By Ramesh Santanam

Associated Press Writer



PITTSBURGH — For a man who doesn’t watch many movies, Ravi Godse certainly enjoys making them.

Watching a rough cut of his second indie film at his suburban home, Godse took notes and spoke enthusiastically about making the movie, editing the picture, and getting a renowned Indian musician to score it. He’s also excited about shooting additional scenes.

“It was incredible,” he said of making the film.

But filmmaking isn’t Godse’s profession. What pays the bills is his job as a physician, a profession shared by his wife.

Growing up in India, Godse, now 39, said filmmaking was just one of the many things he wanted to do. He also wanted to play chess professionally and see the world.

He learned to play chess until his coach told him he wasn’t tall enough. (“I’m still trying to figure that out,” Godse said.) He moved to the United States in 1995, visits Europe frequently and writes historical travelogues online.

“I don’t want to be continually busy (with work),” he said. “I want to have a life.”

A courtroom drama, “I am a Schizophrenic and So am I” is the second film Godse wrote, directed, financed and starred in. His debut, “Dr. Ravi & Mr. Hyde,” was released directly to DVD in July, and Godse penned his third, an adaptation of his novel published in India four years ago.

“I loved his zeal,” said Lou Yellin, cinematographer on “Dr. Ravi & Mr. Hyde.”

“He did so many cool things for people, as a doctor, as a friend,” Yellin said. “In the six months it took to shoot and edit the film, he was my friend.”

Agreeing to work again with Godse, Yellin said, “was the easiest decision I probably have ever made.”

Making movies wasn’t too tough a decision for Godse.

“I can take care of complicated medical conditions, so I thought why not a movie,” Godse said.

He learned filmmaking at a Pittsburgh media arts school and then made “Dr. Ravi & Mr. Hyde,” a mockumentary chronicling a Pittsburgh physician’s obsession with making a film of his novel as a way of dealing with a mid-life crisis.

Godse plays the film’s eponymous hero, but insists that’s where any similarities end.

“It’s not really autobiographical,” Godse said. “I’m pretty happy with my life.”

Godse spent about $70,000 of his own money — about half was used on production — and has a deal with Inecom Entertainment, a Pittsburgh-area production company which released the film on DVD.

“If it makes any money, I’ll use it for the next one,” he said.

Spending $70,000 on a hobby might seem excessive, he said, but “other doctors are on the golf course all the time. How’s that different from making a movie?”

A professional crew worked on “Dr. Ravi & Mr. Hyde,” but the cast was mostly friends and colleagues who worked for free. He got paid actors for his second film.

Godse spent six months in 2004 writing the first film and shot it in five days. He reshot about a third of the film in January 2006 after getting feedback that there were too many interior scenes.

He even got comments on his acting.

“The Indians I spoke to were extremely uncharitable,” Godse said. “They said, ‘You’re not tall, you’re not good-looking.’ The bumbling, idiotic freshness I brought, they really liked.”

The influence of Woody Allen’s early films on Godse’s movie is unmistakable, complete with a neurotic schlemiel protagonist who directly addresses the camera, a la “Annie Hall.”

Godse acknowledges watching the Oscar-winning film for class, but said, “I was not influenced by any filmmaker.”

“I don’t watch too many movies,” he said, apologetically.

Inecom, which specializes in historical documentaries, chose “Dr. Ravi & Mr. Hyde” for its first foray into fictional features.

“It may not be made on 35 mm, high-definition or any of that, but it is a real film. It has a lot of human qualities,” CEO Michael Bussler said. “People are going to laugh and have fun. It shows the diversity of American life. ... You get a real feel for the life depicted in the film.”

Inecom hopes the movie capitalizes on the allure of Indian films and sells about 20,000 DVDs annually for several years.

“We don’t like to produce a film that has a short life,” Bussler said. “We’re really aiming for a steady lifetime in a 10-year range.”

There is local interest for the DVD at retailers, such as Barnes & Noble and Borders. “But it has not yet broken out to a national level,” Chuck Gorman, Barnes & Noble vice president of music and video, said in an e-mail.

Bussler believes the film will “have a long, happy life” on DVD because some of Inecom’s earliest releases are still selling well years later, he said.

Also, there was a time when movies considered not good enough for theatrical release were dumped direct to video, but that stigma has faded as people seek alternative ways to watch movies.

“The world is changing, technology is changing,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. “(Direct-to-DVD) becomes another alternative without as big a stigma attached to it. For people who are renting movies, it offers more content. ... There’s a lot of money to be made in the direct-to-DVD world.”

Godse hopes his second movie gets a theatrical release and, that in five to 10 years, he’s made “seven to eight films, having one of them pretty widely successful, not financially, but recognized.”

But don’t expect Godse to give up the stethoscope.

“I enjoy medicine too much to quit,” he said.



“Dr. Ravi & Mr. Hyde:” http://www.ravihyde.com

Inecom Entertainment: http://www.inecom.com