Aagosh Chaudhary hadn’t seen a single picture of MSU before arriving on campus from Bhopal, India, in 2018. As he rolled two suitcases across Birch Road toward Wonders Hall and his new life, he remembers thinking, “This is the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
An international student with a restricted F1 student visa, Aagosh’s major and job post-graduation had to be related, so he chose to pursue applied engineering sciences with a concentration in supply chain management and a business minor. But what he really wanted to be in this new land was an artist. And when you take one look at his online portfolio, you know he has an artist’s soul. The College of Engineering grad has produced multiple films, essays, short stories, novellas and a riveting carousel of urban, street-style photography. Art isn’t just what he wants to do. It’s who he is.
“Before coming to MSU, I watched a film a day and hoped I could do something related to it,” Chaudhary said. “In my sophomore year, I applied for a fiction filmmaking minor. It’s a small program, and because I was an engineering major, I wasn’t prioritized and was initially rejected. But I basically annoyed my professor into accepting me by emailing him every week until he let me in.”
That’s when he fell in love.
“I was the behind-the-scenes photographer on our Capstone Project,” he said. “Just learning how a set worked was amazing. To fulfill the minor’s requirements, I needed to make a film of my own.”
In his resulting independent film, “Murphy’s Law,” Chaudhary explores his feelings about life as an immigrant in a strange land. It’s a sort of love letter to the people, places and things he’s interacted with, ones that have stayed with him. It’s an ode to MSU—a thank you note.
The film wrapped in December 2022 and premiered in April 2023 at the MSU Film Collective’s Student Short Showcase, immediately capturing campus hearts. It then made its way to the University of Minnesota, was a finalist at the PressPlay Cinema Film Festival, and was featured at the Cans Short Film Festival. It even returned to Chaudhary’s roots, showcased at the Goa and Alibag Short Film Festivals in India.
“I want to make long-form art that stays with you and isn't forgotten in two flicks of your thumb. Murphy’s Law was my first attempt at that,” he said. “I’m Gen Z and saw the rise of social media. I had access to the internet from a very young age, but so much of it has become diluted because of short-form content. The essence is missing. So, who creates the essence now? This inspires me—we want to feel something. We want meaning.”
While Chaudhary works full-time as a procurement analyst in a large Chicago firm, he continues to create. He is making another film about a father and son that touches on themes of positive masculinity, writing short stories with his friends, and working on his novel, Starfall, a hopepunk satire on the Indian education system. The limitations of his F1 student visa have not limited him at all.
“I’m grateful for my supply chain job. I don’t often take it with me when I go home, which gives me energy to work on creative projects,” Chaudhary said. “I like to write. I like to take pictures and make films. I really view myself as a generalist. I like to branch out quite a bit, even if that means not specializing in something. I feel like that holistic mindset always gives you a certain versatility in life.”