Meet Aditya Patwardhan of Mithraspect Film and Media in Burbank

Today we’d like to introduce you to Aditya Patwardhan.

Aditya, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I have been engaged with my creative side from my very childhood, starting with playing the Drums, Tabla, and Piano from the age of seven. During my graduation years, this evolved into a passion for music that resulted in me being the part of a Rock/Thrash Metal band, Jettatura, which headlined at many events across Northern India.

Along with having a strong extra-curricular experience by working with organizations such as AIESEC, I was also involved in freelance photography, blogging, event management, public speaking and music composition through various large-scale public events. Having had an eye for creativity and a knack for communication, I started working as the Branding and Communication head for a prominent jewelry brand based in India and England.

My first real involvement with film and media came when I started working with a political party in India and headed the Social Media campaigning team for the winning elections for the state of Rajasthan in 2013. The exposure of working in both rural and urban India gave me the understanding and the confidence to follow my childhood dream: to become a Director.”

I have worked internationally on feature films, documentaries, and short films the United States, India, Baltic & Eastern Europe, South Korea, Brazil, and Colombia. Though being from an English and Marathi speaking background, I have directed projects in non-native languages like Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, and Lithuanian.

With professional experience in a wide spectrum of fields like advertisement, documentary filmmaking, political campaigning, public speaking, and music, I now head the teams for film and media productions in Los Angeles and Jaipur at Mithraspect Private Limited

I also serve on the board of directors for the Indian news channel called Film India News, based in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

Has it been a smooth road?
I believe that as long as something is done for passion, ‘struggle’ is a side-effect that can be enjoyed and will be a learning experience.

Directing a foreign language project is one of the biggest creative struggles that I have faced. It almost always results in a dilemma of when to say ‘Yes’ and when to say ‘No.’

The opportunity to direct and film in a language alien to yourself is an excellent opportunity to experience a different culture and explore new possibilities. I have always faced an internal obstacle that I had to overcome to say ‘yes’ and not be scared by the prospect.

At the same time, as I started getting more and more foreign language projects, I had to make sure to know when should I refuse one, as at the end of the day, me not knowing the language can do injustice to the story as well.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Mithraspect Film and Media story. Tell us more about the business.
I started Mithraspect as a film and media startup with me being the CEO. As it is an upcoming company, I am the director and producer for all the project that we undertake.

One of the things that set Mithraspect apart from other filmmaking companies is the wide cultural spectrum of its works. In the last one year, we completed three projects, all directed by me, and all set on a completely different background.

One was a socio-cultural documentary film that was shot across eastern and Baltic Europe and now has an audience of more than 50 million on the Doordarshan Networks in India.

The second was a Korean-American drama, a feature film set in South Korea (Seoul and Busan) and Los Angeles and recently had its first private showing at the Lionsgate Studios along with winning the Best Independent Film Award at the 26th Korean Cultural Academy Awards.

Thirds is a feature film set in India and Los Angeles, shot across ten cities and numerous villages in India and is heading completion early next year. Prior to the above three projects, Mithraspect has worked on projects in Colombia, Brazil, USA, and India.

Where do you see your industry going over the next 5-10 years?  Any big shifts, changes, trends, etc?
In the next 5-10 years, I see our firm going further down the road in filmmaking, sticking to its diverse and international portfolio. I hope we will continue to work across the globe and bring to people stories set in different cultures. My belief is that we as a species are extremely diverse and yet so similar in our core values.

In the last few years, there has been a wave of film and content across the globe, and no story can now be truly be called a new story that has never been heard of. In this environment, we will strive to produce content that can be as fresh as possible.