Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

I have been drawing and painting from the time I recall my earliest childhood memories. It was a natural instinct, as basic as eating and breathing.

I always wanted to be an artist since the time I used to travel with my parents during my summer holidays, drawing and painting on-location, the many monuments, historical temples and mausoleums.

However there seemed to be no future for artist as a viable profession, especially after my not so brilliant 12th standard exam results. No one really took my talent as a serious option for a career until I replied to a minuscule newspaper ad calling for applications to the National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad. Being an engineer or a doctor etc was a black hole for a boy who hated studying and so NID was a god sent alternative at a time there were not many career options. Since then there has been no looking back.

Jump cut to circa December 2000 – Singapore Promax BDA Asia Awards, Razorfish Rocket Award for Rising Talent and Best Station ID – ‘Indrojit Nattoji.’ Not sure why they ‘bonglisized’ my name but thankfully it was spelt right on the actual award. It was a great moment for me. This was a few years after completing my MDes (Master of Design) from the National Institute of Design, and after working for a graphic design firm, launching a channel as promo director and setting up a production house with two other NID friends in Delhi. The Delhi heat and its eccentric aggression got to me and so I had grabbed an exciting offer and joined Channel [v] Mumbai as Senior Producer. Idea was king when I had to write, shoot, edit and design cutting edge channel V brand films with no budget. My stint at Channel [v] was too much fun and I ended up winning more than an armful of awards during my rollercoaster three years at Channel [v].

Too much of a good thing got boring. I also had to find a way to do what I love, create bigger things and get that bangla, gadi and bank balance. Mere pass Ma thi in my care already. (Appropriate sentimental background music).

Out of the blue through a friend’s friend, who had faith in my abilities, despite having no Ad-films in my roster, I got my first TVC project for a popular ice cream brand. I quickly acquired a fully loaded 386 computer with the latest windows, a CD drive, Hotmail, a chartered accountant and a freelance production manager and viola(!) I was in business, right from my bedroom in the rented apartment in Oshiwara, Mumbai.Company name? Something to do with vision, eye, film, shutter, persistence of vision… Blink? Pictures? For a more erudite explanation I borrowed from Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink- “The power of thinking without thinking” as I was always going with the flow…

Next 2-3 years I spent working from home with freelancers, meeting clients and agencies in fancy five-stars and PPMs on HP and then later Apple laptops while keeping a low overheads policy. Soon I realized I couldn’t handle the volume all by myself and needed a dedicated office, a producer and a finance person. Blink Pictures was officially born around November 2004. Since then there was no looking back again. Travelled the world over. Met magnificent men and women and their cameras. Met inspiring people from creative agencies around the world. Shot on 35mm. Witnessed film stock die a natural death. Hated Digital filmmaking. Then loved digital filmmaking.