Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K.’s first film, an Indian-American feature called Flavors (2003) is now streaming on Prime Video. The directors made this film during their software engineering days in USA.
Making the announcement on social media, Raj & DK posted a poster of the film and shared an anecdote about its making. “Years ago… We were two engineering classmates, working as Software Engineers. But that wasn’t enough. So we alt-tabbed at our workplace to write our first screenplay about the lives we know,” they wrote.
Describing their vision for their first script, the Go Goa Gone (2013) directors wrote, “We didn’t want to do a cultural clash or fish out of water kind of story, which was the norm. We wanted a non-linear snapshot of the diaspora. But we didn’t know shit about screenwriting, nor could we fully comprehend Syd Field’s screenwriting books, nor did we have time to go to film school nor access to any filmmaker to work under them. What we knew, we realised was, reverse-engineering :)”
“So with a screenplay written in a way we knew, we decided to pool in all our savings… and our friends pitched in. And we created our own film school: shoot-as-we-learn school. Armed with all first timers, some 10-12 crew, bundled in two cars and crammed in a 2 BHK apartment, we shot all around the city - pure guerrilla style. We decided to do most of it ourselves — writing, directing, producing, editing, filming, posters etc — it was our film school after all!” they added.
Reflecting on their journey, they wrote, “We never thought we’d become filmmakers for life. We even went back to our jobs for a few years before coming to Mumbai to make 99 (which is another long story of 5 years).”
Flavors features Anupam Mittal, Jicky Schnee and Reef Kareem among others.
Raj & DK’s next outing Citadel: Honey Bunny, starring Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu, will start streaming on Prime Video from December 7.