How a UAE Film Gained International Awards. Interview With Raaj Rao, the Director

by Alexandra Mansilla

How a UAE Film Gained International Awards. Interview With Raaj Rao, the Director

30 Jul 2024

Recently, I came across a news story about a short film from the UAE that is making waves worldwide. The film, Calling, is a psychological thriller shot in just 12 hours by UAE actor and filmmaker Raaj Rao. It has already won multiple awards at international festivals, including the World Film Festival in Cannes.

I reached out to Raaj to find out how all of this came about and why he thinks his work has attracted so much attention. While you are reading the interview, be sure to check out the trailer — I only managed to watch it once because the tension (partly created through sound) was too intense for me to handle any more.

Then, I had the chance to watch the movie privately. But the same thing: only once. The tension was so intense that I could barely handle it. How did the film team manage to create such an atmosphere? Let’s find out.

— Raaj, hello! Before we talk about Calling, I would like to ask you a few questions about yourself. How did you get started? I read that you wanted to be an actor from the age of eight. Is anyone else in your family involved in the creative industry?

— While no one in my family has pursued acting as a career yet, we do have a creative background. On my mom's side, her oldest brother is a poet and he ran his own online magazine publication. This creativity stems from my grandmother, who was multi-talented. She was an artist, a great cook, and even designed clothes. I think it runs in our genes. My dad was a performer and a dancer, though not professionally on stage; he was always into entertainment. So, the talent was there, but no one fully embraced it as a career path until now.

Another cousin of mine is a makeup artist doing well for herself in Bollywood. So, we are the only two in our entire family who have taken this different path and tried to pave our own way.

My passion began at the age of eight at a family friend's party. All the kids were watching a Michael Jackson concert. When I saw him burst onto the stage and stand there while the crowd went wild, something clicked in me. I thought, "I want that." Since then, I lived in an imaginary world, always trying to emulate that magic.

A funny story related to this: I hadn't seen a movie in a cinema until I was about 10 or 12. Around 1994 or 1995, my parents took me to see a Bollywood film in Abu Dhabi, where we lived. I was amazed by the big screen. On the way back, my parents asked how I liked the movie. I told them I enjoyed it, but I also started asking, "Where do you think the cameras were? How many people were behind the scenes? Was the actor nervous?" My parents were surprised and went silent for a moment.

From then on, I was always on stage, dancing, reciting poetry, and giving speeches — keeping that love for films' larger-than-life appeal alive. That is how it all began for me.

— And what education do you have?

— I am an engineer, I worked in the oil field. Then I quit and went to study acting in Mumbai. After that, I came back to the UAE and worked as a health and safety instructor. Eventually, I realised that 90% of my time was for other people and only 10% was for my dream. I needed to switch that. So in 2017, I quit my job and went full-time into acting.

Raaj Rao, the director. Photo: Raaj's personal archive

— But it was quite risky, right? Can you take me back to that period when you decided to quit your job and start acting?

— I would say it all happened in December 2009 when I travelled to Cairo, Egypt. I found myself in the middle of the desert, working in very harsh conditions with temperatures around two degrees Celsius and hanging almost 80 feet up in the air on a tightrope. I thought, "What am I doing?" The money was good, and I was working in the field I studied in, but I questioned if this was really what I wanted to do.

At that time, just before travelling, I remember two days before leaving for Egypt, I was with my friends who were talking about a book called The Secret. Back then, I had no idea about manifestation or what The Secret was about. Somehow, that book became my best friend.

I remember getting off the rig, going for tea, and sometimes feeling so frustrated that I would tell my team to manage without me for a few minutes. The camp where we stayed was about 400 to 500 meters from the rig. I would walk there, go into my room, lock myself in the bathroom, sit down, open the book, and cry. I didn't know what I was doing, but that book encouraged me to try and manifest.

I started practising manifestation on the rig. Miraculously, I would attract people who suddenly came to help me, or I would get a cup of coffee or my favourite dessert hours after the kitchen had closed. These magical things kept happening.

