Since he was a child, Rajan Awasthi has been fascinated with film – every aspect of it.
The 22-year-old LSU alum from Destrehan remembers fondly some of the first movies that caught his attention as a child, Gremlins 2: The New Batch and Blue Velvet among them.
But as much as viewing them, how the movies were written, laid out and made was of great interest to him, and it’s ultimately what’s spurred him to chase his filmmaking dreams today.
“I was very creative as a child. I liked to draw things, and I kind of always just wanted to make something,” Awasthi said.
What he wants to make next is his second film, and he’s been raising money toward that goal. That project, “Super Sandler Me,” is a short film about a young man who lets his obsessions and regrets consume his life in the age of the Internet. He has one independent film to his name, The Rat Man, which he describes as a no-budget work filmed in 2023. He also earned an award from the Chicago Script Awards for his script “Time to Pretend.”
Awasthi has garnered more than $2,000 in donations via crowdfunding for Super Sandler Me – ultimately, his goal is to produce the film on a professional level, and the money raised is to go toward the resources it will take to do so.
His first project fortified in his mind that he’s all in on this career journey.
“During the making of that, I realized how much I really love doing this,” Awasthi said. “I’m very proud of the work I did on that, but want my next project to be the real deal.”
Awasthi originally went to college to study political science and briefly began working in that field, but realized it wasn’t a fit.
“I went to my classes and it felt like everyone wanted to be President. It was kind of alarming,” Awasthi joked. “I studied it for awhile but it wasn’t for me – I decided to make film instead.”
His favorite aspect is writing and brainstorming off the wall ideas. For Super Sandler Me, he credits his friend and fellow film enthusiast Emile Graugnard, who had a dare of sorts for him – to watch every movie starring Adam Sandler.
And as any college student might be inclined to say …
“Sure, I’ll do it,” Awasthi said. “Took me about a month, but I did it.”
Awasthi enjoys Sandler’s work, but the situation inspired a humorous scenario in his imagination – the idea of someone slowly losing their mind while taking on the task.
“Someone so attached to media and entertainment to the point they block off everything else in their life and avoid any real issues – not autobiographical, of course,” he quipped. “I didn’t actually lose my mind like the character in the film, so I had to create more dramatic stakes.”
Much like Sandler himself – an actor who made his name in comedic roles but went on to show his dramatic chops as his career blossomed – the comedic premise of Awasthi’s film evolves into what he calls a strange psychological horror. It is indeed an ode to Sandler, but also very much one to the late director David Lynch, a hero of Awasthi’s.
“He filmed Inland Empire on this strange, grainy camera – it really puts you in the head of the main character,” Awasthi said. “It’s an uncomfortable vibe. It’s how I’d like to film this movie, using that same camera.”
One thing he says he’s quickly learned about the filmmaking process is how collaborative it is.
“There are so many key creative decisions made by … everyone just thinks of the director, but costume and set designers, the actors, all of them are discussing options, making choices and working together to make it happen. Someone buying all kinds of different things for the set – you never think about that, but those choices add so much to a film. There’s just so much that goes underappreciated.”
