Manny Parmar is an Indo-Canadian filmmaker from Vancouver. He has studied film at the Simon Fraser University and had a varied career in media. He has been involved in many short narratives as producer, director or sound designer and worked for multi-cultural TV stations as a technical director. Pehchaan 3D is his first feature film.
VcB: So, it’s tough enough to make an independent movie, never mind an Independent Bollywood movie, and a 3D one at that! What made you want to make this movie?
After studying film and TV and both BCIT and SFU and knew the time would come for me to work on my first feature. I always have had an interest in Bollywood films. Punjabi Films are similar but on lower budgets and in a market where I could get more exposure. There is room in Punjabi Cinema to make progression. I didn’t want to make a film that was the average Punjabi comedy though, this was my first feature, it would have to have meaning and soul. Pehchaan 3D has all that. To me, it is a fair representation of what Canadian Bollywood could be like.What talent do we have in our own backyard and why are they not being used on a more commercial mass appealing level.
As an overseas audience, Bollywood films rely on the audience outside of India to succeed, so why can’t overseas made film succeed when pitching itself to the same audience?
I am very proud of the fact that our film represents a Canadian Bollywood film with issues and representation of the overseas.
I had a clear approach from the get go. We wanted to make the next generation Punjabi Film, and everything including 3D just fell in line with that.
Pehchaan 3D is already getting some buzz for being the first 3D movie in Punjabi Cinema history, but what sets this aside from the other movies out there, aside from the technology?
The script and storytelling is what sets it apart. The approach we took, makes our film unique. It is western storytelling but with Indian content and emotion. It’s a great blend of comedy, emotion, and drama.
Any advice for future filmmakers or people aspiring to follow in your footsteps?
Don’t let things sit in a box, get it out there, no matter what it is. Build a portfolio and learn things before jumping right in. My studies in Film and TV had a huge impact in how I produced the film. I knew what the possibilities were with our budget as I could think of innovative solutions to get the job done.
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