Filmmaker Abhishek Chandra has been a part of the advertising world for quite a long time. But, he always wanted to make a mark in the movie industry. After producing award-winning television commercials, he shifted base to Los Angeles to follow his dream. With his recent outing, Ladybug, Abhishek takes the viewers through a journey of pain and loss.
As we speak to him, the filmmaker, known for his music videos and short films tells us about the idea behind picking a script like Ladybug. He talks about what goes behind the making of a movie that won over 20 international awards that include Best Drama Film Short at the Europe Film Festival, Best Drama at the Venice Film Awards, and others.
Ladybug has been screened in over 30 film festivals and garnered appreciation from cinephiles for its brilliant storytelling, cinematography, and music. Abhishek recalls how the short-film came to him by chance, “Isabela Valotti, who’s both the writer and main lead of the film reached out to me with the draft wondering if I’d be interested in directing. Since we had previously worked together on a different project, collaborating again on Ladybug seemed like the right fit.”
The Los-Angeles based filmmaker also reveals that the movie is based on true events. “We all deal with loss in our lives. With this film, I tried to find a collective resonance and presented the story via my cinematic taste. I wanted to encapsulate the idea of goodbyes and loss in this movie,” he tells us, adding, that the film feels like a welcome change.
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The filmmaker is all praise for his lead actress, Isabella. “She is fabulous at her job. As you now know, the film is Isabela’s story, and to relive the pain of a parent suffering from a terminal disease on the screen again was not easy for her. She has been patient throughout the filming process, and I must admit, her performance hits too close to home,” the director shares. Isabella has won the Best Actress Award at the Sao Paulo Film Festival 2020 for her gut-wrenching performance.
Abhishek, who won the Best Director award at the International Short Film (Uruvatti International Film Festival), tells us that he is elated that his directorial received recognition of this stature. “I truly feel humbled. But this success isn’t just mine. The whole crew has to be credited for this,” he says, adding, “It is time I move on to my next projects. I am currently developing two projects — one is a darkly comic gangster love story, the other one is an adaption of a chapter from Ramayana for a TV pilot,” Abhishek signs off.