"Passion and Money can go hand in hand": Pranjal Jain from SCMHRD Pune

Senior: “You make amazing videos. You should have opted movie making as a career option.”

Me: “Hehe! I never really thought about it.”

The truth is, I did think about it in law school itself when I seriously got into content creation for college events. But at that time, only one thing came to my mind, a quote by John Keating, the character played by Robin Williams, from the movie Dead Poets Society. It says, “Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.” It seemed fancy when I first watched the movie, but that day, I truly understood its meaning.

Passion and Money: Hand in hand?

I have been into photography and videography for almost 6 years now. Needless to say, it had soon become a passion in law school, which has followed to B-school as well. But does it matter if I never pursued it by leaving everything else behind? Yes. John Keating’s words themselves acknowledge those noble professions as “necessary to sustain life.” 

‘Passion v/s Money’ doesn’t mean that we must choose one over the other. The fact that one has chosen a regular profession to earn a living doesn’t mean that he has given up on his passion. Similarly, the fact that I am now pursuing MBA in Human Resources from SCMHRD Pune doesn’t mean that I can’t create content whenever I get time. 

I still make videos for a committee I’m a member of, in addition to the hectic college schedule. Moreover, I have learned a few studio software such as Premier Pro and After Effects to give an editing angle to my video-making skills. But it does take a toll on other unseen factors. To explain this, I’ll have to state another passion of mine, which has now become merely an interest due to my lack of dedication towards it.

Passion-turned-interest

For the last two years, I have been trying to complete a Science Fiction short story. People generally look at Science Fiction with a lowbrow as they start thinking about aliens coming to earth in spaceships or robots/ artificial intelligence taking over the world and making all of us its slaves. I’m, instead, a person influenced by Isaac Asimov and Aldous Huxley, who believe that we are our own worst enemy instead of an external entity. 

Hence, it only consists of humans with no involvement of VFX/ CGI. The idea was to first develop the theme, set characters around it, make a draft version, and then write a screenplay which can later be converted into a short film. Due to certain other commitments and a bit of lackadaisical behaviour on my part, I am stuck on the draft phase. But I never gave up on it. Since fall last year, I have been actively working, taking out sometime weekly dedicated to its completion.

The Plan Ahead

Even if I am successful in writing the screenplay, there is still a huge roadblock before my dream sees the light of day. This is due to the lack of resources and a dedicated team. However, a year back, I spoke to a person about my idea, who runs his own photography business and is also into making short films. He really liked it and is willing to partner for it, in addition to helping me write the screenplay. And to reach that stage, I am planning to complete the story by the end of this year.

Yes, I have chosen a money-making career option over my passion. Not because of fewer chances of success or less money-making opportunities that I would have had if I’d have chosen to go with a job where my passion lied than Human Resources (which is definitely not the case). But because I have taken so much time to realise the calling for it that now I’m uncertain of its completion. 

I would still continue my current path and keep working on the story until I see it actually happening. Maybe, after taking one big step, I might decide to go all the way in. Deflecting from my current line of work has never been an issue for me, and I have my family to thank for it. Moreover, seeing the level of my imagination and skills, they too have encouraged me to take the leap.

And now to sound cliché, I would like to end it by again quoting John Keating: “There’s a time for daring and there’s a time for caution, and a wise man understands which is called for.”