production Designers and Managers – Tanvi Bhalerao, Srishti Shenoy, Archita Wadhwani
Executive Producers – Vikram Murarka, Pallavi Murarka
Assistant Director – Anoushka Rege
Camera Assistants – Akanksh Gupta, Soham Badola
Sound Assistants – Sahil Sheikh, Ishaan Kulkarni
Storyboard Artist – Sakshi Sawarkar
Project Mentor – Gissy Michael