MUMBAI: An FTII graduate, a successful author, musician and a passionate filmmaker, Aditya Kripalani belongs to Mumbai and had a flair for creative writing since childhood. As a young teen, Aditya displayed a keen interest in the creative fields, especially with regards to writing and film-making.
He released his first book at the age of twenty-six, titled ‘Back Seat.’ Within five years of its release, Aditya completed writing the sequel to the book, titled ‘Front Seat’. ‘Back Seat’ was placed 10th against 300 other titles in 2009 ‘Hollywood Book Festival’. Both the books became the best sellers. His latest offering ‘Tikli and Laxmi Bomb’ is being made into a film.
Aditya himself is the music director of the movie and his journey has been pretty interesting. “I quit my job at GWI Singapore three years ago when I decided to do my own thing. I came to Mumbai and I would sing and play on the local trains. My idols are Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen although I don’t think I am anywhere close to being that good,” said the young author.
Related Post
“I really do not see the point of people going to pubs to sing and play their music because people go there not to listen to the music but to have a good time. It’s more compelling to play on a local train because while people are going through everyday struggles if you can hit them with the correct kind of substance, that always has a great impact,” added Aditya.
Aditya managed to grab a few filmmakers’ attention while singing on local trains and they went on to shoot a documentary on him called ‘Mumbai Minstrel.’
Coming back to Aditya’s latest endeavours, his upcoming release ‘Tikli and Laxmi Bomb’, revolves around two sex workers, who decide to attain autonomy in their profession by running a small part of the sex trade by women and for women. Aditya has a dynamic, dramatic, love-hate relationship with Mumbai and thus city forms as a backdrop in the book.
“There are nine songs in the movie out of which four are songs by the band Laxmi Bomb and I have written rest of the songs. Dhanashree Ganatra is the co-music director. My songs are mostly written on an acoustic guitar so she helped me give some life to them by adding the music.”
‘Tikli and Laxmi Bomb’ will mark the young filmmaker’s directorial debut too. On asking out of all his varied interests which one would he pick to focus on in the coming years? To which he said, “I have been a writer for fifteen years and I don’t see myself doing anything else in the near future. If anything is an extension of my writing, like my music, I would love to do it but only for my films and not for anyone else. Honestly, I don’t want to bracket myself because I am open to interesting ideas but I will always primarily be a writer.”
We definitely look forward to all of Aditya’s upcoming projects.
