At age 25, Ben Rekhi's career in the movie industry is exploding—not because he's worked under some big names. Rather, he's been making headlines with the release of Bomb the System, an independent movie that he co-produced and that has been featured at more than 15 film festivals around the world, including the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival founded by Robert De Niro.

But none of the film festivals could compare with what the experimental movie was up against on Feb. 28. Vying for a spot as the best first feature film at the 2004 IFP Independent Spirit Award, seen on Bravo network, Bomb the System was nominated along with House of Sand and Fog, Thirteen and Monster, for which Charlize Theron won the best actress award at the Oscars. Monster ended up stealing the spotlight at the event, but Rekhi says he's not disappointed.

"The movie was up against stiff competition," says the Los Gatos native. "It's an honor to even be recognized."

However, the movie did receive other awards, including the Audience Choice Award for best picture at the Cinema Paradise Film Festival in Hawaii and at the Athens International Film Festival in Greece. It also received an award for best music and editing.

"An award is just icing on the cake," Rekhi says. "The real enjoyment is when people actually come up to you and commend you on your work."

Based in New York City, Bomb the System is about a notorious graffiti artist who struggles to rise above the NYPD Vandal Squad, whose leader is a corrupt officer. The artist, played by Mark Webber, engages in a graffiti war with city authorities until he is forced to make a life-altering decision after falling in love with a young political activist.

Rekhi says it wasn't exactly easy to shoot the movie. Not only did the cast and crew work 20 hours a day for nine months straight, they ran into several roadblocks. On the first day, one of the lead actors broke his foot on the set and was taken to the hospital. On other occasions the team's members were close to being arrested for loud noise and extraneous graffiti, although they got permission from the mayor to shoot at the locations. And, as if that wasn't stressful enough, they got kicked out of several locations by drug dealers.

"Everything that could go wrong pretty much did," Rekhi recalls. "But everybody pushed themselves. Every bit of sweat shows on each frame."

Rekhi, a fan of directors Oliver Stone and the Coen brothers, says his goal as a filmmaker is to front issues that are often overlooked.

"With Bomb the System, people walk past graffiti in New York almost every day, but never stop to think about the people or stories behind it," Rekhi says. "My goal is to find the extraordinary in the ordinary."

In keeping with his philosophy, Rekhi is currently working with Mudd, a John Malkovich production company, on a movie called Garbage, which is about a sanitation strike in New York.