Hope Believe Magic

Blessed child

Ananya's life wasn't easy and was full of challenges but she rode it with stride. She had the best parents in the world who supported her every right decision and reprimanded her for the wrong ones. No one made her feel like she had a disability. She faced her challenges head strong. She was not only the school topper, she was the class president, she was a tennis champion but more than all of that, he passion for writing started at a very young age.

In her fifth standard, when the teacher was asking for anyone interested in the school play, she was the first one to give her name. Though the teacher was a little skeptical, she let her audition. Ananya took them all by surprise when she performed the role of Witch in the musical Wicked. She ended up getting the lead in spite of upper class students trying out for the role. She was fabulous but the following summer, Ananya wrote a small play and decided to gather the kids in her building to surprise the parents. The entire summer, the kids practiced and finally, the weekend before schools started back, the kids created a hand made invitation for the parents to come to the terrace where they performed for them. It was a beautiful play about being grateful for such amazing parents. All the parents were overwhelmed and had tears of joy but it wasn't until they end when the kids thanked Ananya for writing and directing the play. AK and Shivu were extremely proud of her and were extremely proud of her. The others in the building came up to congratulate them. Every summer since then Ananya became a integral part of Gopi sir's team. He welcomed her new generation ideas and more so, enjoyed the original plays written by her. He tweaked it whenever needed. He loved the spunky side of her when she would argue with his for hours on something until he would end up agreeing and then, would complain to Shivu and AK, "Shivathmika, un ponnu kooda sanda podara thembum illai vayasum illai maa enakku. Appappa.... She is so stubborn but in a good way. She know what she wants and this is very important in this industry."

When Ananya told them that she wanted to do visual communication and eventually direct movies, AK and Shivu were a little taken aback only because they knew the industry way too well. It wasn't like Gopi uncles theatre. This was a different ballgame and was still very patriarchial but they also knew that their daughter was a tough one to crack. When she showed them how strong her passion was, they decided to stand by her by all means.

Once she completed her degree in visual communication which she passed with flying colors. She participated in a competition where they had to direct a short film. The winner's film was sent to New York school of films and 5 out of 100's were picked for a scholarship. Ananya signed up for that and had her plan all set. She needed a good DOP though. She knew that however good her story was, if it isn't well captured then it will fall short.

She was browsing through some social media pages when she found a particular page that interested her and caught her attention. The photography, the angles were all beautifully captured and was very fresh. She came across a video that the person had posted, from his terrace. It was a simple game of kites but it was beautifully captured. It did not have a caption so she sent a message with an appropriate caption.

Within a few hours she saw a friend request and a message saying, "Thanks for completing my story". Something about that made her smile. She accepted the request and messaged back, "You are welcome." She saw the three dots appear and it said, "Hello I am Shantanu. Nice to meet you." She replied, "Ananya Arvind. Can we grab a cup of .... Something? We can discuss a collaboration."

Two week later Ananya met Shantanu for the first time at Tropicana smoothies and cafe.

Brinda Subramanian