Director's Statement

There is no better entertaining apparatus than our own mind. Human psyche is no different than an overcrowded stage in a theater. They both house multitude of actors that come and go. The constantly arising thoughts and emotions always fascinated me. We are a bundle of ever changing opinions, feelings and emotions. To me, these emotions and thoughts are real beings living inside us, having their own life cycle. I picked few of them and they became the characters in this film.

Under the influence of emotions we make disastrous decisions, often repeatedly, yet we repeatedly continue to rationalize them. Intellect often becomes an obstacle to achieve an everlasting peace. Conquering the rationalizing mind is the only way to Nirvana. This summarizes my directorial approach to this film.

Even though there are three lead characters in the film, to me, they are nothing but aspects of one person. The plot points are symbols for emotions which influence the decision making process where as the characters itself are a representation of various aspects of my own personality. Andy represents the manipulative and rationalizing pseudo-intellect, Bobby represents sensitive, wavering yet faithful, and confused dimension of me where as Barney represents cunning yet loyal side but vulnerable to temptations but at the same possess the strength and the dogged persistence to live life despite all odds. Simply put, Andy is the mind, Bobby is the heart and Barney the body. The production design choices were not arbitrary. The apartment represents the unconscious aspects of the psyche inhabited by the likes of Gandhi, Nietzsche, Darwin, Kala Bhairava and menacingly looking mysterious creatures.

As Buddhist meditators would tell us that before the ecstasy comes the laundry. Before we can calm the mind, we must go through an internal chaos. The fluid camera in the beginning of the film represents that transitory tranquil moments that one experiences in the beginning of any spiritual practice. But those tranquil moments don't last long. Spiritual practice is full of perils – perils in the form of tempting emotions. When we are under the spell of these emotions they cause chaos – it causes rift and enemity between friends. It erects barriers between relationships symbolized by the progressivley darkening gloomy color and tighter camera shots and sharper edits. Ultimately one has to go through that tumultuous experience to rein in the rationalizing mind, symbolized by death of Andy, to achieve Nirvana symbolized by money in the bathtub. Mind is our friend sometimes but becomes our enemy sometimes , it flip-flops, it is not trustworthy, but our body and our heart never lies. That is ultimately the ending of this film.

Use of Buddha to kill people might seem like ironic choice but the Buddha gave us the tools and taught us the techniques and shown us the way to Nirvana. What better way than use him to achieve the desired goal?

In Hindu mythology, we have asuras or daemons - they were born from the foot of the creator. They are wicked human beings with enormous strength and willpower but at the sametime they are dominated by evil thoughts and actions. So are the characters in this film.

Whether we acknowledge or not we are all seeking the elusive perpetual bliss. Consciously or unconsciously all our actions are aimed at fulfilling that desire. The characters might be seedy, lowly scums but so are our evil thoughts. This film is nothing but a representation of spiritual journey of a meditator.