I also spoke to my mom and dad 10 to 15 times a day without telling them I was feeling down. But they understood. My mom had always supported my desire to be an actor, but my dad was more concerned. He saw me as a businessman and believed that was my future. He loved movies and music but didn’t see them as a career. He was that kind of parent.

But it is only now, at the age of 39, that I realise my dad was being protective. He wasn’t saying no because he didn't see it as a career; he was being protective because a friend of his in the Indian film industry didn't do well and suffered. He didn't want that to happen to me. But I didn't know that back then.

When I was in Egypt, my dad was unwell. He was paralysed but still alive. His ill health changed his mentality to be more accepting and open. When I came back in January, after 36 days in Egypt, I decided to tell my parents. I was prepared for a fight, as I had heard stories of actors facing big fights at home when they broke the news.

I told my mom and dad that I was done and didn’t want to continue in my job. To my surprise, they said, "Okay." I was ready for an argument, but they understood that I wasn’t happy. They asked, "What can we do next?" Mom started searching for acting schools in India, and Dad supported the idea. Despite the challenges — dad’s condition, mom working, and me being their only child — they encouraged me to follow my passion.

I ended up in Mumbai with their support, which was incredibly important. At that time, many people questioned their decision to let me go when Dad was so ill. They told my mom, "How can you let your son go when his father is like this?" But they wanted to support me. They sensed my unhappiness through those several calls every day. I would never speak to them that many times normally, but I needed their company. They understood that this wasn’t what I wanted to do and decided to give it a shot. That is when a whole new journey began.

— If I am not mistaken, the first movie you acted in was The GIG: Good Indian Girls.

— Actually, it was the third one. The very first one didn't release. It was when I had to leave Mumbai and come back because nothing much was happening there. I didn’t want to come back to the UAE because I wanted to achieve something in India first. Many people, including friends I grew up with, questioned my decision and doubted my ability to make it. It became a topic of discussion, with people saying things like, "He's not going to do it. He's not going to make it."

But reluctantly, I packed up and came back to the UAE. Four days after returning, someone tagged me on Facebook about a casting call for Zayed University, affiliated with the New York Film Academy (NYFA). They were hunting for actors, and on the sixth day after landing, I was shooting my first short film. Ironically, what didn't happen in Mumbai happened in the UAE.

— And your first movie as a director was Timing. How did that transformation from the actor to director happen?

— When I finished acting school, I didn't get many acting jobs initially. Someone liked my voice, and I became a voice-over artist. That began when I came back here and started acting in commercials in 2013. I went full-fledged in 2017. Up until then, I was acting, doing voice work, and working as an emcee.

When 2020 came, and the whole world came to a stop, I had to get creative because there was no work coming in. A friend of mine started a business making luxury masks with filters that were very affordable. She asked me to be the model for it and take some selfies. But I wanted to create something more, so I asked if I could make a small video for her. She agreed.

I called my friend Siddharth Sampat, my Director of Photography for all my films, including Calling, and within three hours, we shot a full-blown commercial. It was my first stint as a director, and it went viral, generating massive sales for her.

From there, my journey as a director began. I did another commercial, a large-scale video, for Turkish giants in the real estate market who wanted to enter the UAE market. In 2022, a company approached me to direct some motivational films. They wanted a series of nine short films with a moral. They asked me to write and direct four of them, and in the end, appear on camera to discuss the story and its moral. They gave me the creative freedom to run with it, and that is how these films were made.

— In your IMDb description, there are a lot of mentions of "horror" and "thriller." Do you enjoy these genres?

— Actually, no, I can't watch a horror film. I need at least one person, even if it is an animal, next to me. I am a very imaginative person, so my movie begins where the actual movie stops. My mental images take over. However, my strength as an actor comes from playing the antagonist or characters with a grey shade.

I think we all are drawn towards those characters. For example, when you think of The Dark Knight, you think of the Joker, not Batman. There is an honesty in the villain that the hero, bound by a code, doesn't have. The villain isn't afraid to question and call a spade a spade. Most of my roles spans across comedy, drama, and everything in between, but I find a particular affinity for playing the antagonist.

I truly love playing the hero, but the antagonist's message tends to stay with the audience longer. As an actor, director, fight choreographer, and action director, my goal is to create something that stirs the audience. I want my fight scenes and dramatic moments to linger in their minds. That is why I gravitate towards these kinds of roles and stories.

