{"id":7559,"date":"2019-06-12T21:35:36","date_gmt":"2019-06-12T21:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nyglamour.net\/?p=7559"},"modified":"2026-02-03T04:09:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T04:09:27","slug":"i-prefer-to-think-i-dont-have-a-fixed-style-singh-wasan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/?p=7559","title":{"rendered":"“I prefer to think I don\u2019t have a fixed style”- Singh Wasan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jagraj Singh Wasan is a musician and filmmaker from Singapore. He started his journey young, performing Kirtan at the local Sikh temple, and acting in school plays. He studied Theater & Drama at the Cambridge A Levels, and started directing his first music videos on the side, making use of his sporting childhood buddies in a variety of projects. After completing his national service in the Singapore Military, he came to America to study Business, Cinematic Arts, and Songwriting at the University of Southern California.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exclusive Interview with Musician <\/strong> Jagraj Singh Wasan <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:\nCongratulations on being accepted at the prestigious International Filmmaker\nFestival of New York. Can you tell us about the film and the process of making\nit?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you very\nmuch. Time to Go to Sleep is a film exploring what it takes to push someone\nover the edge. It\u2019s a film about social ostracism, and how that sometimes can\nlead to acts of violence. How sometimes, we create the monsters we fear most.\nMore specifically, it\u2019s about a Sikh child growing up in America, and how his\nlife is turned upside-down post 9\/11. A reality of many Sikhs in the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the\nprocess, I wrote a 30-page script many years ago, and then a song shortly after\nthat. When I finally was ready to make the film, I realized my song and the\nscript had strong overlapping themes, and thought it\u2019d be interesting to\ncondense the film into a music video format, told through the use song, minimal\ndialogue, and some narration by the lead character. I trusted the combination\nof the visuals and music would make for powerful storytelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nHow did you go about casting for the film?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time to Go to Sleep was shot in two different locations, but the same actors were not required in both. So we actually casted local actors in each. That was both a challenge as well as a blessing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong> What is the story\nabout and how did you achieve it cinematically?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time\nto go to Sleep is the story of a Sikh family living in America post 9\/11. You\nsee, Sikhs were targeted almost immediately after the attacks because of their\nturbans, brown skin, and beards. Many have been killed, beaten, bullied in\nschools, and taunted on the streets. This still happens today, unfortunately. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The music video is a glimpse into\ncertain pivotal moments in a Sikh boy\u2019s life as he sits on a train reliving the\nevents that bring him here. I\u2019ve also always been a fan of a story jumping back\nand forth in time, slowly revealing itself to the audience, taking them for a\nride. The lines are blurred, because there is an element of suspicion as to\nwhat his intentions are on the train, and if that could ever be justified. The\nending is a bit of a cliff-hanger because I wanted people to decide for\nthemselves what they think happens next. All the fuel is there, it\u2019s just up to\nthe individual to put themselves in his shoes, and decide what they would do.\nAnd it seems to have worked. There has been no real consensus about the ending,\nwhich I\u2019m glad to hear.N<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong> How long have you been making films and videos?<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started making music videos when I was 16.\nIt started with music already out there, belonging to other artists, but\neventually the hunger grew to write my own songs and build stories around them.\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nWhat film was your directorial debut? <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve made a bunch\nof student and amateur projects in the past, but I would call this my debut.\nIt\u2019s really my first \u2018professional\u2019 film, with great actors and crew, and an\nactual budget. Something I\u2019m really proud of. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong> What was the most\nimportant lesson you had to learn that has had a positive effect on your film?\nHow did that lesson happen?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hmm, that would\nhave to be trusting your instincts and not settling, no matter what others\nmight say. You may not hold the popular opinion, but as the director you need\nto steer that ship. You can take all the advice you like, but in the end, it\u2019s\nyour film and you have to live with the choices you make. Forget trying to\nplease everyone, and focus on what you believe is right. I guess that works for\neveryday life as well. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nIs it harder to get started or to keep going?\nWhat was the particular thing that you had to conquer to do either?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wow, that\u2019s a\ntough one. I usually need some sort of push or deadline to get my ass started\non something I\u2019ve been sitting on for a while. But once I build a team for a\nproject, I feed off their energy and feel obligated to keep going. However, for\na project like this, where I first built a team in LA, then had to rebuild a team\nin Singapore for the second half of the shoot..I thought I\u2019d never get it done.\nI started to think maybe the subject matter was too risqu\u00e9, and maybe the\nuniverse was telling me not to finish it. Like it was destined never to be\ncomplete, just a lesson learnt. Thankfully, it just proved to be a roadblock,\ntesting my desire to tell this story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nHow has your style evolved?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not sure.\nI\u2019m still figuring out what my style even is. Maybe it\u2019s best to ask those who\nknow me. As an artist though, I prefer to think I don\u2019t have a fixed style.\nIt\u2019s best to be malleable and to adapt to the needs of different projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nWhat has been your personal key to success? <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, I\u2019m a long\nway from success. I\u2019ll let you know when I get there..I can tell you what\u2019s\nbeen keeping me going though..As cheesy as it sounds, the love and support of\nmy family and friends. Also, I do pride myself on my humility, as oxymoronic as\nthat sounds. I like to think that I\u2019m open-minded, and always ready to hear the\nminority or less-popular opinion. I think you need to keep that going to keep\nyour work honest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong> What are you\nthinking about doing next?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m working on a\nfew different song concepts, and music videos for them. Hopefully a good mix of\nfun, easy-going stuff, as well as real-world issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nWhere does your studio want to go from\nhere?  <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wants to go\nfrom non-existence, to existence..haha. But seriously, I do love the art-form\nof music videos at the moment, with their ability to tell stories through a\ncombination of different elements – what I regard as highly efficient and\neffective. As a musician and filmmaker, I feel this is the perfect medium for\nme to give my two cents worth. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jagraj Singh Wasan is a musician and filmmaker from Singapore. He started his journey young, performing Kirtan at the local Sikh temple, and acting in school plays. He studied Theater & Drama at the Cambridge A Levels, and started directing his first music videos on the side, making use of his sporting childhood buddies in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7560,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7559"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19371,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7559\/revisions\/19371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}