Q & A Session with Trade Offs' Sunny played by Anup Sugunan

June 6, 2003

Q: Acting, Casting, Music, Producer...How did you manage to get yourself involved in all these areas?

Anup: I worked as a Programming Director for the 2nd Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival last year, 2001. Basically, I was one of the four people that decided which films got into the festival. Because of that role, the producers of a radio show called Gupshup (I still have no idea what that means - I don't speak Hindi) asked me to be on it. The producers of this film, Vikram and Atul, produced that show. Since they knew that I was quite interested in filmmaking, they called me up and told me about this project. I met with them one early morning at a coffee shop, which is ironic because my character, Sunny, is always at coffee shops in this film. Also, they knew I was really into music as well and asked me to score the film. I have only written songs and instrumental pieces that stand alone. I have never ventured into scoring a full-length film. So, I took them up on their offer. However, I told them that I would also like to audition for the film. Once I got the part, I realized that I would much rather put my focus into acting instead of music. I've done music my whole life, but never really acted in a feature. Then I called up one of my buddies, David Helpling, who's done incredible work in terms of scoring films. I knew that he could do a much better job than I, so I felt a little relived when he got into this project. I moved into the role of music supervision instead, that means that I will work on putting the artists and bands together to shape the soundtrack for the film. So, now my focus was onto acting. That's all I wanted to do. Act! I've done a few student films and independent shorts, but nothing of this caliber. I was so excited!

I became involved in producing because I had so many contacts with filmmaker because of my festival background. So, I knew that I could help these guys take this movie further if I jumped into a producer role. Eventually, it stopped becoming their movie and started becoming my movie, thereby taking on the responsibility of secondary casting as well. I didn’t feel like I was working for them, rather with them. I’m spending so much time with this project. I even cut my work hours just for this film. I’m putting everything I’ve got into it.

Overall, in terms of joining this project, I must say that I was most impressed by their organizational skills than anything else. Initially, they didn’t have much knowledge in terms of filmmaking (shhhh – don’t tell ‘em I said that), but I knew with their MBA and engineering minds, they could do a fine job.

Q. Is Anup very much like SUNNY? How would you compare the two?

Anup: Yes and no. Yes, because I don’t wear a watch and I try to “appreciate all the beauty that’s around us”. After shooting the hair salon scene, Rahul (Manu) and I didn’t feel like going home. We wanted to hang out. We pulled in a few more people from the cast and crew to a table overlooking the ocean. One of them was in a hurry and was bugging me to leave. Since I was giving him a ride, I told him to chill out and enjoy the moment. I told him that if and when you win an Oscar, you’re not going to think that that is the best moment in your life. Instead, you’re going to think back to the first time you ever made a feature film and wish you could live it all over again. So, I told him, now is your chance to live this moment. Deypika looked at me like, is this Anup or Sunny talking? It was me, so that’s why I really enjoyed and could relate to playing that aspect of Sunny.

I read in an interview with Harrison Ford that Han Solo was his least favorite character he had played. That blew me away. I think that Han is one of the coolest dudes in the galaxy. While prepping for Sunny, Vik constantly told me to be cockier and have more attitude. I started to hate Sunny because of this and argued with Vik about the direction this character was going. Eventually, he won and I understood that I had to play it like that – with an attitude. Then I learned to like him again because it gave him an arc. So, in that nature, I’m not like Sunny… at least not til I get my own limo, trailer, and Millennium Falcon. [Laughs]

Q. What will be the next venture for you? Which one of the film traits do you want to focus on: Acting, Producing, Music or Directing?

Anup: I’m very hush-hush about my projects ‘til they’re completed. Actually, I haven’t even told my parents about this movie and we’re four months into it. I’m hoping to surprise them by getting them to come out here to SoCal and just casually ask them to go see a movie with me. I have to figure out how to keep them distracted if we have all the opening ceremony hoopla stuff. I would like for them to just see me on screen without any prior knowledge. I don’t think I even want my credits to show up in the intro. I know my dad’s going to say, “Yeah, I knew that you were making a film.” He thinks he’s pretty clever… actually, he is. When auditioning people, I had an outgoing answering machine message that gave details and he called and wondered what was going on. I tried to play it off by saying that I’m just helping out a friend with a small film. Let’s see if he buys it. My mom couldn’t understand my outgoing message; she said that I spoke too fast, so I don’t have to worry about her. I’m actually going to try and turn it into a mini-documentary. Maybe we’ll put it on the DVD as a bonus clip or an Easter-egg or something.

In terms of genres, I’d really like to do an action flick. It would be a lot of fun. Also, old-school slapstick is a great interest of mine. I’d love to work something like Airplane or Nude Bomb.

So to answer your question, it will most likely involve all of the above. I have hard time sitting on the sidelines and watching the action. I like getting right into the mix of things. It’s becoming more and more common in mainstream films as well. In Spy Kids 2, Robert Rodriguez wrote, produced, directed, was the cinematographer, composed the score, supervised the visual effects and the production design, and I’m sure he did some catering as well. I think people are realizing that it’s more interesting to delve into new fields instead of just sticking to one area. Hell, why go to film school? Just come work with us and we’ll even feed you – Indian food!

Q. So this movie is about choices, any "Trade Offs" that you made and would like to share?

Anup: This film is being shot only on the weekends, we start up around 4am on Saturday morning and end pretty late, sometimes around midnight after all the debriefing and follow-up emails were done. Since my parents are two time-zones away, it was most convenient to speak to them on the weekends. So, I’ve only spoken to my parents a few times in the last few months. Same goes for friends with whom I normally hang out with during the weekends. I hardly see anyone nowadays. That’s what’s really important to me: family and friends. Other than that, I don’t consider not being able to party as being a trade-off, because for me making a film is my dream and passion, so nothing else comes close. It would be a trade off if I had to party instead of making a film.