Ranjeet S. Marwa
He is de man behind The man who loved flowers Dollar Baby Film.
SKSM: Could you start with telling me a bit about yourself? Who are you and what do you do?
Ranjeet S. Marwa: Hi. Firstly I just want to thank you for asking me to be interviewed, it is much appreciated. Right, my name is Ranjeet S. Marwa, I am 24 years old from England, I am a film director. I started to become interested in film at the age of 11 when I first saw Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”. Ever since then I’ve always been interested but never fully pursued it. I had many opportunities to be able to make films but never realized that it was my calling up until now. Something happened to me in 2009 when my younger brother asked me to make a short film for him for one of his lessons in college. Ever since then, that is what I’ve been doing.
SKSM: When did you make The man who loved flowers? Can you tell me a little about the production? How much did it cost? How long did it take to film it?
Ranjeet S. Marwa: I got the contract with Mr.King in January 2012, it took me 3 months for pre production and then we started shooting in early April. We shot the whole film in 1 day, now, if you ask any actor who has worked with me before they will tell you I work pretty fast, this is because I know exactly what I want and how I want it. I learned this lesson from Hollywood director Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Machete, El Mariachi). I shot the film near where I live, I like to film here because of its surroundings, if you look hard enough you can find some pretty cool spots. I made the film for £700, which included the actors, props and post production. The actors did an amazing job on set, Lawrence Larkin, Marc Baylis, Joey Bozwell & Elizabeth Arends. The film was completed in July and is now making its way around the festival circuits.
SKSM: How come you picked The man who loved flowers to develop into a movie? What is it in the story that you like so much?
Ranjeet S. Marwa: I picked the story because I like films where they show people going slowly insane. I was originally drawn to the idea because you don’t expect it to happen, it reminded me of a film by Japanese director Chan-wook Park who made the film “Oldboy”. If you’ve seen my film, I pay tribute to it in one of the scenes. All the great directors have people going insane in their films, Stanley Kubrick did it with “The Shining” and “Full Metal Jacket”.
SKSM: How did you find out that King sold the movie rights to some of his stories for just $1? Was it just a wild guess or did you know it before you sent him the check?
Ranjeet S. Marwa: Somebody told me about it, they mentioned Mr.King was giving the rights to his stories for $1, so I had to get on board. My older brother, Sandeep is a huge fan of Mr.King, this way I was able to draw inspiration and get reference from him at any time I needed.
SKSM: Was there any funny or special moment when you made the movie that you would like to tell me about?
Ranjeet S. Marwa: The flower vendor, Lawrence Larkin is from city called Liverpool, their accents are very defined, when I wrote the character I imagined him being from London. Lawrence had to change his accent, til this day he says he didn’t like it, but he did an amazing job. We would do scenes and occasionally his accent would come out making us start again from the top. We had a good laugh and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
SKSM: How does it feel that all the King fans out there can’t see your movie? Do you think that will change in the future? Maybe a internet/dvd release would be possible?
Ranjeet S. Marwa: Initially when I first found out that nobody could see my work, it did upset me. Then I realized it doesn’t really matter, although I would have loved to have shown everybody, I now know that I have a huge and powerful name behind me, Stephen King. Because of this, many doors have now started to open for me. It builds your portfolio, it teaches you how to adapt someone else’s work, it give you confidence the next time you go out and do it. Hopefully in the future Mr.King will allow all the new dollar babies to showcase their work where ever they want. This will allow people to get better at what they do and be able to get recognized as filmmakers.
SKSM: What “good or bad” reference have you received on your film?
Ranjeet S. Marwa: Mostly it was all good reference, but I wasn’t happy with the final cut. I then spent another month altering it to the standard it should have been in the first place. The coloring was off, the sound was off, it was awful, but like I said, I spent another solid month on it altering it and making it the best I could, with better coloring, better sound quality. One thing I learned was, be patient in editing, learn when to make hard decisions, where to make “the cut” on your film. If you can do this then your film will be ultimately better.
SKSM: Did you have any personal contact with King during the making of the movie? Has he seen it (and if so, what did he think about it)?
Ranjeet S. Marwa: I haven’t had any direct contact with him, but I have spoken to someone who is close to him, I wont mention their name. It would have been an honor to have spoken to or met him.
SKSM: Do you have any plans for making more movies based on Stephen King’s stories? If you could pick – at least – one story to shoot, which one would it be and why?
Ranjeet S. Marwa: I do at some point plan on making another King story, I wanted to do a feature film but other projects had priority. I would like to adapt “BeachWorld”, that story is so fascinating, it caught me straight away. Im a huge fan of sci-fi films and that is one that definitely hits the mark.
SKSM: Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. Is there anything you want to say to your fans?
Ranjeet S. Marwa: It was a pleasure being able to answer these questions. I just want to thank all the people who followed my work and supported me, I’ve lost friends and gained friends along the way. I’ve learned valuable lessons in both making the film and making decisions with people who are involved with the films. As a director, people look up to you as the leader, so you have to be a leader and show that you can handle anything that comes your way. Thank you to all the people who got me noticed, Mr.King for his unique stories, all the dollar baby family for their support, the actors Lawrence Larkin, Elizabeth Arends and Marc Baylis. Birmingham Mail newspaper for publishing an article on me, Switch Radio for allowing me to be interviewed on air. Most importantly, thank you to my now producer who is also my father. Without his support non of this would have been possible, I thank him for allowing me to pursue my dream. I thank my mom and 2 little brothers. I also thank my gran and grandad for all their wise words. Also, one last thing, thank you to my little brother Amardeep for giving me the filmmaking bug and allowing me to make my first film.
SKSM: Do you have anything you’d like to add?
Ranjeet S. Marwa: I wont say anymore, but I will leave you with a few quotes that have inspired me to carry on and never give up throughout the years.
You have many years ahead of you to create the dreams that we can’t even imagine dreaming. You have done more for the collective unconscious of this planet than you will ever know – Steven Spielberg
If it can be written, or thought, it can be filmed – Stanley Kubrick.
I have loved movies as the number one thing in my life so long that I can’t ever remember a time when I didn’t – Quentin Tarantino
Thank You
