And then I retired, at the age of 29 - and went on to pursue and indulge other dreams, whims and fancies...
I didn't know then if I would ever return, until 2008, when I moved back to Bombay and jumped back into filmmaking, at the age of 36. But more about that later :-)
This is an attempt to make sense of it all, and to figure out why I stopped, and why i've finally returned to the business that I realised is my lifeblood!
It all started in 1990, when I was waiting for a posting on my ship (the Jag Deesh, I was in the Merchant navy then!) and I walked into the office of an advertising agency, got through their copy test and joined! I was only 18.
I had always wanted to be a writer, and films were unheard of back then. But an offer came along, I met the guys at the agency - Goldwire, which was starting a filmmaking division - and leaped.
I joined on the 1st Jan, 1991, and my life was set to become a roller-coaster. I landed in a maelstrom of madness, and doubt if I've ever again learned so much so fast, or ever worked so hard and enjoyed every moment ever again. The turning point for me came when we were shooting our first commercial (on my birthday - Jan 22) with the first Formula-3's ever in India (oh joy!!!). One car went bust, so we were left with only one car and the storyboard went down the drain. Add to that that there was a bandh and all petrol stations were closed, so there was no diesel to run the generators. In the film business, this means - no shoot.
I rode down the highway that day in an old Bedford van, wearing a ridiculous floppy hat, carrying a knife, and hijacked a diesel truck on the highway.
I have never looked back since...
Sure, I love cinema. Since then, I have made advertising films, documentaries, corporate videos, AV's, television serials, worked on many movies with directors from all over the world. I have been writer, director, actor, producer, editor, madman (but never a cameraman - though I did do some professional still photography) and I don't regret any of it.
What I hated was the apathy, the callousness, the absolute lack of creativity, and the sheer weight of stupidity under which the industry operates.
I hated the hierarchy, the wastefulness, and the lack of joy. I hated the absolute lack of creative thought or focus.
I hated the fact that I worked with people I had idolised and found that they were only too human, and were busy succumbing to the quicksand, the mire of glamour and misery and sucking-up and flattery and despair that characterises the state of cinema in India today.
And I didn't think I could survive. I had even started hating my own work (sometimes using a pseudonym to absolve myself of responsibility).
So, I decided to get out.
After ten years...
I still dream, every single night, and day, about films. I can still read a shot in the cinema where a cameraman placed a light badly, or spot a set or prop on natural locations. My mind still jerks every time I see an error in continuity. My heart still leaps when I see something wonderful that someone has done. I still want it so badly it hurts.
So I'm back, after a seven year retirement, doing what I do best! Things haven't changed very much with the industry, but I'm much older and much stronger this time around, and like all good directors, this time....
I have a plan ;-) ....