Nitish Pires’s debut Konkani feature, Vaimanik, is set to première at the ongoing International Film Festival of India (IFFI) today. What made the rock musician turn to direction? His first brush with filmmaking happened in 2001 when, as a member of the rock band Nakshatra, he had to produce a music video. While the video wasn’t up to the mark, it encouraged him to learn filmmaking. “I borrowed a handycam and figured out how it worked. Later, I shot a music video, and for two months, I re-edited it just to understand rhythm, cut, and emotions,” recalls Pires.
This curiosity became a parallel education. By 2008, he was directing music videos and writing film scripts. But funding was elusive. It’s only when a dejected Pires went to Russia in 2017 that he found a new perspective. “I met musicians, filmmakers, artistes, and I picked up the camera to learn independent filmmaking. I realised I could make films by myself, without big funding or interference.”
Nitish Pires
Vaimanik was born from two childhood imprints: watching planes take off, and an image of a boy on a beach staring at the horizon. “That picture was the epitome of freedom,” he says. The Siddharth Nagoji-starrer follows a fisherman’s son in 1960s Goa, who harbours a wish to fly. After his friend Laurie Nott agreed to fund the movie, Pires wrote, directed, and shot it. “Making a film alone is not easy at all,” he grins, adding that the true struggle begins after completion. “Marketing is the biggest challenge for indie filmmakers.”