Theatre actor turned director; Ashvin Kumar won a lot of appreciation for his short film ‘The Little Terrorist’. The movie was sent to 24 International film festivals and was even nominated in the Oscars. Everybody believed that ‘The Little Terrorist’ will definitely bring Oscar to India but that didn’t happen. But the optimistic Ashvin believes that being nominated for the Oscars was a big achievement in itself. He says, “After reaching that level, winning or loosing doesn’t matter.”

After reaping profits from the film he is now set to make a full length feature film titled ‘Forest’ starring Javed Jaffrey and Nandana Sen. With the release of ‘Forest’, Ashvin will be re-releasing ‘Little Terrorist’. Revealing the reason behind his love for film-making he says, “I have realised that there are so many stories in India that should be narrated and shared with foreigners. I try to do the same through my movies.”

However, he is aware that there are not many buyers for his movies in India. “People here are tuned into watching the typical dance, drama and Bollywood movies. Our distributors are to be blamed for it. They must bring in world cinema so that our audiences get an opportunity to see more movies and develop a taste for fine cinema.”

Unlike his fashion designer mother Ritu Kumar, Ashvin was never inclined towards the fashion industry. But he has adopted many qualities from her. “The most important thing I have learned from my mother is to marry your artistic and creativity sensitivity with that of your customers’ preference. She pulls off this difficult task beautifully and I am glad that I have inherited the same from her.”

‘Forest’ is due to release in September and Ashvin is already working on two more projects. One of which is an action film set in Kashmir and the other - a Delhi based crime and sex drama titled ‘Paradise International’. Ashivn plans to act in the latter.