SONIA BAJAJ SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETES FIVE SHORT FILMS DURING PANDEMIC

Jyothi Venkatesh

Right before the world quarantined, Navi Mumbai girl and now Los Angeles based director, Sonia Bajaj shot her five short films – A Ride To Heaven, The Perfect Date, Remember This, Alone and If Walls Could Talk. With everything from serial dating to zombie surprises, Bajaj has something for everybody in her films. Bajaj completed her schooling at St Mary’s School, Vashi and holds a Bachelor’s degree in audio-visual production from Symbiosis Pune along with a Master’s degree in Filmmaking from New York Film Academy, USA. Having shot around the world, Bajaj took her stories to the United States and brought them to life.

Following social distancing practices due to the ongoing pandemic, the team had to virtually coordinate and collaborate safely to finish post-production for these five short films created for festival releases in the coming months. Bajaj said, "Filming these shorts was an experience like no other. Due to limitations on budget and schedule, I met all my cast on set, where we rehearsed and went straight to filming. A lot of times I had to switch between one short film to another, directing different stories and talent the same day,

which made these short films unique and incredibly challenging compared to my previous films. Of course, none of this could have been accomplished without our talented cast and crew who went to amazing lengths to have this production run safely and smoothly.” With every project, Bajaj has earned accolades globally and regionally. Bajaj has signed on to direct the feature film, Black Rose, which is set to go in production end of the year.