Raw conversations with India's indie filmmakers — from first impulse to final cut.
Hosted by Anand Gurnani · Launching 2026
Nobody teaches you how to actually make an indie film. Film schools teach theory. YouTube teaches technique. But the real questions — how do you fund it, who do you call first, what breaks on Day 3, and how do you survive the edit — those answers live inside the people who've done it.
Make Films Happen is a 24-episode deep-dive with Indian indie filmmakers who made their films against the odds. Each episode is built around a specific stage of the filmmaking journey — from finding your story to getting it seen. No guests are booked for their fame. They're here because they solved a problem you're about to face.
"I'm not a journalist covering indie cinema. I'm a first-time filmmaker building the playbook I wish existed — and recording the conversations that are teaching me how to make my own film."
— Anand Gurnani, HostEach episode is a single word. A single dimension of the indie filmmaking experience — explored in 90-150 minutes of deep, unfiltered conversation.
Where does the indie film dream begin — and what separates dreamers from starters?
What it takes to begin when you have no permission, no precedent, and no safety net.
How do you sustain forward motion through years of resistance and invisible progress?
Doing what the system says you're not qualified, funded, or connected for.
When everyone has reasons why it won't work — conviction is the last thing standing.
Conviction without pragmatism is delusion. How do you balance vision with reality?
Making a film look 10x its budget — through invention, not compromise.
The unsexy infrastructure that separates finished films from abandoned ones.
The plan meets reality. The controlled chaos of turning screenplay into footage.
Beyond personal ambition — why does this film need to exist in the world?
The stretch where the entire enterprise feels insane — and how you survive it.
When the plan breaks, improvisation becomes the filmmaker's most critical skill.
Beyond improvisation — when nothing is under control and you navigate anyway.
The film is done — now the terrifying act of showing your work to the world.
When the film connects — when a stranger's eyes change and an audience gasps.
The physical, emotional, and financial toll nobody warns you about.
Your unique perspective — the one thing no budget can buy and no studio can replicate.
The tonal, stylistic signature that makes a film unmistakably yours.
The numbers conversation — raw and honest. How money gets found, spent, and lost.
The losses, the sacrifices, the things that broke along the way.
Hundreds of decisions, dozens of people, multiple locations — zero infrastructure.
The moments of pure, transcendent joy amid all the struggle.
What does winning look like for an indie filmmaker? It's not always Cannes.
The deep satisfaction of having done the thing most people only talk about.
Anand Gurnani is a first-time feature filmmaker currently in production on MDKSN — a Hindi musical set in 1963 Mumbai. Black and white. Practical lighting only. Micro-budget. No film school background. No industry connections. Just a screenplay at Draft 42, ten original songs, and the conviction that this story needs to exist.
Before cinema, Anand spent 31 years building businesses — most recently founding VAMRR Technologies, an enterprise AI ecosystem firm. He brings a builder's mindset to filmmaking: systematic research, rigorous planning, and the understanding that great work requires both vision and execution.
Make Films Happen is the podcast he wished existed when he started. Every conversation is selfishly motivated — he's learning in real time from filmmakers who've already walked this path. The audience gets to listen in.
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