Accident in Bollywood
First look of Accident On Hill Road poster
I would my spend time counting the number of coaches of umpteen trains that pass by. I would be shooed away by the Wheeler bookshop owner for trying to read the magazines on display without paying for them. I would look at dogs sniffing the shit people left behind on the tracks when trains halted. What if dogs were passing their time guessing shit from Bhatinda or Coimbatore?
I must thank my dad one day. That experience of waiting is what has actually helped me make my first feature film. Making a movie is all about waiting. You need to wait till you get a producer. Then you wait for the cast. Often, it is the other way around.
You then have to wait for the dialogues to be finished, if you already have a script. Dialogues over, you then wait for shooting dates from the cast. You have to wait for the shoot to start. For filming to end so that post-production can commence. You then wait for post-production to finish. And then wait some months more for the film to release. Then you start all over again.
I have been trying to make a movie since 2001. I had been a print, television and internet journalist. I had moved from Delhi to Mumbai and had directed a couple of documentaries. One of them was on Mumbai’s underworld, shot wonderfully by the mercurial Hemant Chaturvedi. He told me he showed Ram Gopal Varma the film, before they started work on Company.
One day a friend arranged a meeting with a dubious film financier in Orchid Hotel. The financier asked me if I had any experience working on a film. I said no. He asked me if I could get any stars. I said no. How can I trust you with a couple of crores then, he asked?
I went home and made a list of three directors who I wanted to work with –Mani Ratnam, Shekhar Kapur, and Ram Gopal Varma. After months of hot pursuit (Mani Sir is busy, Mani Sir hasn’t come in, Mani Sir is working on his script, Mani Sir already has his team) I gave up on my Chennai hero.
Through my journo pals I found out that Shekhar Kapur was busy making Four Feathers. That he would be tied up for at least two years.
In 2003, after chasing RGV for a period of eight months, he finally took me on. I was hired as the Chief Assistant Director for Ek, the Rs 100 crore international project . I was thrilled. So what if I was being paid a measly Rs15,000 per month? My mother was flabbergasted. Why would such a big director pay so less, she asked? My dad asked with the sarcasm that I have inherited, isn’t that what you were paid as journo ten years ago? Usually people’s salaries increase.
15 days later, Ek was put on hold. I was made the Chief on Naach which Ramu took over to direct from Pravin ‘Vishram’ Sawant (that’s another story). Post Naach, Ramu again revived Ek and asked me to rewrite the screenplay. Percept announced that it would produce the film. Ramu and Shailendra Singh went to Hollywood. When they came back, Ek was shelved again.
I told Ramu I wanted to direct a film. He read my screenplay and liked it. The film was called Breaking New/News. With Ramu’s approval I met actors. Ajay Devgan said no. Anil Kapoor and Vivek Oberoi said yes then later no. Finally Ritesh Deshmukh and Arjun said yes.
I waited for the shoot to start.
And then Ramu and K Sera Sera’s Factory went bust.
I told Ramu I wanted to hawk News to other producers. He said ok. So there started my journey all over again, meeting producers and actors. I had finally roped in KK, Madhavan and Vinod Khanna. But in 2006 no producer was willing to bank a film on them. I lost my actors dates. I started waiting again.
I then met Ritesh again and narrated him a comedy drama. He loved it and suggested that a producer friend Ravi Walia (of De Taali ) would be interested. I was delighted. Ravi signed me on as writer director. I pulled in Arshed Syed for dialogues (Arshed wrote the charming Dasvidaniya later).
Ritesh, who is a gem of a guy, and I met often discussing dates. Witty Mushtaq Sheikh (writer of numerous books on Shah Rukh Khan) was a creative consultant. But something would always crop up. Like Sanjay Dutt’s release from jail- Dhamaal had to be shot quickly. Cash was getting delayed. Then Heyy Baby had a long schedule. Meanwhile, The Unforgettable Tour was rescheduled. And then Mushtaq was busy with Om Shanti Om.
Have you heard about the six degrees of separation theory? Story of my life. I can blame the Bachchans and SRK for delaying my film. Haha.
15 months after we started, I informed Ravi and Ritesh lets put aside the comedy drama project. We hugged and parted.
In 2007, my friend Anil Sharma Senior (who later directed Dil Kabbadi) recommended my name to Shailesh Singh, who had produced Onir’s Bas Ek Pal. Shailesh wanted to make a film a small budget film, Katti, which had children as protagonist. Would I direct? He would get Sanjay Suri, Juhi Chawla and Urmila Matondkar. I said yes, of course.
