Ashok Selvan's adventure in the sky

For Ashok Selvan, his recent trip to the US meant a lot. First, his film, Sila Samayangalil was chosen for the selection process at the Golden Globes. Second, he got to tick off skydiving from his bucket list and third, he had a rendezvous with the Harry Potter characters at Universal Studios. He gives us a blow-by-blow account of his skydiving experience and other fun things he did...
An early start
We stayed at Los Angeles. It was my long time dream to go skydiving'a part of my bucket list. I prepared a list of things that I wanted to do at the US, once my trip was confirmed. I researched about a skydiving tandem which was 80-kilometers from LA. My friend (who had a car), an assistant director Aruna, and I started the journey at 6am to reach the spot. It was a two-hour drive. I was not frightened but there was a sense of anxiety throughout. It was an 18,000 feet jump. That took a while to sink in...
Preparation stage
Since we were first time jumpers, they wanted us to go with a trainer. When you are jumping with a trainer, you don't need a lot of training. They screened a video that gave us instructions about how to open the parachute, how to handle the control bar, how to position yourself when you jump etc.
And... jump!
After watching the video, it was time to buckle up. We wore our gear and got into the plane which could accommodate about five people. Aruna jumped first. The feeling was mixed - slight nervousness and anxiety. My stomach began to churn. But before I could realise what I was feeling, they asked me to jump. I was attached, rather tied to my trainer, Jacob. He was a casual and cool guy. When I actually jumped, the first few minutes were crazy. I was screaming and I could feel the wind on my face. I was dropping...
On top of the world'literally!
My favourite superhero is Superman and he could fly. Now, I could fly. Bad joke, but that's how it felt. My heart was in my mouth the entire time. The feeling was very overwhelming. You are in the air, the landscape in front of you is surreal and you are on top of the world. The entire time, I was talking to Jacob. I guess it was out of nervousness. I was teaching him bad words in Tamil and he was enjoying it. We were on the East Coast, so the landscape was mostly the sea. The adrenaline rush was something else. Jacob handed over the control panel to me. It helped us navigate which direction you want to head. The jump lasted for about 10 minutes. Midway, Jacob pulled the parachute and in no time, we landed.
It was the most fulfilling feeling I have ever had
The 'after jump' conversation with Jacob was quite insightful. He has been skydiving for the past 15 years and he told me how it was like an addiction for him. He has withdrawal symptoms if he doesn't skydive for more than a week. I think it is high time, we made a movie about
skydiving.
Ka-Ching!
On the last day of my trip, I headed to Las Vegas. I got tickets to a Michael Jackson show. It was obviously a hologram effect of MJ. I'm a huge fan of the singer and the show was splendid. There is a show every hour and at one point, MJ does his cool moonwalk and the crowd went crazy. In fact, I even saw a few people crying. After the show, the next obvious thing was to head to a casino. I won 13 dollars and lost a few too. But it was an experience worth cherishing.
The jury decides
The first day was all about meeting the jury for Sila Samayangalil. I had gone with Prakash Raj and Priyadarshan sir. They screened the film, followed by a discussion. The organisers had laid out tables for six members from each film. They had left one chair empty, which puzzled us. We then learnt that we had to take turns and sit on the chair and the jury would question that person about the film. The entire concept was interesting. They asked us questions about specific scenes and why we shot it the way we did. The entire conversation was casual and positive. The jury members were all past Oscar and Golden Globe award winners, but were very down to earth.