He releasedOn a Quest: with Jaswantdomestically on his platformCreative Heights Entertainment(CHETV+).
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Deadline:As a storyteller what was the inspiration behind creating your travel series?
Jaswant Dev Shrestha in ‘On a Quest: with Jaswant’Creative Heights Entertainment
Jaswant Dev Shrestha: The inspiration goes a long way back.
Ive been doing travel shows back home as well, which is Nepal.
Ive always been fascinated with that.
Jaswant Dev Shrestha in ‘On a Quest: with Jaswant’Creative Heights Entertainment
Deadline:Why did you decide to focus on Portugal as the first season of the series?
I was a big fan of [the Portuguese] explorer Vasco da Gama.
He was a 17th century explorer who discovered India and many other places around the world.
I was very fascinated by him.
He was exploring and finding places, and I was also traveling and learning about different cultures.
Eventually, in May 2019 once I started filming, I decided to make it into a 6-part series.
Suddenly after filming, everybody said, We want to share our story.
When I was trying to find stories, I didnt want something thats already out there.
I wanted something very unique, that could be enlightening, at least for the South Asian audience.
Thats what I wanted to show, and also learn along the way myself.
Deadline:There are some beautifully filmed scenes capturing the essence of the different parts of Portugal.
What was your process of preparation and then ultimately going out and filming the episodes?
JDS: I wanted to go into the [Portuguese] peoples life and explore them.
So, I was picking unique stories along the way and planning the shoot according to that.
The main problem I faced was night filming in the Atlantic Ocean for The Night Fishing episode.
No matter how much you prepare with your gear, the cold weather is not your friend.
Ive had cameras break down on us thank God we had multiple so we managed to do it.
So, there were a lot of things at play.
So, I had to learn how to swim in an ocean.
I have been fascinated by dolphins and I wanted to see them up close and film it all.
I had a vision for the story, to be presented in a certain way.
The first time we went, it was gloomy weather, so I could not really get great shots.
The team that I had there were very enthusiastic, loving, and kindhearted people.
They made it happen.
Then the pandemic happened, and halted some of the exterior shots I was filming at the time.
I used that time to do the post-production of the episodes already filmed.
Deadline:You don many hats including being the creator, host, editor, director and cinematographer.
As an independent documentary filmmaker, what was uniquely challenging for you to mount the series?
JDS: The long periods of filming was really challenging.
There are no talking heads.
So, post-production was the most challenging.
It was private funding at a very minimum.
I didnt want it to compromise on the quality.
Thats why it took longer and took more to do.
What does it mean to you to be considered for the Emmys this time around?
I am now going for the Primetime Emmy Awards, so the competition is even more fierce.
Its stepping up the challenge, I would say.
I love challenges, so its great.
