"Mukunda has originality and he has courage. That’s a powerful combination in this business", says his ex-boss, Group CD at O&M, Mark Fisher. And it seems this is just the beginning. A unique mix of focus and clarity (Mukunda lived in India as a monk for three years) together with a healthy grasp of hype and brand building (life as a conceptual artist in New York helped here) gives him an edge to everything he does. All truly creative people have a look to their work that over the years gets recognised as their own, this goes hand in hand with having a strong vision that remained from conception through execution to the finished product. And as always, it’s the people with that kind of creative strength and integrity that produce the most memorable work.
No wonder international production company Suburban Films was quick to snatch him up. "We weren’t looking for another director but when we saw Mukunda’s reel, we saw magic, and that was that", says Suburban Films producer Linda Notelovitz. And of all the production houses out there, why did Mukunda choose Suburban? "Who wouldn’t want to work with the man with the Miracle Eye?" he says referring to legendary Director and Partner at Suburban Films, Miles Goodall.
Sounds good. Is this the fresh air the industry needs? "Anything is possible. But fortune favours the brave. Sometimes you’ve got to listen to that voice, hold your nose, close your eyes and leap. If you really want to get good, you can’t get attached to a comfortable, complacent life. Keep learning, keep growing, surround yourself with good people, don’t do work that everyone else does and the future is yours, wide open", says Mukunda.
(Mukunda works under the name Krishna Smiles. Flowers Bloom, a company he formed as a collective of some of the countries leading conceptual minds.)
