A Wednesday – An Experience Revisited
iView Author: Alankrata Seth (Mumbai, India)
Email: withheld
A WEDNESDAY – AN EXPERIENCE REVISITED
This was more than a year back. I got a call from someone saying he had got my number from a friend of mine and would I be interested in working as an assistant director on a feature film? He refused to divulge any other information apart from the directors and the production houses’ name, both of which I hadn’t heard of.
What the heck, I thought, let me go and find out what is this all about. I had been unemployed for some time and took this as a chance of stepping out of the house and getting some fresh air.
I reached their Oshiwara office at the specified time the next day, met the director, the editor, caught a glimpse of the producer, agreed to work on the film and came back home, confident that I will get the confirmation call the same day. I got it the next day.
Now, why decide to do the film? There were 2 reasons –
A) It was a songless, non-masala film with no “hero” in it and Naseeruddin Shah as one of the main actors
B) The shoot was only 3 weeks away (allow me to explain – a few months back I had worked on the pre prod of a film for 3 months and the film didn’t go on floor. Hence, with the shoot so near I figured the chances of that happening were very slim) and
We shot the film in 30 days flat. Those 30 days were like a whirlwind – I have never worked so hard and had so much fun at the same time. And now the D-Day has arrived… It’s releasing this Friday, 5th September. The film is called “A Wednesday”, written and directed by Neeraj Pandey (his debut feature) and produced by Shital Bhatia (Friday Filmworks), Anjum Rizvi (Anjum Rizvi Film Company) and UTV Motion Pictures.
I have worked with a lot of directors before and since. What I admire about Neeraj is his ability to stay calm, to take quick decisions, the no-nonsense approach to work, his vision and above all, the clarity with which he goes about getting what he wants, be it from his actors or his crew.
Like there was this time when we lost one whole day because one of the setups could not be ready in time. The crew arrived, waited and packed up. We returned the next day, and finished shooting all the scheduled scenes in the remaining 2 days with no compromise whatsoever. Or the day we were shooting at VT station and lost a good few hours of the morning because of some permission trouble. I think some of the footage we got that day is absolutely rocking!
This was my first feature film (I had only worked on ad films so far) and I had no clue it would involve so much of hard work. Each day of shooting was a learning experience, a fresh challenge, something to look forward to. And a huge part of the challenge was the locations.
The film is shot mostly on real locations all across Bombay. On busy roads, in congested gullies, at VT station, on the terrace of two under construction buildings of 22 and 28 stories respectively, out of which the later one didn’t have a lift (thankfully we shot for only 2 days there) so the entire crew had to climb some godforsaken number of steps and lug all the equipment as well!!!
I also got to associate with a lot of fantastic people who contributed to the experience. The Producers… Shital Bhatia – the head and the backbone of the team at Friday Filmworks and the driving force behind A WEDNESDAY. Anjum Rizvi – an absolute gentleman and someone who believed in the film and the maker right from the word go. The DoP… Fuwad Khan, an amazing person with an equally amazing sense of humour. He would get his Bombay Times and religiously finish the crossword puzzle every morning in 15 minutes flat. I think his cinematography set a visual style which is inextricably united with the form and content of the film. The Editor… Shree, who was on the sets of the film each day and from whom I learned a lot. In his hands (and his ruthless style of cutting) the film took its final shape almost magically.
And last but not the least, the actors… Naseeruddin Shah, an actor par excellence and the only film personality with whom I had a picture taken. Anupam Kher, another actor for whom no words would be enough. Not to forget Jimmy Shergill, an actor with immense potential and Aamir Bashir, who I think really stands out with his performance.
Somehow, after working with this team, it’s become important for me to work with good human beings. Because at the end of the day, what counts is how well are you are treated and that your work is appreciated. If not that, then nothing else matters.
I saw the film at a trial sometime soon after the film was ready, and I had tears in my eyes. The same day I wrote a note to Neeraj. It was my way of expressing gratitude. I would like to end with a few lines from that note:
“There are a few experiences in our lives that suddenly leave us feeling much more grown up and wiser changes our perspectives on things and ads to our worldview. Well, for me, working on A WEDNESDAY, being a part of this project has been one such experience.
And I am terribly, terribly proud of being a part of this film.”
P.S. To know more about the film, one may visit the following links:
http://www.awednesdaythefilm.com/index1.htm
http://www.fridayfilmworks.com
Tags: A Wednesday
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Dibakar Banerjee
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Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
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Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
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Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
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Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
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I heard that this film will make one think more and bring out one’s hidden thoughts and do something about the society…….Its great that we would be having so many good films this year. Kudos to the new Indian cinema movement !! All the best.
I really enjoyed it and it’s a fab debut film. Only that one CGI shot at the end looks badly done. It actually reminded me a bit of “Tropa de Elite”.
Thanks for writing in Alankrata. Do be a regular contributor and give us more detailed insights about your experiences filming ‘A Wednesday’ and other features etc. that come your way.
Tell us a little more about Neeraj or better still ask him to write in as well. Many at PFC are looking forward to this movie…
“Somehow, after working with this team, it’s become important for me to work with good human beings. Because at the end of the day, what counts is how well are you are treated and that your work is appreciated. If not that, then nothing else matters.”
You hit the nail on the head Alankrata… Wednesday will keep you in good stead for many coming Wednesdays…
Hi Alankrata,
Your take on the importance of being a good human being is so true.
Being a good human being is a far more valuable attribute than being a good director, editor, writer, art director, musician, photographer, software professional, accountant, whatever.
waiting eagerly for this film .. good to see anupam kher and naseer sahib in full form ….
thanks for sharing your experience alankrata
Wow. Thanks for sharing this. All the best in all your endeavours.
taran adarsh gave the movie 4 stars..
hmmm …..interesting….he sees commercial potential in this one…
thats great……because i knw people who take his reviews seriously..so they’ll watch it
i liked the trailers…will definitely watch it…..
nice post alankrata
keep writing..
Yeah, just caught the first review on IndiaFM.. Taran Adarsh was “lavishly praising” the entire cast and crew! Its funny, reading your experiences then reading the review, one gets this vicarious sense of pride… Can’t even begin to imagine how you must feel Alankrata!
Congratulations you guys! Hope the film is a big success!
nice post alankrata! and good luck for the film’s success! will definitely watch it this weekend! sounds like an excellent movie all over!
conratulations on being a part of such a stupendous effort…everyone certainly did put in their best efforts and it was for all of us to see
Hey Alan,
Two good pieces of work; the film and the way you put down your experience here
Keep it up