Over two months we auditioned hundreds of children, finalized them and started the shoot. The locations were real and amazing. Eight days of shoot later, after finishing a sizeable portion with the wonderful kids, we had to finally get the actors. Shailesh said he couldn’t get them. He also said he was not happy with the realistic manner in which the slum portion was shot. He added that there was no market for films with children as protagonist.
Three months later Tare Zameen Par was released. One year later Slumdog Millionaire came up.
I waited.
I knew exactly what the dog was doing on the railway track.
In March, I was in Chennai trying my luck with some actors and producers there to make a Tamil film when I got a call from Magna Films. I went to meet Nari Hira, the publishing magnate (Stardust, Savvy, Society mags). As a journo I had heard of him that he was a flamboyant, charming and had a shrewd nose for business. My sources were right.
He said he had a film project called Accident on Hill Road. (AOHR)
Would I direct it?
This time I got on the train and have completed the journey.
AOHR will be releasing next month.
Tags: debut, ram gopal varma
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
The journey is some convoluted route…
Coincidence! Chanced upon the stills of this movie yesterday…Seems like the Mena Suvari movie ‘Stuck’….
With Faroque Shaikh and Abhimanyu Singh (Kitu Gidwani too?), Celina Jaitely in the lead seems a surprise…
sorry for the train ride, arthi:-)… there is no kittu gidwani in the film.. it is celina with her hair cut short!
Interesting story… about how the film got made !
Waiting for it to release…
All the best! Hope the movie is worth the wait for you
Thanks Sudesh and Cherish…f
Best wishes Mahesh! (Hope u blog some more about this film…and getting Farooque Sheikh on-board for a thriller.)
bilkul vidushak… is my eyesight failing or is it really you!
Haa haa…it’s me boss….your gareeb lekhak. :P PFC par mera naam already ‘taken’ tha isliye had to resort to this nick-name business.
Poster looking good!
Mahesh you certainly need to thank your dad for instilling patience in you
.anyone else in your place would have probably given up long ago- but you stuck on- it shows your determination.Magna Films and Nari Hira had stopped making movies for a long time after making so many video films in the 80’s primarily.But its good to see them back in the movie business and supporting such ventures.
please do blog about various aspects of the film like choice of actors,any memorable anecdotes etc.All the best for Sep 11th’09.
Thanks Sethu for you encouragement… ya, Magna is good news for new film makers like us..
CELINA JATLEY??? REALLY???? hmmmmmm…ahem ahem…
Mahesh, was your dad in the army by any chance?? Ha ha…mine used to do the same!!! And all because he wanted plenty of time in hand just in case the car breaks down, the traffic plays truant, a kid gets lost in transaction, a piece of luggage grows wings and hides in some corner etc etc!!! All the best for your movie…saw the trailer on a site…looks captivating.
Yup Aarti, dad was in the ordnance factory! the chaps who make bombs for the defence forces!
Mine was in the Infantry. The chaps who deliver those bombs to the enemy!
Hey Mahesh I’m from Nagpur..my dad too was in Ordnance Factory…I have heard stories as a kid that tigers used to stray into the chandrapur ordnance factory colony as the entire factory is situated in the midst of a jungle…is that really true
nice post… and congrates for completing your journey and i hope that journey of your future destinations would be smooth. Tell us more about your experiances during the shoot of the film, your actors etc. Till that time waitng for the release of your journey called AOHR…
Dear PFC,
shouldn’t this article go in the ‘EXCLUSIVE’ section, considering it’s written by the Director of the film himself? Or is there some criteria that needs to be fulfilled?
Disclosure: I have written the dialogues of the film, so count my appeal in with that knowledge.
well written Mahesh…wish i could say the same for the film…looks like a cheap copy of a c-grad hollywood thriller!! wish you could have waited wee bit more and made something better as your debut film!!
Give him a break dude. You cant judge a booze by the bottle. Its his very first film, atleast the very first which is completed and releasing! He just had to vent out his pains to be able to cherish the fruits. Maybe his next post will be about the inspirations/casting/making et al.
thanks Vikram… to borrow your own word, wish you could have waited a wee bit more to see it…:-)
ya…seems like a rip off of “P 2″
The old journey has come to an end, and a new one has begun, cheers boss!
Hey Mahesh, just saw the trailer of your film yesterday.. Looks interesting. Thanks for writing about your journey, definitely an inspiration for people like me.
I hope the film goes on to do well and you go onto make many more films and the films that YOU want to make
Best of Luck
Do blog more about your journey.
Whence in those days there wuznt much traffic, my parents too made it a point to reach the station a good hour before the train departure.
Its a good thing that airline fares have come down. Now we reach the airport a good two hours before the departure time.
