Only a month after his directorial venture Haq hit the screens, Suparn S Varma is presenting Flames, the maiden directorial feature of Ravi Kaushik. As it premièred at the Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival on December 6, Varma says the movie’s “visceral and brutal” quality made him come on board almost immediately. “Meeting Ravi felt like meeting a like-minded, passionate soul who had put everything on the line. He was doing a full-time job while making his film. I remember writing my first script while still working at [a news website]. That’s how it is for so many dreamers without a back-up system,” he says.