Today we’d like to introduce you to Sreejith Nair.
Hi Sreejith, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Being born and raised in Chicago by a family from Kerala (South India) has definitely given me a unique perspective on the world. The first film I ever saw in my life was “Disney’s Dinosaur”, which had an ever-lasting effect on me. As a child, I was constantly obsessed with dinosaurs and started researching them at a young age, watching “Disney’s Dinosaur”, The Land Before Time, and the Jurassic Park movies on repeat. My first childhood dream was paleontology, and while that dream died quickly, my fascination with dinosaurs never ended.
In 2005, when I was in 5th grade, I got inspired to watch not only dinosaur movies, but also monster movies, like “King Kong” and “Godzilla”. These two cinematic icons led me to finally say, “I want to make movies”.
All the way from middle school to high school to college and up until now, I was always known as the guy who never stops talking about monsters, dinosaurs, robots, and any characters that are not human. The films that continue to inspire me are “Transformers”, “Avatar”, the “Universal Monsters”, and any other film with amazing creature designs.
Non-human characters speak to me in a way human characters don’t. Non-human characters don’t live within the constraints of what a human can or can’t express. I remember the first time I ever cried watching a movie was at the ending of Peter Jackson’s King Kong in 2005. That film really showed me how to give life, feeling, and character development to a non-human character, and I wanted to achieve that in my work.
In my early childhood, I wasn’t even thinking about watching more South Asians on screen because I was so caught up in my love for monsters. However, when I was in college, I started volunteering for South Asian film festivals and I really started to notice how little people who looked like me were represented on screen.
I started focusing more of my work towards representing South Asians, as well as other minorities, while still maintaining my love of monsters. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago in 2016, I made a short film called “The Color of Me”, about a woman with a magical curse that her skin changes color and she turns into 5 different races, and an adopted African-American falls in love with her. The film was a chance for me to explore racism and colorism through a fairy tale romance perspective. The film received many awards in the festival circuit, including “Best Original Concept” at the Las Vegas Black Film Festival. The film is now available on Amazon Prime.
Shortly after releasing “The Color of Me”, I moved to Los Angeles and used my education and film festival experience to get a job at Paramount Plus. After 5 years of navigating the LA scene and moving up in the world of filmmaking, I decided it was time to finally make my dream project, an Indian Dinosaur movie.
I partnered with famed Mumbai-based author Vaishali Shroff (author of “The Adventures of Padma and a Blue Dinosaur”) to write the short film “Rajasaur”, the first-ever short film to feature dinosaurs discovered in India. Right when the COVID-19 pandemic started, I self-funded, produced, directed the short film, which is now available on Disney Hotstar.
My upcoming goals for the future are taking classes in Special Effects Make-Up, booking more commercial acting roles, producing a web-series, and hoping to produce a feature film similar to the monster films that inspired me, with a South Asian cast.
Something I have recently learned about myself was noticing how persistent I can be with my goals, and that is a trait I have kept to keep pursuing and keep inspiring for my art.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There are always challenges when it comes to filmmaking. How do I support myself in between projects? How do I fund projects? How do I find representation? The list of questions goes on.
I will certainly label two specific years as my lowest points in this industry and living in LA.
2016 – Right after graduating college, finally producing my own short film for the first time, and moving to Los Angeles, there were definitely struggles. My first job in LA was an unpaid internship, so money was extremely tight, and I had so many uncertainties. What if I don’t find a stable job? What if my short film doesn’t do well in festivals? All my friends are years ahead of me working on film sets, what if I fall behind? Plus leaving Chicago, the only home I have known for my entire life, took an emotional toll on me too, I battled a lot of homesickness and missed my family and friends.
2022 – After getting over how difficult 2016 was, things were really good for me. I was working full-time, produced my dream project, and got to act in several films and shows to build my resume. However, all the questions from 2016 came back again. What happens next? What do I do with my life? What avenue do I pursue next? Acting? Writing? Directing? Producing? There are still so many people ahead of doing cooler stuff, does that mean I failed?
If these two different years have taught me anything, it’s these specific lessons…
– Let go of controlling the future. You do your best and give it everything you have. Whatever the universe gives back to you is out of your control, so there is no point in having anxiety about it.
– Know who your friends are, and have people in your circle who you know support you.
– Do the work. Letting go of the anxiety, and approaching things one at a time in a procedural way helped me so much.
– Even in the world of film, it’s OK to make mistakes. People in this industry often forget that everyone is a person with their own set of flaws, so always take responsibility and ownership and good things will happen.
– Therapy always helps. It is very easy for artists to feel overwhelmed, stressed out, burnt out, and lose faith in themselves. I’m such supporter of maintaining your mental health, which is why I think everyone should see a therapist every once in a while.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My fellow South Asian creatives always refer to me as “That guy who is obsessed with monsters.” And I carry that title proudly. I barely meet other South Asians who are interested in the same concepts as me, in wanting to make non-human characters like monsters, aliens, or robots. Making “Rajasaur”, the first Indian Dinosaur film was a huge dream come true for me, and I intend to continue making more content like that for movies and TV shows.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
I’m a person who is creating new ideas every day. I am always daydreaming about new potential movies and TV shows that I want to write and produce. I am always sharing ideas with my fellow filmmakers and finding people who get the most excited. What draws me to people is their passion. I want to know what makes you excited and if you and I get excited about the same things, then I want to work with you. You meet those creative people who just want to do their job for a paycheck, then you meet people who really love the craft and want to create something unique and original, and I respond better to those people. My dreams are always about South Asian representation and creating new and exciting worlds in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. So right now, I just want to find those people whose goals align with mine and we can make amazing things together, so please reach out.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sreejithnair94/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sreejith.nair.3194/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sreejithnair94/
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/sreejithnair94
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sreejithnair94
Image Credits
Headshot taken by Paul Zecharia Poster for Rajasaur, a short film that I produced and directed. I also wrote this film with Vaishali Shroff. Tribeca Red Carpet photo for the film “Four Samosas” directed by Ravi Kapoor, a feature film I recently had a role in. Sculpting a monster mask in a class with Imaginerick Studios, also wearing the full brown bull mask in another photo. Still from Rajasaur where I play a “Caveman Father” Still from the film “We Found Something” directed by Jesse Heisel, where I play a yellow rat monster named “Russell” Halloween photoshoot where I play a “Blue Giant” – Makeup by Alyssa Hudson, Photo by Jeeraya William Moranon
