10/05/2017
As a team we rarely get a chance to come together in front of camera. Thank you Humans of Bombay.
“I was born with a neurodegenerative disorder where initially I could somehow walk with the help of crutches, but a motorbike accident at the age of 9 confined me to a wheelchair permanently. While growing up, my attitude was always to find solutions rather than use my disability as an excuse — I traveled, read and explored without ever worrying about how I would get there. One of the best experiences of my life was when I was studying film in San Francisco and that’s where I met my friend and now business partner Salil.
Whilst we were there, we were always working on projects together — he’s a cinematographer and I’m a filmmaker. Somehow through the years, we became a small team of two — whenever people approached either of us for work they assumed the other was also on board! The thing that worked for both of us is that there wasn’t any sense of sympathy or inferiority — we were always joking around, working on projects as equals. I still remember this one time when we were in Michigan — it was -10 degrees and one end of my wheel access broke. He had to hold up one end of my wheel chair, through a snow storm while we were screaming and shouting at cars to move out of our way and the only thing he said to me is ‘ Mote, lose some weight — I’m dying!’
When we moved back we did our own thing for a bit before we realised that what started off as a ‘college team’ could be successful in the real world too and we haven’t looked back since. We’ve enrolled in competitions together, travelled like crazy people all over Bombay looking for content and won awards — not once did my disability come in the way. In fact, it is society that makes us feel that way…whenever clients come in they only speak to Salil because apparently people feel like having a physical disability means that you’re mentally incapable as well — but I’ve learnt to voice myself well. Salil's the one who gets annoyed when this happens. He’s been my backbone — whenever we have to shoot he’ll go first, do a recce and check whether the place is wheelchair accessible. In fact, everyday when I leave work there’s a crowd of people that stops, stares and watches me get into my car — it’s actually hilarious. Salil wants to do a photoshoot of me while that happens… he thinks it’s ridiculous but I just say — ‘chill yaar...the paparazzi loves me!”
