Karan Kapadia is not only a filmmaker and producer but a storyteller who wants to make a difference in the world. He is the co-founder of Mangata Films with Ashi Dua, a production house that aims to create stories that are bold, relevant and impactful. Karan’s journey began in Bombay, where his grandfather was a pioneer in the advertisingindustry; he started one of the first agencies of India. It also started when he discovered his love for photography when his mother presented him with a camera. He studied culture and music in London, where he was inspired by Rang De Basanti, a film that challenged the status quo of the Indian society, returned to India and learned the craft of filmmak- ing from some of the best in the business: Ram Madhvani, Mani Ratnam, Zoya Akhtar and Aamir Khan. He worked on films like Little Zizou, The Other End of the Line, Raavan and Talaash that helped hone his craft. But Karan’s Platform moment arrived when he made a viral ad campaign called Do the Rex in 2014 and went on to collaborate with his wife Nitya Mehra on Baar Baar Dekho, where he was the second unit director. He has directed over a hundred commercials and a few episodes of Big Girls Don’t Cry that released this month. Karan is also working on his second untitled show, a crime thriller with an ensemble cast, which promises to be a gripping and gritty story.
Still from Big Girls Don't Cry
MANGATA FILMS
Mangata Films is actually a Swedish-Sanskrit rooted word. Growing up, we lived by the beach and saw the most stunning sunsets and moon rises. And when the moon rose behind the ocean, it lit up the road, the water; that’s what ‘mangata’ means.IfounditaptandIfoundittobeanicenameforus.I think both our upcoming projects, Big Girls Don’t Cry and the second one that maybe called Project G, definitely have similar themes in terms of the kind of content we want to talk about. The kind of stuff that I have been particularly frustrated with, is the level of censorship that we have in our country. And I feel that the meta-theme of what I would like to speak about is, at the moment, about speaking up. If there is a crime that takes place, if there is anything that happens, we should not fear speaking up in a democracy like ours. If you don’t like what I’m saying, don’t watch it. If you have an issue with what I’m doing, critique it. But don’t slap FIRs on people and threaten their lives and their livelihoods. So, Mangata Films, as a production house, is about telling stories which are entertaining primarily but also have social commentaries blended within them. As a filmmaker, good scripts are gold dust and the genre can vary across multiple genres. So, there’s no restriction on what kind of stories we want to tell. But yes, these are the two subject matters that have resonated with us mostly at this time and that’s what we are working on.
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Words Hansika Lohani
Date 13.04.2024