— And is it true that playing an antagonist is more difficult than playing a positive hero?

— I don't know if it is more difficult, but playing an antagonist forces you into different emotional spaces. The journey of the hero often involves an underdog becoming a champion and going through a complete arc. For the antagonist, at least from my experience, you have to delve into very deep parts of your memories to extract the emotions needed for the role.

In acting school, I was taught that the two biggest tools an actor can have are observation and emotional memory. You need to observe people and have a strong emotional memory. This means being able to access past experiences, even painful ones, to deliver a powerful performance.

So, in that sense, yes, playing the antagonist can be a tougher process because it requires accessing those deep, sometimes dark, emotional memories.

— You mentioned that for Calling, you drew inspiration from your own life experiences. Could you share more about that, please?

— Calling was the closest to my heart and the most challenging. Without giving any details, because the movie is still not out publicly, it was a traumatising time of almost three and a half to four years, which I tried to encapsulate into a 15-minute movie. It was a harrowing experience. Of course, when you are going through it, you don't realise you are going to make a movie out of it. But I believe every human experience, whether good or bad, is a story waiting to be told.

One thing you learn is that every experience teaches you something. The second is that you help others learn. When we go through something, we often think we are the only ones on the planet experiencing it. We become very selfish, to the point where we don't see the support around us. Maybe you need emotional support but receive financial support, or vice versa. Support is support.

It was such a traumatising experience for me, but the universe had its way of balancing things. Some friends helped me face the issue tactfully, and as soon as the three and a half to four years of torment disappeared from my life, I was offered a job as a director and writer. The first story I penned down was Calling. I shot it last, but it was the first thing I started to write. I felt it had to be out, not for self-glory, but to tell people they are not alone.

— You are talking about this traumatised experience. What exactly was it?

— It was a very confusing space for me because I quit my job without proper planning. I just quit because I was not happy where I was. I was teaching health and safety and doing well at my job, but I felt unfulfilled.

I will share this with you: I used to finish my course 5 minutes earlier and send my students for their lunch break. During that time, I would lock the classroom and practice my dance moves and acting lines. After that, I would go back to my cabin, finish my paperwork, and do all my tasks without shortcuts. However, my monitor would be off while YouTube played my favourite music or scenes from movies through my headphones. Internally, I kept thinking, "What am I doing?" I felt that my purpose in life was to be seen by the world, yet I was hiding and rehearsing.

This went on for a long time. I had my resignation letter printed for over a year before I could muster the courage to submit it. But after I quit, I was not in a good space. I thought work and money would start flowing in immediately, but that wasn't the case. It felt stagnant, and I had to fight every day to create something.

I was living in Abu Dhabi, but most of the auditions were in Dubai. Travelling 150 kilometres back and forth just for a two-minute audition was exhausting. My dad passed away a month after I quit my job; this added greatly to my confusion and self-doubt. I questioned whether I had made the right decision, and I had other responsibilities weighing on me as well.

In hindsight, maybe ten years from now, I will see things differently, but at that time, I had to quit because I was spiritually and emotionally drained. However, quitting wasn't easy. The struggle and what I went through for two or three years while trying to establish myself was challenging.

Over four years, from 2017 until I made Calling, I did a lot of work and added multiple skills to my profile: actor, voice artist, dancer, fight choreographer, etc. But nothing flowed easily. There was a constant existential crisis: "Who am I? Am I this person or that person? Did I do the right thing?" I regretted not being there for my family, and my relationship with my mom was strained. It was a tough period in my life.

— So, you were totally lost.

— Yes, exactly.

— Thank you for sharing. The main actress in Calling is Natalia Melnyk. How did you meet her? Why did you choose her? What made her the right fit for the role?

— It happened during the making of Magnificent Man, a superhero short film. We had a premiere at the Paramount Hotel on their opening weekend. Natalia came to the screening. I didn't know much about her, except that she was my sound engineer's actor and he had worked on a movie with her. She just happened to attend. It is not just Natalia's exterior beauty, but her aura, which is very honest, that caught my attention. We stayed in touch, and I would always watch her ads and admire her fashion designs. She has a unique, funky, urban style.

