Karma Strikes by NYFA Alum Kartik Swaminathan Venkatraman now streaming on the Indian platform Zee5
NYFA One Year Filmmaking Alum Kartik Swaminathan Venkatraman's new feature film Karma Strikes is now available on one of India's top streaming platforms, Zee5. Kartik spoke to NYFA about his experience making the film and the inspiration behind it.
NYFA Alumni Network: Can you tell us a bit about yourself, where you're from, and what brought you to New York Film Academy?
K.V: I am Kartik Swaminathan Venkatraman; born and raised in Mumbai, India. I worked for 17 years with Bank of America before quitting my job and pursuing my ambition to become a filmmaker. Since I did not have any background in filmmaking (Except for my writing skills), I decided to do a course in Filmmaking. I did a lot of research and realized that New York Film Academy best suited my interests and hence joined NYFA for the Spring 2020 Filmmaking Course. Needless to say, whatever I am today and whatever I have learned about Filmmaking all thanks to NYFA and my teachers.
NYFA Alumni Network: Tell us a little more about making "Karma Strikes"? What inspired you to write the story?
K.V: The journey of making "Karma Strikes" was filled with lots of hurdles. Our main financier backed out of the project at the last minute. I then reached out to all my friends and family members to invest in the movie. Me and my wife Aafreen Karim sold both our houses in India to finish the movie. It cost us half a million dollars to produce the movie.
I wrote "Karma Strikes" back in 2010. Of course, over 10 years, I made many changes and worked on multiple drafts. All of us are aware of men and women who indulge in extramarital affairs and also know how immoral and unfair it is to your spouse. And there are many movies made about it. However, I wanted to take it several notches up and write a story about how an extramarital affair cannot just destroy you and the person you're having an affair with but your entire family. An affair that at the beginning feels so beautiful and exciting but slowly ends up ruining your life. And just when you thought you got away with it, Karma Strikes and gets back at you.
Behind the scenes of Karma StrikesNYFA Alumni Network: What did you learn at NYFA that you applied directly to this project and others?
K.V: While I had written Karma Strikes in 2010, a lot of my perspective, thought process and method to develop a screenplay was enhanced through what I learned at NYFA. Every single aspect of filmmaking, be it Direction, Working with Actors, Director of Photography, Editing and every other department was something that I learnt at NYFA and I completely owe it to them and my teachers for whatever good I did in my first feature film as a writer/director.
Making of Karma Strikes
NYFA Alumni Network: Where can we watch the film?
K.S.V: The movie has been released on one of the Premier Streaming Platforms of India:- Zee5 and is currently trending at Number 1. It is also available in the USA and other regions on Zee5.
The music of Karma Strikes has been released with Zee Music Label and is available on Youtube, Apple Music, Spotify etc. One can search for "Karma Strikes" and the whole album will be available for streaming.
Links:
Kartik's Instagram: @free_art_productions
Press:
An article about the movie in India's largest-selling newspaper; Times of India
Kartik graduated from the One Year Filmmaking Program at the NY campus in 2021. NYFA Alumni Network congratulates Kartik on all the success!
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