Johnson Thomas speaks to Debutant filmmaker Dhruv Solanki about 'It's All in your Head' shot on iPhone

Independent Film critic Johnson Thomas speaks to young filmmaker Dhruv Solanki on the processes he went through to make his first feature which was shot on an iPhone First-time filmmaker Dhruv Solanki - Director of ‘It’s All In Your Head,’ shot on iPhone, shines the spotlight on the new age youth of a Tier 2 city in India. The film captures a day in the life of six siblings in Vadodara who are deeply influenced by American culture. The indie film basically navigates through their digitally-driven existence. The film won the Best Producer award at The African Smartphone International Film Festival 2023 in Nigeria and was chosen by Beth Sanders, a faculty member and producing tutor at the prestigious MetFilm School in Berlin, as a case study for postgraduate film students. The film is streaming on GUDSHO.

How did you come upon this story idea? The idea for the film came from the ones I shot before this one. My film ‘Blah Blah Blah’ which I am currently editing, is a story of six siblings taking a Diwali vacation to Udaipur. After shooting the first schedule I felt the need to have a scene where we meet these characters as individuals before we meet them as a group. With that thought process I started writing and ended with up with 60 page script four months later. Before I realised, the idea had become a story and a script and ‘It’s All in your Head’ was born.

What was the writing process like? We spent one year talking and listening to stories of people living their lives and whatever struck us as integral, made it to the story.

Have you had previous experience of making reels or short films? What’s your age and background? Not in reels but short films yes. I studied to be a Electrical engineer and worked as a chemistry faculty for almost 10 years. No formal education in films. However since the age of 18 I have been constantly trying to make films. I am now 31. This is my debut feature and before this I have completed 10+ short films - Mostly amateur or experimental.

Was this film in a way biographical? Or is it a compendium of experiences you’ve heard about from your friends and family? It’s biographical in a way. All of what I knew and experienced of my 20’s and from those around me, I put it in the film.

The film breaks away from certain stereotypes we associate with small cities …was this a conscious decision? We were not consciously trying to bring that element into the film…but the Rajpurohit sisters stand out as unique examples of young people living in a tier 2 city in India. We wanted to stay away societal conflicts and focus on personal ones. That’s the perspective that is put forward here.

Were the actors meant to be friends or siblings in the film? They are meant to be Siblings. But also represent a strong support system for each other. It’s up to interpretation though. They could be very good friends or siblings.

A large part of the film did not feel scripted. Was the script written before hand or was it impromptu? It was a written script but a lot of what you seen on screen was improvised while shooting. There was a certain kind of realism we wanted to hold onto and not let go at any cost. If that meant leaving the written word and going with instincts, that’s what we did. So about 70-75 of the film is written. Rest is improvised in some sense.

Were the actors living their own lives..? Or playing roles written for them…? I had spent every day for a two years working on the idea, before shooting the film. I had about 15 minutes to represent each character. So I used fiction as a tool to depict reality. I wrote characters that were true to their real energy and essence. So, how you see them in the film is fictional but the impression of character in audience mind will hopefully be of how they are in real life. That’s the long answer. Short answer would be - yes they were playing roles written for them and the people who were inspiration for the written character played the character in the film.

What exactly was your intent in making this film and what did you hope to convey? At, 27, when I embarked on the journey to make my debut feature, I wanted to take all the conflicts of the internet age in an orthodox society similar to what I have struggled through throughout my 20’s, and put them on screen so that somewhere someone sees them and hopefully finds something that resonates with them.

How did you come about casting the sisters? When I met the sisters, I realised our stories were similar even though we had extremely different lives. We had faced similar hurdles of stigma and failure, just because we chose to live our lives different from the orthodox way, paying a heavy cost emotionally and financially. We all felt suffocated by living our lives in two conflicting realities so we were on the same page in wanting to legitimise our choices by telling our story.

So what in your mind is the real story here? It is a story about young people with rural orthodox roots exposed to more liberal ideas and ways of life during college and jobs ( for which they have to move to a different state) because of those around them and the internet. They naturally find themselves in sync with these ideas as they allow themselves to imbibe and express freely and individualistically. That expression makes them stand out in society. In a way they are breaking away from traditional values of family and conventional morality which in turn results in conflict within themselves, with their roots and their familial history.

What is the real objective of your film? We did not want to explore the fight between the orthodox and the modern nor did we want to justify one way of life over the other. We wanted to explore what comes after, once liberal ideas are not just ideas but a way of life for you. What are the nuances of this way of life? What are the conflicts? We were interested in exploring the ingredients that constitute their urban life and the conflict(emotional, romantic, financial) that arise in their personal life not as a member of society but as individuals in their private spaces. We also wanted to stay away from moments of catharsis and build the film around incoherent banalities with emphasis and focus on factual truths of culture and lifestyle.

Are you satisfied with the final outcome? There isn’t an honest answer to that question. Sometimes I am very happy, other times I am not. But I am always very happy after screenings of the film. Always feel grateful for the film.