Kinda off-topic, but cool bit of news:
Kid in India I grew up with...we weren't close, but saw each other every year during the summer for family events, parties etc. His parents (like most parents in India back then) got him enrolled in Engineering school. He wasn't doing well cos his heart wasn't in it, but it is just what everyone did. Med school, engineering school or law school. He went to a small film festival at his university and was fascinated. Then spent every day watching movies any time he could. Got interested in film and didn't know where to start.
He took a long shot and emailed Roger Avary (he co-wrote the screenplay for Pulp Fiction with Tarantino). Told him about his interests and how he was in engineering school etc. Said his parents supported his love of film, but wanted him to first get his engineering degree and then pursue film. To his surprise, Avary responded and told him to quit engineering school immediately because he would only be able to pursue and make it in the film industry, if he didn't have a "safety net" of an engineering degree to fall back on.
He quit school and started looking for work in Bollywood. Not sure what courses he took, if any, but he started off as an assistant of lots of absolute garbage Bollywood films. Worked his way up to assistant director. Eventually, he wrote and directed Sulemani Keeda (a low-budget indie movie, which was positively reviewed) in 2014. I watched it on iTunes, and found it to be very real Bombay, no Bollywood fluff, which was super refreshing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulemani_Keeda When this film was screened at a film festival in LA, he emailed Avary again, and asked him if he remembered the kid who emailed him years ago. Told him he took his advice, and now his movie was being screened in LA. Avary came out to watch it, and they met in person, took pics etc. Pretty cool!
This year he wrote and directed Newton. The cast has more well-known actors than his first movie. I haven't watched it yet, but it is getting rave reviews in India, and was selected as India's entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar this year. I'm looking forward to checking it out. Good to see lots of younger, more independent writers/directors in Indian cinema now.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_(film)