What Next?

What do we do about the rest of our lives?
That's the question which pops up every now and then in the minds of almost every young thing on two legs.

What do we really want from life?
What determines what we want?
What makes us different from the rest?
What is the price we are willing to pay to get what we want?

These are the issues we try to figure out through the story of Sunil (Abbas), Vishal (Cary Edwards), Prashant (Kunal) and Zebra (Ranvir Shorey) in this coming of age feel good comedy, That Four Letter Word.

Me and Murugan, buddy from school, wrote the script about five years ago. A lot might have changed between then and now but we found that these core issues are still relevant. Which is what makes us believe that we do have something to say. Something that will reflect contemporary urban lifestyle, youth and their aspirations.

A story which traces the lives of four distinctly different guys of the same gang with dreams ranging from the real to the ideal to the surreal and the bizzare. In this global world where everything seems so standardised, human still continue to defy definitions for one simple reason: We are all diffferent people.

That Four Letter Word tries to exploit those differences to explore the psyche of contemporary global youth, irrespective of whether they are from New York or New Delhi. It is also an attempt to study issues which connect people and tries to uncover what is so common in our seemingly different lives.

Is being young just about falling in love as we often see in the movies? Or is every young thing a son of a rich industrialist, businessman or household, like we saw in the much-acclaimed Dil Chahta Hai starring Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna. Contemporary youth have more aspirations than just love. This movie tries to capture those dreams and emotions which define who we are and what we become.

This blog is for recording the 'making of this movie'.

A 'making' that has turned out to be larger than life, quite ironically for a slice of life film.

It's a 'making' that has now completed five years from when it was conceived, two years after it was last shot. It's a 'making' which has changed the lives of every single person in the cast and crew, including mine.

It's a 'making', which, in spite of having seen broken hearts, bruised egos, shattered dreams, injured knees and irreparable damage has seen an invincible spirit, the most unshakeable faith, unflinching conviction, unbreakable bonds and unconditional commitment. Ahem Ahem! He he! But seriously, we are talking about stuff that inspires people. I love my team. And I think I owe it to them to try and record every possible detail that I can dig out of my memory.

And all those who have been a part of this movie, do post or mail me things we can add to this 'Making of the movie,' which at some point in time could be developed into a book. I'm sure that all the learning we did in the process of making this movie will enrich many out there who want to make their first movie.

I also hope that with time, we are able to expand our family from just the cast and crew to include our audience.

Here we go now.

Cheers!

Sudhish Kamath
Director of That Four Letter Word