One day, there was a promo for a pilot series that the UAE was trying to do. In that promo, there was a very artistic slow-motion shot of Natalia, without any audio, where she looked like she was screaming for her life. The camera panned out, and that moment stuck in my head. That shot was far more impactful than everything else I had seen in her ads. I saw the actor in her, not just the model.

When I was writing the story, I knew it had to be Natalia because of her honesty and her fashion background. I auditioned a few actors for the series of films I was doing, but I was convinced Natalia had to play my character. In hindsight, it was even more fitting because she had gone through experiences similar to those of the character and me. This connection allowed her to deliver a wide range of emotions in just 12 hours. She trusted me throughout the entire process and gave a performance of a lifetime in this movie. It is only her in the film, and you will see the depth of her acting and the beauty of her persona.

— So, Calling was shot for 12 hours, right?

— That is right. The location we chose was my old apartment.

— Your movie has gained 15 awards, including one at World Film Festival in Cannes, right? I think one of the reasons the movie has attracted so many people and won so many awards is because the story resonates with a lot of creative individuals who have gone through similar experiences. What do you think?

— Yes, of course. We recently did a big private screening at a cinema. Thanks to my creative director and PR head, Tina George, who designed all the creatives and organised a stellar red-carpet event.

People who attended it connected with the film on a deep level, whether they were from the creative field, corporate field, or just as human beings. Some even said, "I didn't expect to see my life on screen." Without divulging too much, it is a movie that resonates, and that is what we ultimately wanted.

And I really want to say thank you to Suraj Joshi, my editor and sound designer. Months after the movie was just sitting on the shelf, without anyone to edit it, this person moved to the UAE at the end of December last year. He matched my vision and brought his A-game to create an audio-visual experience.

Here is some further trivia: I had 100% of the movie shot — 26 scenes — but I only had footage for 60% of those scenes. I didn't have 40% of my movie. I had my second Director of Photography, Adam Geddes, come home one day for an hour and re-shoot the crucial scenes that were missing. Whereas for the remaining missing scenes, I decided to make it an audio experience using different aspects of sound to portray emotion. We created something unique with that approach, and it worked out beautifully.

Even when cutting a teaser, since the film won't be public for a little while, the teaser itself had to capture attention without giving away too much. It is a 15-minute movie, so the teaser needed to be tactfully put together to pique curiosity without revealing much.

The tone had to strike a very fine balance — scary and intriguing but not overwhelming. We had to carefully play with these elements to maintain that balance.

I would really like to thank the incredible people I worked with, who did a fantastic job: Suraj Joshi, our Editor and Sound Designer; Tina George, Creative Director, Screenplay Editor, and PR Head; and Siddharth Sampat, Director of Photography; Adam Geddes, Line Producer; Rehab Baloach, Assistant Producer; and Rana Umair, Producer.

— What are you working on now?

— Just before this call, we got selected for another festival — the Rameshwaram International Film Festival in India. We received the news just 10 minutes before I came online, so that is great news.

We have ideas and different scripts in mind. Now, we want to go bigger, not just stick to the short film genre. We want to venture into feature films and further expand our creative horizons. The reason we did the private screening was to market our capabilities. We invited top-notch people from the UAE film industry to come and watch. They saw the proof in the pudding. Everyone knew we had won awards, but seeing the film confirmed its worthiness.

We received very kind words from people, which led to another blessing: talented individuals approached us wanting to be part of the team. These are people who are great at their craft — cameramen, editors, etc. Our team is growing, and with that growth, our next project has to be bigger. We are focusing on something massive.

While I direct, acting is my first love, so I might fuse the two. I am keeping it open to ideas. We have a couple of other projects in post-production, pretty ambitious ones, which we aim to release by the end of the year.

— Are we going to see Calling on a platform somewhere on the internet? Where can I watch it, for example?

— Given the success, Rana Umair, our producer, is in talks with the parent company to plan the best move forward for the film. Stay tuned to my Instagram profile for updates.

by Alexandra Mansilla