The journey
Creative urges have been strong with me ever since I was a
child. I would grab a pencil and start drawing figures,
scenes, landscapes. High point
of my young life came when I was introduced to water color by
my art teacher in school. I took to it like fish to water. Very soon the water color box and
some odd brushes became my prized possession. The love
affair grew with time and took me to many painting competitions
where sometimes I competed with BA fine
arts students. I managed to win some
State and National level competitions too. One
paintings was selected to be a permanent exhibit at Oslo
Museum, Norway. Later in teens
I painted and wrote my
own greeting cards and presented to people I liked. I dreamed about making movies even then but due to lack of opportunity I knew I had to wait to realize them.
After completing my B.Engg I followed my dreams to USA. I somehow knew that time had come. I started studying the art and
science of movie making keenly by reading books, watching
movies, analyzing, criticizing and teaching myself by doing. Bought a
camcorder and shot videos,
learnt editing trying to make some story out of all the footage. Soon I realized that
movie making is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
In 2002 I got a rare chance to work on a Hindi feature film "Banana
Brothers" starring Mr.Anupam Kher, Mr.Gulshan Grover, Mr.Jhonny
Lever and Mr.Gursewak Maan. It was directed by Mr.Girija Shankar. I
helped in any way I could. Location scouting, camera crew, grip, and production assistant. It
was a great learning experience.
After making short movies and commercials
for local companies I decided to write my first movie.
But every idea that came suddenly became too big for a first movie. I kept on the quest.
And after six older siblings, one
day suddenly Chappar Faar Ke came. Immediately I started working on it. And after 13 drafts of the script, 6 months in garage making my own equipment, 3 months of casting, 1 year of shooting, 2 years of editing and 6 months of background music it has finally arrived as a dream realized. I must say the journey has been as exciting as rewarding. Not only I was able to complete my movie but also learnt how to write, produce, edit and direct a movie, along with how to make and light a set, record sound, make music and photograph a movie. All this while holding a full time job and supporting family of four. it's been a hell of a ride.
-Aman Boparai 
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