Sooraj Prabhakar says 'I tried alone; I don't search for external support because I was alone in my hard times. After announcing the award I first called and informed my parents and the funny part was they were not aware of IBR, then I took a 15 minute class about that.'
Sooraj Prabhakar / India Book of Records
Exclusive: Social Media to India Book of Records 'Story Behind Success'; Chit-chat with Award winner Sooraj Prabhakar
We have heard of many prominent people who have achieved great success in life through hard work. What if there is such a person around us? Do we give them enough importance? The truth is that it does not happen most of the time. Such people have to cross many barriers to moving forward on their own without ruining their lives like frogs in a well. We can describe such people as the ruby in the trash.
Meet Sooraj Prabhakar (SoorajPrabhaa), who has won his unique record by completing 31 Short films and a 3 episode mini web series in 4 languages including Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, English, and no language (No Dialogues – Universal Language). for which he has won the India Book of Records 2022 appreciation at the age of 27.
Let us listen to Sooraj, what he shared with BizGlob, on his unfortunate achievement, and the difficulties behind it, even though it was achieved through his own hard work.
"I’m the person who got selection in India Book of Records 2022 for making 31 short films in 5 languages." Sooraj Said.
Sooraj is a native of Punalur, Kollam Dist, now settled in Mumbai.'Here I started a YouTube channel named Bros of Bombay with my Cousin-brother Sharan Venu. Here I have a crew for making short films, web series, and documentaries.'he added.
About the family: 'I'm very attached to my home but I haven t stayed my home more (Because of a middle-class boy’s responsibilities). My father R. Prabhakaran, an auto driver, Mother Sudha Money a former music teacher now a housewife, and My brother Sayanth Prabhakar a BA Sociology graduate.' he said.
Education: I’ve dual post-graduate - Master of Social Work and MSc Applied Psychology. My dream was to do a Film Direction course in Chennai or Pune but I failed to achieve that because of no ready cash in hand for the seats.'he added.
Are all of your short films shot in Kerala?
No, I just only made Malayalam & Tamil short films in Kerala, The short film named Presence is shot in Coimbatore. The 13 Hindi works were shot in Mumbai. A Marathi short film is in pre-production.
How did you come up with the idea of making short films in different languages?
I had a dream to study Film Direction in a respective institution but I couldn’t, so I started to make my own short films to learn film direction and editing by referring to the movies from different languages. That persistence made me do all these 32 short films.
I started to refer to the movies from different languages, the making, editing, sound designing, DOP, and its major departments and I applied what I studied from all those and it worked. As a cinema passionate, the first challenge of mine was to make believe that I can make films so I tried to learn Tamil, Hindi, English, and I made films in those languages. That's why in 97% of my films the writer, editor, dop, sound designer, Foley, mastering, directing are done by myself. It's because of the persistence of learning cinema anyway.
Making content without dialogues is a very difficult one and I tried that too because people who can't hear should also need to enjoy a film, they are also a part of the audience. Here I wanted to thank my brother Sayanth because he is the one who gave his patience to act in front of my camera for more than 10 works.
Sooraj Prabhakar's India Book of Records Certificate
Have you worked as a director, producer, editor, and writer for all these short films?
Yes, till my 21st short film there were only two or 3 members including me for the shot, that was a determination to learn filmmaking without anyone's support, so the entire department excluding onscreen was managed by me. The highlight is I got the award for the best short film with a message from Travancore International Film Fest (Kerala), Award for the best editor from Karnataka Short Film Fest, Best Sound Design Award from Film Creed International Film Fest.
What were the challenges of having to deal with so many areas together for 31 short films in different languages?
Understanding a language is not a big deal, understanding the grammar and local slang is the most difficult thing I’ve ever felt. While doing the English short film Birds without Wings I struggled a little because I've studied in an ordinary Malayalam Medium school and my English was average. I think this is one of the main problems faced by the youngsters who completed their education in Govt schools, and now I am mostly doing Hindi short films because I'm now in Mumbai. I understand Hindi because my childhood was ruled by Shakthiman, Makdee, DDLJ, and Aap Beeti, but understanding local Hindi is very difficult because the Hindi in Mumbai has a mild flavor of Marathi so I've my associates to translate Hindi properly.
Do all your works convey social awareness messages?
