Professor Rajesh James lives out the words he teaches
- 07 Dec 2017
- Sunaya
- Features
This Thursday WKochi is giving some major inspiration goals, as we talk to Professor Rajesh James, who is also a Documentary film maker
Rajesh James, Professor at the English and Film making Department at Sacred Hearts is inspiring students to chase their dreams.Rajesh is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and he was awarded the prestigious Riyad Wadia Award for Best Emerging Filmmaker, India in 2017. His films were selected for screening at various major film festivals in the world like Peloponnisos International Documentary Film Festival Greece 2017, Kalamata Greece, 'Dialogues': Kolkata International LGBT Film & Video Festival, 2016. Kolkata,. Transition: International Queer Minorities Film Festival, Vienna. Tasveer: International Film Festival, Seattle and more. His documentary Naked Wheels won K.F Patil Unity in Diversity Award for Best Documentary Short at Kashi international Queer Film festival in Mumbai in 2017.
“I am basically a literature teacher specialised in Film Studies. I just completed my research on Christopher Nolan’s films. I have directed three documentaries. By profession I am teacher and by passion a filmmaker. Teaching in a college has given me a space to understand fresh thoughts, innovative and revolutionary ideals from the students I teach. My perspectives become more contemporary with the books I read. This makes my thoughts afresh. As I teach films, I can actually combine my passion in films. I usually shoot in Saturdays and Sundays and during vacations. So I manage my shooting without affecting my classes. I struggle to make films since I am not a full time filmmaker but I am happy to struggle”, says Rajesh talking about is passion and career.
He comments that that his film making attempts have really helped him in his teaching techniques and makes his class authentic. “ I am little bit lucky since my passion and profession complement each other. I would say that we cannot ignore our passion because that may affect our profession too”, says Rajesh.
When asked about how he manages his filmmaking process and his teaching profession Rajesh says that,“College supports me within their limitation. I have not asked any duty leave for my filmmaking. Only used my government permitted leaves to shoot the film. Principal and colleagues support me. More importantly it’s the encouragement of the students I value more. I believe at least I could show them practice what I Preach. They also understand my passion for filmmaking. It’s a tough affair, but I’m ready to do all sacrifices for my passion”.
Rajesh says “I would say that we should respect our passion and that’s make us genuine. Its our passion that differentiate us from others and it's our passion that gives us our genuine identity. If we can combine Both passion and profession it would be nice, if not find extra time to mete out our passion. That won’t be a waste.”
Text: Nikhil Wilson
