Ayush Dinker

Bio

Ayush Dinker is a 26 year old, self-taught filmmaker, based out of New Delhi in India. Ayush went to Birla Institute of Technology to become a Mechanical Engineer. Soon after that, he quit his role as an engineer and started Ethereal production company to pursue his interest to make films. Ethereal is now an online channel. Through Ethereal, Ayush does films on fact finding and trying to get at larger questions about human conditions. He says, “Travel forms an integral part of my being.”

Reflection

I have been covering Holi in Mathura for a couple of years now. The one word to describe my experience of filming there for Sacred would be ‘challenging.’ The job was to shoot during the festival of Holi with a teenager who is capable of articulating on camera what he feels about the spiritual and mythological significance of the festival. For the kind of visuals we were aiming for, Uttar Pradesh, the place where Holi originated mythologically, was the best option. The main challenge, however, was to find a suitable character in a rural setting—to whom I needed to convey the concept of the documentary being shot. I met young boys from eight schools in the locality before selecting two of them, with whom I finally shot. The technical challenge involved capturing broadcast quality video and sound, along with a small crew, right in the middle of a chaotic setting with the possibility of getting your camera and microphone completely drenched by the colored water being splashed while shooting. Discussing all these challenges and coming up with solutions for them with Tom was a great learning experience and I would say it helped me grow as a filmmaker.