Pearl Malik - Filmmaking Is a Miracle of Collaboration as Part of a Symbiotic Creative Whole (Film Director)

I loved holding a camera and capturing everything, it allowed me to look at mundane life from a different perspective. I loved the freedom I had to express my deepest imaginations. 

1. Tell us about your background and journey.

I live in a city where everyone is busy moving on. As a result, we subconsciously remove all trace of purpose from our actions. This desire to gain perspective motivated me to delve into the path of filmmaking and especially film-direction. 

Even though I don’t belong to a film background, I realised at a very young age that I wanted to grow up to tell stories. I loved holding a camera and capturing everything, it allowed me to look at mundane life from a different perspective. I loved the freedom I had to express my deepest imaginations. 

As a child also I was always the story teller in my family and would love to engage my cousins and friends in my tales and stories. After working on various films, I realized that film-direction has always given me the privilege to transform my emotions into beautifully structured moving-images. 

Since my ideas and beliefs are a pure manifestation of my outlook, filmmaking has acted as a vehicle, giving freedom to my thoughts and allowing me to nurture and shape a story the way I visualize it.

As a person, I am shy, yet, I am assertive, intense, and passionate. Hence the the art of film allows me to channelize my inner need of communicating with people and expressing my unique perspective for everyone to experience.


2. How and when did you realize your passion for creating films?

I was 11 years old when my parents first took me to a gigantic Bollywood movie-set. I was mesmerized by its beauty and with the synergy amongst the crew. I realized this is the exact place where I wanted to be. 

I began with portraying stories through photographs. Eventually, I started looking at mundane activities with a different eye. I would quietly observe people while visualizing and spinning wild adventures for each one. As I polished my skills, my urge to tell untold stories in my unique style became more intense. 

I gained further insight into the art once I started interning at different production houses. I started collaborating with friends, working on 'v-logs,' and making short-films of different genres. Besides, it is exciting to execute the final product and look back at the creative process, which shaped and unfolded itself. 

Hence, filmmaking for me, as a medium, has the power to evoke and unite thoughts in a way that portrays emotions and yet entertains with the excitement we desire. Therefore, I embarked on my journey towards my childhood-dream, and I aim to tread forward into film-direction.


3. What are the important skills one should have to be a successful filmmaker?

To be a good storyteller, one should learn to value human emotion. I’ve always allowed myself to express my feelings, through writing and other creative mediums. One needs to look at things in multiple dimensions and layers . The perspective and knack to catch the finest details is what makes a good filmmaker.

A great filmmaker doesn’t just tell stories because their audience demands it, but instead they always know which emotion and how it being captured in a certain way would make the audience feel. Filmmaking is a miracle of collaboration as part of a symbiotic creative whole. 

Hence understanding the art of thinking “independently- together,” is extremely important.


4. Which film(s) do you appreciate the most for their cinematography?

There are so many films and the list is endless but if I have to choose Euphoria (HBO TV-Show) would be my favourite. They play with a-lot of movement instead of stagnated shots which really immerses the audience into the universe they created. "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara" also plays on the same principle and is simply superb and mind blowing .


5. What has been your biggest learning from your job?

My biggest learning is that a good storyteller always goes by their strongest instincts but brainstorms the idea multiple times before putting it out. It is really important to flesh things out and really imagine and visualize the final product before you begin making it. 

One other thumb-rule I follow as an aspiring filmmaker is that I don’t shy away from putting my art out there. If you’ve created something, share it with the world, it will only make you grow.


6. Which is your favourite book and why?

Though I am an avid reader and usually read from fiction to reality to self help. My most favourite fiction is undoubtedly the Harry Potter series . But I recently read “Forty Rules of Love.” That book really allowed me to understand human emotion and the limitless and enticing feelings of falling into love and out of it.

- Pearl Malik 

Instagram @pearlmalik22

YouTube @Pearl Malik

- Interviewed by - Sanjana Jain