Cinema has always been a collective art, yet the people who hold films together remain largely unseen. 'The B-IG List', is a new series spotlighting producers, ADs, technicians, and crew whose behind-the-scenes craft powers the film industry.
What do Kathryn Bigelow, Ang Lee, Ramin Bahrani, and Sam Hargrave have in common?
Producer and first assistant director Ananya Rane. Discovering, spotlighting, curating talent is one of the things I love. Yet I was unaware of Ananya. She features first in the series not only because of her stellar work but also because it is a testament to why this series must exist.
If I can spend 3 decades in the industry and still discover dazzling fellow travellers with solid stripes in the business then clearly our work is not done here.
The B-ig list is the MISSING piece.
"I would rather make a good film with someone who can direct than make a bad film that I know I cannot direct. "Kya hua tum directors nahin bane?" We get asked this a lot but this is unique to India. I have worked with 70 year old first ADs. That is all they have done their entire lives. All my friends in the west are career first ADs."Ananya Rane
In maximum city since the age of 13, Ananya Rane calls herself a Mumbai kid. In college (St. Xavier's), she dabbled in theatre (including acting) and picked up summer jobs diligently. On one of these summer jobs, her boss took her to the shoot of an advertisement. The production person on the shoot saw Ananya's impatience and asked her to help out if she wanted to. She immediately sprang to her feet and started helping different departments with wherever they were falling short of hands. That was it. She was sold and knew that she was hooked. She wanted to be on 'a set'.
After college, she passionately chased the high she felt on set. From an internship with one of the leading advertising houses Equinox (2004) to film school in Prague (2005) to the sets of her first big International film, Life of Pi, as second assistant director to Director Nitya Mehra, Ananya realised very early in her journey that her heart lay in organisation and putting together of projects. She went from project to project honing her craft and very soon started working as first AD. Filmmakers Sumantra Ghosal, Nitya Mehra and Kapil Sharma are some of the people she considers her mentors.
"There are only a few of us first assistant directors who have become producers. ADs are ideally on the path to become producers and it is the DA, associates and the script team that is on the path to direct. A lot of India doesn't have enough good producers. The misconception of producers is just money and they are vilified. The job of a producer is so much more than finance."Ananya Rane
After over two decades of commanding multiple sets, Ananya is in a position to choose projects and people she wants to work with. She has also taken the plunge and thrown herself even deeper into the filmmaking pipeline. She is busy building a dream, One India Stories, her production house that she began in 2021 with her childhood friend actor, producer and activist Dia Mirza Rekhi. Reluctant at first to mix business with a lifelong friendship, Ananya soon realised that there is no one she would rather create with than a friend and professional that knows her worth.
One India Stories has multiple projects in different stages of production. Their first marathi language short Panha, directed by Sakshi Mishra, highlighting the impact of infrastructural development on local communities, is clocking its film festival journey right now.
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