Yes, of course, I worked as DE Addiction and Psychiatric counselor in an NGO so I am having real-life experience by dealing with such Socially Affected people in this society. My short films always deal with negative endings because every social issue is still incomplete without a solution since started, I tried to make researches on it socially and psychologically and I believe that's why my Short films are still not recognized by people anymore. I tried to show the reality but people always expect a fictional happy ending.
Did you expect to receive such an award for your works?
Not really, but I had a belief that one day I will stand confidently in front of the people who tried to separate me from my passion.
Once I visited a film-related person seeking a chance as Assistant Director and without checking my profile that person enquired about my background and told me that "A middle-class boy can't survive in Film Industry, so try some other jobs...". (Maybe he/she means to make me realize the reality of Cinema Industry.)
I thought that how the people like us can bury their dreams without getting a chance? How it will be our fault that we were born into a middle-class family? When I got IBR first I send the photograph to that person and got a happy congratulation from there. I always believe in doing things without expectations and one day the result will knock on the door for sure and that day, that victory wipe out all your tears and makes tears of happiness roll on your face.
Who supported the nomination for the award and other related matters?
I tried alone; I don't search for external support because I was alone in my hard times. I researched IBR's official website, YouTube videos, etc., and made the application.
What was on your mind when the award was announced, and to who was this information first shared?
I felt very happy and proud of myself because till that moment I was in a confusion that am I on the wrong path because of less audience support, less family and friends support.
After announcing the award I first called and informed my parents and the funny part was they were not aware of IBR, then I took a 15 minute class about that. Then to my brother Sayanth Prabhakar, because he has a huge part in my success.
Then to Jino Sam & Jojo Kurishinkal (My Gurus), Thoufeeq TFK (VFX artist in Film), Subin Joseph Thomas, Rohin Roy, Reneesh (Film Director) because they're the people who supported me to improve my skills.
With receiving the highest award in India for short film making, can we expect such a step towards cinema from you?
Yes, Sure, Writing, Editing & Directing a film is the dream that does not allow me to sleep. It will mostly happen in 2022, the planning already started with my team. Soon the audience will witness in bold font “A SoorajPrabhaa Picture" on the silver screen or OTT. If it happens as a fanboy I'll try my best to invite Mr. Kamal Haasan Sir to watch the preview of my debut film. "I know this is greed wish still, hope is a devil here" - he added.
I already wrote a screenplay and handed it over to a debut director named Hari Prasad who already worked as Associate Director in many films, the pre-production is about to start soon if everything goes well the shoot will start in 2022. - he said.
Sooraj has made a total of 31 short films, in 'No language' category Sooraj has made shortfilms including: His short films include Pasi (22nd May 2014), My Sis (9th September 2018), Presence (17th January 2019), Pakaram (6th June 2019), Orphan (20th July 2019), JustTease (25th July 2019), 'i' Decide (4th August 2019), Click (3rd April, 2020), Hassivu (19th May, 2020), A B Love (30th June, 2020), in English language I’m Ugly (10th December 2014), Identity (21st September 2019), Birds without wings (24th July, 2020), Nimoo (16th May, 2021). In Tamil language Radio - (Tamil's First Selfie shortfilm) (21st September 2018), Urumb aka Erumbu (10th April, 2020) (Tamil's first Insect film, won Best Regional Short in Film Large TV Short film festival award), in Malayalam Language: Samaram Samsaram (9th March 2019), Ruchi (27th July 2019), Ma Ro (29th March 2020), The Art & Artist (17th April 2020), Chorcha (14th December, 2021), and in Hindi language: A Beard Story (28th July, 2021), Ek Wife Story (7th August, 2021), Survival (21st September, 2021), Ek Lighter Story (14th August, 2021), Hi Karma (21st August, 2021), Jadoo Vlogs Part 1 (18th September, 2021), Charlie... Charlie... (Jadoo Vlogs Part 2) (9th October, 2021), Unemployed (12th October, 2021), Kaalia (19th October, 2021), My Computer (30th October, 2021), R for R (6th November, 2021), Love (World’s First Single shot Found Footage short film) (4th December, 2021).
27-year-old Sooraj is the greatest example of success, how a person who is sincere, dedicated, and passionate about his dream goals can reach higher levels with hard work. He worked as Writer (Story, Screenplay, Dialogue), DI, Editing, Direction, Sound Design in 4 languages, he made a total of 31 films are of 31 different unique contents.
