Kassia and Grant
Kassia and Grant’s work has a keen eye for the peculiarities that are the essence of life in India. Realizing their shared taste for filmmaking, they founded Dear, a production studio based in Delhi that helps brands tell their stories through documentary films. But their romance with India had begun years ago - Grant discovered Bollywood in Philadelphia and Kassia’s Indian-American friends sparked her interest in the country. Cut to today, they deftly balance commercial and passion projects at Dear, and have already worked with Motherland Magazine, Anomaly, Blue Tokai and Indelust. What makes their self initiated projects so unique is their fresh take on everything Indian, pulling out stories from everyday life that are at once riveting - something you and I could have easily missed. When Grant traveled to Madurai he noticed that almost every auto rickshaw was emblazoned with the face of Mickey Mouse. When he set out with his camera to unearth the small community’s penchant with the cartoon, he met Mani, a professional artist who drew these Mickeys ever since his childhood. The final documentary, Who Is Mickey, is a unique look at a community tucked away in a corner of Tamil Nadu, and their quirks. Kassia and Grant, took us through the film, their work and the things that inspire it.
Mani and his Mickey
Tell us a little about yourself. What brought you to India?
Grant: I worked at an independent video rental store near Philadelphia when I was a teenager. The guy who managed the store was a Hindi film fanatic, and so I ended up first seeing Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kaho Na Pyar Hai, Amar Akbar Anthony, and a few others thanks to him. My taste at that age was all over the place, and those films blew me away. That later lead to me transferring out of art school to go and get a degree in Hindi and Urdu from the University of Texas-Austin.
Kassia: Growing up I had a number of Indian-American friends and was exposed to food and movies at their homes - being from the suburban Midwest these things were super different to me, so that’s where my interest was sparked. Later during college I took a course on Indian Literature and Film on a whim, which I enjoyed so much it led to me focusing my academic pursuits towards South Asian Studies. I did a year-long study abroad program in Madurai later on and once I came to India, I knew I wanted to be in the country for a while.
How did the both of you meet and start working together?
K: We had connected online, after a mutual friend posted a short video he shot in Delhi which Grant was featured in. A few years later we had a chance to meet when Grant came back to India for a visit, and everything came together very quickly from there - we set up Dear and started working on projects together!
Behind the Scenes | Who Is Mickey?
What informs your sensibilities when it comes to the work you create at Dear?
We take a shallow and wide sort of approach to all the work that we do, both commercial and personal - in the sense of having a lot of creative outlets, be it making films, shooting photographs, designing clothes, drawing, etc. We always like to have several things going on at once. When it comes to subject matter, we’re drawn to things here which are mundane and weird - little hidden everyday gems. Commercially we’ve had a focus in fashion and lifestyle, which we enjoy a lot, but for our personal work we definitely pursue more offbeat stories.
What is the one thing that the both of you are equally passionate about?
In our personal work we both like playing with digital and analog equipment. Some kind of visual imperfection is something that really appeals to us, especially when using analog video. It’s a way of getting away from a supposed need for everything to look so polished and HD these days. We grew up using old Hi-8 video cameras to make videos and that’s a look that’s always been really appealing.
Behind the Scenes | Who Is Mickey?
When you noticed autos in Madurai emblazoned with the face of Mickey Mouse, what intrigued you the most about it?
G: I’ve been taking photos of hand painted sign characters for a while, and had seen Mickey Mouse painted in various places like school gates and such. When I visited Madurai for the first time, however, I immediately noticed that Mickey was everywhere on these auto rickshaws. So I became curious about the how and why of where these Mickeys were originating - were they coming from one place? And why were so many drivers featuring him on their autos?
Once we started going around and asking people about it, it was really great to see the range of perceptions of the Mickey character. Some people just saw it generally as some ‘cartoon,’ while others ascribed a much more philosophical meaning to it. Someone did mention Walt Disney at one point, but for the most part the character of ‘Mickey Mouse’ didn't really mean the same thing to these guys that it did to us.
If there is one thing you took away from this experience and your interactions with the locals of Madurai, what would it be?
A few months after we completed the film we went back to Madurai and visited Mani, the artist who was featured in the film. We showed the film to him and his family, and his response was really great. He joked that his family was confused, asking why would someone make a movie about your Mickey paintings? They got to watch it together, and that was a fun moment, to be able to share it with all of them.
Behind the Scenes | Who Is Mickey?
What does your dream project sound like?
Our self-initiated projects usually come from things we observe directly or people that we meet. It’s often really random encounters that turn into something much larger, so it really all comes from just putting ourselves in unfamiliar situations as much as possible. Right now we’re trying to take it to the level of making a feature length project - that’s our current dream project!
What about the sundry cultures of India informs your work the most?
People’s openness to share stories definitely impacts what we do, and we feel a responsibility to tell their stories sensitively and with meaning. The willingness and access so many people have given us has definitely influenced much of what we’ve done till now.
Do you have any interesting projects in the pipeline?
We are currently working on another documentary set in Madurai - it's still in the initial research phase. There are some other short doc projects coming along as well, like a piece on an amazing steel guitar player in West Bengal.
Watch Who is Mickey below.
Text Ritupriya Basu