Rasaily. Picture by Pema Leyda Shangderpa

Gangtok, March 27: A young director from Sikkim is closing in on a dream debut in Hollywood, having entered the top ten in Gateway, the first Indian reality show on filmmaking.

Prashant Rasaily is currently in Mumbai for the twelve-week series presided over by Ashok Amritraj, the chairman and CEO of Hyde Park Entertainment. The winner will get to direct a Hollywood film produced and financed by Hyde Park and distributed around the world by Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Gateway is being aired on Sony Pix on Sunday evenings.

The organisers of the show had sorted through more than 1,000 entries from across the country before inviting 18 contestants, including Rasaily, to Mumbai. Rasaily’s entry was a three-and-a half minute film titled Mother.

The show puts the contestants through a series of rigorous tasks to test their creativity and filmmaking abilities. It is being shot in Whistling Woods International, Subhash Ghai’s film school in Mumbai.

Rasaily broke into the top ten after the jury, comprising directors Rajat Kapoor and Anurag Basu, liked the short film he and co-contestant Vikram Bhatti had made on a given theme.

In his hometown, Gangtok, Rasaily is known for his multi-faceted talents, having excelled as singer, musician, disc jockey, photographer and film director.

In 2005, Rasaily directed Myth, a short thriller and the first English movie from the state. The film’s theme was wildlife and the environment. Prior to its screening, during the post-production phase in Calcutta, the movie had won praise from a lot of people in the Indian film industry. Rasaily was also part of the documentary, Mahakala Chaam, shot at the Rumtek monastery. He has two more movies lined up for the future, one in Sikkimese called Karma and a silent film Liaison.

Rasaily also cut a music album, Awaaz, and was a disc jockey at X’Cape, a night-club in Gangtok, before he started his directorial ventures. Recently, he wrote the script for Kagbeni, a Nepali thriller produced from Kathmandu that is to be released soon.

People here believe Rasaily can replicate the success of his namesake and Indian Idol Prashant Tamang, the boy from Darjeeling who sang his way into the hearts of millions in another reality contest.