Cargo Team

Hello Hello! So the film is coming out. Waited for this moment for so long - 10 years or maybe more. To see our own spaceship!  And now it will be yours. Forever.

 

Big shout out to my wonderful actors, people who carried this film on their shoulders- Vikrant Massey, who is talented beyond belief, Shweta Tripathi who is so gifted and generous, like a fairy. You both brought so much pure joy and passion to the process. Thanks for breathing life into this story, like true magicians.

 

Thanks Navin Shetty for being the most supportive person I know in this industry, who always  stood by the film like a strong pillar and I feel so blessed that I was powered by you. And Shlok Sharma for being there for me, protecting, loving and guiding me, nurturing me and being there like my real brother. You gave so much to the project, going above and beyond in every way possible.  Your love and protection made this beautiful journey possible. I am forever indebted to both of you.

 

My people, Zain Matcheswalla and Zenish Mehta. We saw this dream together in film school, 10 years and counting, you guys kept me and the film alive by being there for me working with utmost passion and sincerity.

Zenish thank you for working so hard from preproduction to every day of the shoot, and being there in the really long post. Your beautiful, pure heart is shining in this film. You were my home, my best friend. You enhanced every thing in the film, even crafted the lovely end credits of the film.  

Zain, I don’t know, where I end and you start in my creative head (and vice versa btw). You supported me, believed in me  with all your heart, for so many years, every single day, you showed up, and here too, you were there and you  gave the most crucial inputs at every juncture, even helping me decide that I should make this story. I owe you my creative life.

And our forever co-producer Rahul Puri who really gave us the best resources that even money couldn’t buy and in return you showered us only with your love and best wishes. Thank you for always indulging my dreams, since my first short film. I deeply respect you and love you from the bottom of my heart.

 

Thanks to Anurag Kashyap for always believing and encouraging me. For that crucial meeting in 2017, when I was so dejected when my previous project was shelved. I still remember your words to me “don’t wait - just go make your film now”, when all I had at that point was a bawling toddler in my hand. We need more mentors like you, though sometimes I feel, you alone are enough for so many of us. We are because you are.

 

And Vikramaditya Motwane, thanks for being my lifelong mentor and inspiration. For letting me witness your passion and dedication to your work.  For instilling in me sacred love and a sense of precision towards my craft. The steadiness of your love and support is like bread and butter to my soul.

 

Thanks Guneet Monga for selflessly guiding and sharing your indepth  experience with me and giving real, concrete insights of the festival world like  noone has given me. And Achin Jain for helping us always in the most crucial steps.

 

The film looks so beautiful because of our gifted cinematographer Kaushal Shah, who gave exclusive dedicated time for a dream preproduction that this film needed, and made this film his own. The most brilliant visionary Mayur Sharma for building our spaceship with so much precision, detail and love.

 

 Anish John whom I had the great privilege and joy to work with is one of the hidden superheroes of the film. And he brought the film to life and gave every part of this spaceship a heartbeat that is fresh and unique.

 

Thanks to our brilliant editor Paramita Ghosh for giving it so much time and using her imagination to edit it, as it is so tough to edit a vfx heavy film.

My favourite find – the massively intelligent and talented composer who opened his heart for this film - Shezan Shaikh - you have such a bright future Shezan!

Big shout out to Lovedeep Gulyani  (and his team Rashmi Khatri and Abhay Bharat) for doing the costumes and Shrikant Desai for the makeup.

Big tight hug to our dedicated head of post production, Akash Banerji, who alone did the work of a big team and became my shoulder to lean on.

My backbone, my direction team (Saad Nawab, Aditya Pawar (pehle dinn se aakhri dinn tak pushing the boundary even when I was tired), Anita Dhaveji (my sweetest DA and my fierce comrade), extremely thorough Siddarth Potade, Shahid, and Nilansh Srivastava). Our dedicated still photographer Jaideep Duhan, and Production Team lead by Sameer Kamble and brilliantly supported by super solid rockstar Shray Gupta and Sagar Salunke  (ever smiling, who doubled up as such a lovable actor) and the team at Nube esp our colorist Zaheer Shaikh and conformist Dinesh and Ventana- esp Prashant Sadaphule and his team and graceful Samitha Shetty, who did so much work for us behind the scenes. 

 

Thank you to Sarath Mohan for your hard work in the final days of the film by being the passionate sound mixer the film needed and other super cool awesome key team members Amish Chauhan (our Art Director who never said No!), extremely passionate Sarit Chatterjee, Shantanu Y, Varun Marooned (loved working with you so much), Jash Mistry and Ranjan Sharma. 

Thanks to Hansal Mehta Sir, Biswa, Ritwik Bhowmik, Rohan Shah,  Prabal Punjabi, Anjum Rajabali, Amit Rai, super spunky Shilpa Srivastava, Vivian,  Somnath Sen, Ronjoy and the extremely talented Umesh Jagtap. Thanks Twinkle Patel for blessing this film with your presence. Thanks Shweta Tripathi again for getting some of these brilliant people  in the film just by your brightness and goodwill.

 

Having Konkona Sen Sharma bless our film was our dream come true. I am still dazed by her beauty and brilliance.

 

Special thanks to Megha Ramaswamy and Sagar Desai (we literally have the “party song of the year”).  Megha I am so proud of you for making Cargo your own while you were making Odds! We need more women like you who support other women.

 

The whole staff and faculty of Whistling Woods International especially Anuradha Bhatia who helped me get all the resources we needed. I will be so thankful to you Anuradha. 

Thanks to my favourite Dipa De Motwane and the team of Phantom for always opening their doors for us.

Thanks Vasan Bala, Prerna Saigal and Saiba and loveliest Ruchika and Aahaan for championing us, nurturing us and the film. Thanks to Meghna Ghai Puri for being my dearest friend, for always being there for me, a phone call away, and for being a true friend, philosopher and guide.

 

This was our first film and we were trying something new and we had people from everywhere coming and being part of it with so much pure joy and passion.

Thank you Sahil Kajale and Team Warriors Touch for the kickass amazing trailer that I am so proud of.

Thank you Smriti Kiran and amazing people at every festival,  esp Jim Kolmer from SXSW team whose constant love really encouraged us.

Lastly, but most importantly I am grateful to my eternal sunshine Saurabh for supporting his weirdass scifi loving stephen chow- type wife. For supporting me in all my ten dimensions across space and time, and with the most chilled out and practical attitude towards life and stuff.

Can’t be grateful enough for my parents who took care of my daughter while I worked on the film for the last two years, esp my father who ate outside food when my mom made several trips from Nasik to come support me. And to my daughter because she was just 1.5 years old and many a times she missed me and no daughter should miss her mother, but mummy names the heroine Yuvishka so you should be ok no. And I cannot forget my elder daughter Juno because if I don't mention her she will say booooo.

 

My lovely friends like family Rajashri Deshpande, Javed, Ronjoy, Nachi, Priyanka and so many more who make our ecosystem and champion us. Rajat Barmecha you came for the shoot and brightened our day – thank you!

 

Thank you to the team of Netflix for taking our film and sharing it with the whole world. We have heard that the way you guys do it is next level! We love you dearly and we give you our most prized possession.

 

I am eternally grateful to the people who made this film their own and bestowed it with so much love. 

 

Our team has had a journey of 25 film festivals, and we finally land on Netflix on 09/09/2020!

 

See you all.