Project timeline: 2026 · video publication year. Published as a retrospective on 23 October 2026.
Maa Asche is shared directing work. Tia Bajpai and I are credited as co-directors, with Prince Romal, Arian Romal, credited for the music. I want to be clear about that because the collaboration is part of what makes the project interesting to me: an artist shaping the visual work as well as performing within it.
The group performance and ceremonial imagery give the video a sense of people taking part in something together. That is where I want the direction to keep its attention. A celebration can be colourful and full of movement while still allowing the audience to see the individuals who give it life.
The people within the picture
When a frame contains both an individual and a group, attention becomes a creative decision. Where should the viewer look first? What should become visible afterwards? A close image can establish the performer, while a wider one can show that the performance belongs to a shared occasion.
I want the scale of the image to contribute to that understanding. Moving from a detail to a group should offer something more than variety. It can reveal a connection, explain a gesture or change the emotional size of a moment. The direction needs to keep those possibilities in mind rather than treat each shot as an isolated picture.
Co-direction asks for an understanding of the work as something held together by more than one perspective. I do not want to describe that process as if one credit cancels the other. A collaboration can become more specific when each person's contribution is acknowledged, particularly when the artist also has a role in shaping the visual presentation.
Maa Asche also sits within a cultural and devotional context. For me, that calls for care with the images and with the way they are described afterwards. Ceremony should not be reduced to a convenient visual texture. Its presence carries meaning for people who recognise it, and the film should approach that meaning with respect.
There is an energy in collective performance that a camera can make visible, but there is also a risk of losing the human connection if the presentation becomes too busy. I want to keep the people present within the colour, movement and rhythm. The viewer should be able to feel that the celebration has participants, not only a design.
I enjoy the ambition of bringing those elements together. My role is to contribute to a visual presentation in which the performance and the surrounding community feel connected. I want the finished piece to carry energy and respect at once, with the shared credits reflecting the work that made it possible.
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