On the season 2 finale of Anything but Bollywood Neha is in the studio with filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter Pushpendra Singh whose films have traveled to the Venice and Berlin international film festivals, and whose directorial venture 'Ashwathama' was screened at the19th Mumbai International film festival. Listen in as he talks about breaking the traditional 3 act structure of a story, how his acting process influenced his filmmaking, adapting folk tales for screen and much more. 00:34 Pushpendra intro 01:04 Starting in Filmmaking/Film screenings at hostel/Barry John & FTII 03:22 Dealing with parents 07:05 Working & assisting Amit Datta 09:33 Assisting Anup Singh 11:23 How acting experiences shape filmmaking 14:07 Lajwanti 17:22 Screenwriting 21:49 Ashwathama/ choosing the protagonist/growing up in a religious atmosphere/ 25:21 Chambal 28:54 Portraying with authenticity 31:45 Adapting folk tales, equating art with classical music 34:34 Translating from page to screen 37:41 Working with non-actors 39:21 Creating the look of the film with the DOP 41:15 Approach to sound 42:25 Barometer for success 46:23 Life and filmmaking co-existing 47:22 Distribution/Crowdfunding 50:08 Shift to documentary 52:19 Learning from teaching acting 54:24 Acting exercises 56:04 Advice for actors and directors 57:03 Upcoming projects 59:15 Recommendation * * * Watch the trailer for Lajwanti here:  Watch the trailer for Ashwathama here:  Recommendations: Neha - Zama (2017, Dir. Lucrecia Martel):  Pushpendra - Nainsukh (2010, Dir. Amit Dutta):  Listen to the Anup Singh episode here:  For any questions or comments find Neha on twitter @neharthak You can listen to this show and other amazing shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android:  or iOS:  You can check out our website at  Read more