Young Tariq Tapa admits he  himself  was nagged by doubt and a weird hang up that he was not worthy,  at the start of  his career in film. This admission came when India Journal asked him if his parents had been concerned about his decision to enter the fickle and uncertain world of  movies and film making. He said it was natural that they may have apprehensive as any other other parent  but was encouraged by their sincere belief that if he was serious enough and gave it an honorable shot , there was no reason why there wasn’t  a  decent chance at success. It was only  when he convinced himself his fears were nothing more than narcissistic nonsense he realized if one wanted to do something really badly – one has to ‘just do it!’  It was that spark which propelled him to the Graduate Film Directing Program at the California Institute of the Arts where he made several short films including “ Custody” which was a finalist at the 2006  Student Academy Awards and went on to screen at the Museum of Modern Art and at the Centre Pompidou.

Tapa’s interest in  movies and film making  was not entirely a surprise to anybody who knew him .He has never wanted to do anything else,  Having grown up in his graphic designer mother’s New York studio he said he had ended up monopolizing the VHS camera she used for making publicity material  and went on to make almost a hundred short films of his own. It was “Zero Bridge,” which was screened at the prestigious recently concluded Los Angeles Film Festival organized by Film Independent and presented by The Los Angeles times that had secured  him his degree.

Zero Bridge is set in Kashmir and the title is a the name of the bridge in the heart of the city where people  traveling out of  Srinagar gather to catch buses leaving the city. It plays a major role in the story line and is one of 7 located in the state capital  , named serially starting with Zero Bridge. Tariq Thapa, born and brought up in New York, undoubtedly had a deep nostalgic  attachment to the state , having visited it several times as a youngster with his father who hails from the region. One can be forgiven if one anticipates getting some gorgeous views of the fabled land of beauty, but there is none. . Thapa explained that as a story teller his interest is in being in conversation with as many people as possible and story telling and movie culture is enriched by a diversity of voices and points of view and by and large stories about Kashmir , seem to be either Bollywood spectacles that treat the landscape as an exotic background or as a western human rights abuses report. This movie he said is of the actual  day to day experiences of  three of the 13 million people who live there and call it ‘home,’ a story which on one hand is virtually never reported or described in fictional form. He adds that after spending some time with the characters one realizes their lives are really not very different from the lives of anyone anywhere else. He believes there is something ‘universal’ in everyone that yearns to reach out and made whole regardless of one’s status or location , and the specificity which makes the movie  uniquely Kashmiri has to do with language, music, etc and their daily routines portrayed  in the movie.

The story of the movie revolves around three characters. Dilawar is a rebellious seventeen year old  living with his strict uncle in Srinagar. The youngster indulges in pick pocketing and runs a racket making a bundle  doing school  assignments for students , in the hope of getting away from Srinagar. Fate brings him in contact with one of his victims, Bani , who does not recognize him and they develop a friendship which is threatened when he continues his errant ways. The movie is unique in that all characters are played by first comers , which introduces an element of  naturalness to the proceedings. One gets the feeling  brooding tale is a trifle slow paced but Tapa argues that he had maintained that level to capture the truth of the experience of the characters and that actually there is a lot going on. He feels these days movies explain everything and believes it makes it much more interesting if some things are left explained. If one invests attention, he added, one would find it not only rewarding but also realize there are indeed a lot of things happening.

Another remarkable feature is  that the  full length feature film has been written, filmed and directed single handedly by Tariq Tapa. However he is quick to point out that  this transpired  more out of  circumstances rather than any desire  to “show off.” Simply put, he  said it was far easier to do everything himself than try to rely on logistics to bring his  crew for the shooting  or trying to  recruit a team locally. He added that while he may have been the driving force in the pre production and productions stages , the film also required the joint effort of  a number of assistants, translators etc to complete it.

Zero Bridge has been making the Festival circuit and has been exhibited in Italy, Morocco, the UK , now the USA and will arrive in India later this year. Some of the inspiration to make “Zero Bridge” came from Renoir and  Ermanno Olmi and Tapa had a once in a life time experience when he came face to face with the latter in Venice where the film had its World premiere, and was thrilled when he was complimented by the famed Italian director  after a private screening of the film.

Looking ahead  , Tariq Tapa is interested in doing works for hire either as a writer and or director of short form projects like commercials so he is able to develop and pick and choose his own future projects in a more comfortable way. He wishes to direct only his own material and  those  he developed  along with other writers. His argument being its too hard working with other writer’s  material because  if  anything  goes wrong he would get the blame for it anyway – so he may as well get blamed for something he himself  has created or helped create and  cares about.

He has been commissioned by Time Inc Studios along with the production company XYZ films to work on a TV series about Edgar Hoover and the beginning of the FBI .It is not known as yet when it will hit the small screen. While he hopes to do more films around Kashmir, Tapa does not intend to be restricted by his passion for the state or the serious theme he has projected in his maiden feature film. His next venture is going to be a comedy (not set in Kashmir) but would not  divulge any more information about it at the present time.

Judging by the  burning desire to tell stories  is consuming is  this young writer and director, it is only a matter of time before  Tariq Tapa will become a regular name rolling off  the credits in many a movie in the coming years.