HEARTS & HEARTLANDS...

Palash Vaswani is an engineer turned filmmaker who loves to serve small town nostalgia. He shares his beliefs with Srijani Roy Chowdhury

- Srijani Roy Chowdhury

Palash Vaswani isn’t your typical filmmaker. With no formal training in cinema, he journeyed from academia and advertising into storytelling, armed not with theory but with instinct and a deep emotional compass. Best known for his work on Gullak and the recent Bada Naam Karenge, Palash crafts narratives that pulse with authenticity. For him, the extraordinary lies in the everyday. And silences often speak louder than words. From his humble beginnings in Gwalior, to studying engineering in Mumbai and then crafting shows like Gullak and Bada Naam Karenge, his has been a remarkable journey. In this candid interview, he unpacks the personal inspirations, creative process and emotional truths that define his storytelling, still rooted in small-town India, nostalgia and familial love. Emotion forms the nucleus of his stories, his characters cry, pause, hesitate, love and lose with striking realism. Drawing from his own life and small-town experience, Palash infuses each scene with lived-in detail. He prefers intuition over calculation and thrives when surrounded by a young, collaborative team. He talks about why men cry in his stories, working with Sooraj Barjatya and the emotional honesty he chases in every scene. Excerpts...

Were there any real-life inspirations that shaped the script of Bada Naam Karenge?

Absolutely. I always try to weave elements from my own life into my work. With