In October 98, a group of engineers huddled into a small apartment in Santa Clara for a movie audition. A group of auditioners and auditionees, if you will. But, strikingly enough, the thoughts and moods of both were the same: apprehension, excitement and intrigue. None of them had been to a movie audition before. It was the first of firsts for everyone. A little camcorder set up on a tripod stand served as the medium as aspiring director Sujit Saraf tried to explain his experiment. Experiences of play auditions offered no help as Sujit found the world completely different when seen through the eyes of a viewfinder. Nevertheless, the experiment began.

22 months, 1 successful movie (bugaboo) and dozens of rave reviews later, the camera beckoned Sujit again. This time, the mood was different. The excitement was the same but apprehension turned into confidence. The success of "Bugaboo" showed in the numerous mails received by Naatak from various aspiring artistes. They all wanted to be part of the next project. After 2 months of evaluating talent across a table in Bhavika's (a.k.a Naatak's "Adda"(Hindi for ghetto) ), the final audition was held in October.

Says Sujit with a wink " ... their ability to consume Bhavika's food also plays an important role in who is selected. After all, most of the food during the shoot will be from there .... ". For Naatak, "Bugaboo" wasn't an easy journey and neither will "Asphyxiating Uma" be one. Won't the experience of the first movie help the next one, you may ask? It certainly does and did too. But Naatak folks have raised the bar this time. They are taking on new challenges and more complicated movie making. As an example, most of Bugaboo was filmed with a stationary camera. But with the next one, Sujit plans to use trolleys and cranes and experiment a lot with moving shots. Bart Stratton, (Director of Photography) ceratinly has his work cut out for him. So does Lalitha Rajagoplan (Production Manager), who has to arrange for restaurant scenes, cops, cop cars, even helicopters !

Many of Naatak's core members return to the movie team (Srikar Srinath, Mahesh Umasankar, Sameer ). Sameer makes his screen debut in an important supporting role. Add to it a handful of new talent, and we have a recipe for success: Stability and Growth, the typical Silicon Valley way. Some of the newcomers aren't truly new to theater and movies. Roshan , Pranab and Lakshmi who are part of the production team have spent significant time with production of movies/TV shows at well known Indian Television companies like Sun TV and Zee TV. Navneeth Rao, who plays the male lead is making his first screen appearance. Divya Satia, who plays the female lead, has appeared in a small role opposite Ashley Judd in the film "Ruby in Paradise". Divya has the dubious distinction of being ordered around by her husband during the shoot. Says Sujit with a straight face " ... I made a totally unbiased choice for the female lead......". After a long and arduous search for a DP (Director of Photography), Sujit met Bart Stratton. And he sure is glad he did. Bart runs his own studio and has a knack for art as well as technology. He is very thorough and is a significant asset to the team which is still learning movie fundamentals on the fly. This is Bart's first feature film though. Bart has shown inclination towards blending with a predominantly indian cast & crew and is picking up on his hindi . The amazing part of the whole arrangement is that, beyond cultures , language and ethinicity, it is all about making movies, expressing oneself and having fun. Not to mention the gruelling and demanding schedule. So yet another journey begins for Naatak with some new people on board. And we shall peek into their journey every now and then. Stay tuned !!!