Your Ravi Walia is a DoP in this film. He’s a part time DoP or a part time Producer?
did you cut a good endorsement deal with TTT. If it can pack in such a good wallop, what all can it do to the cricket ball!
vinay, the ravi walia who shot my film is whole time, fabulous DoP… he has shot Raaz2, Cash, and other films…. and also my BBC documentary on the Dabbawallas The other Ravi Walia whom I mentioned in the article is a producer of films like Fight Club and De Taali. Ravi the DoP always wishes that he had the other Walia’ s money!
We came up with a fictional TTT…pls dont tell me it really exist?I might as well tell Celina to own an IPL team next season.
to apni biradari se ek aur nikala…bhai,badhayi.abhimanyu aap ki kafi tareef kar rahe the.
thanks, ajay…abhimanyu ne bahut badiya kaam kiya hai. Woh aaj kal ke actors mein lambe race ka ghoda hai..
hi Chief (aka Mahesh nair), Since I was one of the assistant directors on Naach and he was the chief AD, hence the name/tag. Congrats buddy, I know it had been a rollercoaster ride, but one day we will sit at the cafe’ atop Eiffel Tower and remember the good old struggling days, all the best. fuck, between I had promised the same to Sameer Sharma also,Kitna paisa lagega wahan janeka??? Aur coffe milti hain na wahan par??
:):)
Thanks, buddy, hum Eiffel mein jakar ek cutting chai or ek pauva zaroor marenge, ek din…
Dear PFC, Surya and Kartik have been the ones to show me how to get onboard.Let me thank them officially before taking them out for a drink!:-)
Hey Mahesh:) great to see u here, looking foward to ur seeing ur film, All the very best
Cheers
thanks Suparn, all the best to Acid Factory too.
For those who are interested, Suparn and me were colleagues at rediff.com. He has travelled quiet far in Bwood… i have just started losing my hair now.
AN ACCIDENTAL ODE
Dear Mahesh ! Dear Mahesh!
I’m sorry for cutting through the chase,
I brushed thru’ your giddy piece for sure,
And was heartened by your determination
All you w’ made to endure;
Dear Mahesh! Dear Mahesh!
You yourself admit there exists a malaise,
Films are begun in fit and starts,
Then if a superstar sneezes-
They fall apart;
Dear Mahesh! Dear Mahesh!
You speak fondly of Dil Kabaddi and Reteish,
Of Formula Films, tight schedules
And sceptical producers,
But what about the things-
That really need to be heard?
Who for example-
Will tell us about Dil Kabaddi’s source?
Yes, it’s that hunched over
Neurotic jew’s Tour-de-force.
And who can deny Reteish
The right to Act?
Its in his blood-
(CM ka beta)-It’s a matter of fact;
Dear Mahesh ! Dear Mahesh!
I now spot Suparn Verma wish you the Best
Do you and him run on the same track?
If that be so..
Can we ‘xpect ‘nother UNKNOWN Acid attack?
I now spot Suparn Verma wish you the Best
Do you and him run on the same track?
If that be so..
Can we ‘xpect ‘nother UNKNOWN Acid attack?
Machchan, nee kalakuvai machchan…nee kalakuvai
Mallu and Tambram Fathers have more than 5 hours to spare at any railway station because they have to take into consideration.
Rahu Kalam
Yama Gandam
Thair Chadam
Iddli Molagaipudi
Puli Chadam
Coffee Flask
Air Pillow
Taxikaran sandai (fight with the taxi driver)
Cooliekaran sandai (fight with the coolie)
Platform hopping
Their/Our Coach halting at the precise location where they have been standing for the past 5 hours. Not even an inch here or there…for the coach halts where my Appa stands.
And the general paranoia of being an educated South Indian.
It’s always a back/spine breaking 25 hours to Chennai..then run from Central to Egmore…in-between a super meal at Saravana and a super fight with the rickshaw then some bloody connecting train to Trichy thats 6 more hours then get down at Trichy and almost immediately run to Kumbakonam thats another 6 hours by bus….then from there to Nallur…thats 2-3 more hours………………
Our fathers did prepare us for Films. We were born to break our backs and bend over backwards and WAIT!!!!!!
Cheers Mahesh!!!! you did it….
wow.. the poster looks interesting!!! I had read long back some news related to a windshield accident in US. The man died after the woman parked the car as it is in her garage. Are you aware of it?? I am not able to locate any article on it now.. I remeber googling the news on almost all possible sources when I had first learnt about it. I think it was way back in second year/third year in engg, 2001/2002..
Success lies on the hill of difficulties…
Congrats on the completion of AOHR….It was indeed a long journey..But the train has started moving from the station…I am sure AOHR is the engine that will take you a great distance…
I am sure you would be having mixed emotions. The great satisfaction of finally making it. And the anxiety of how AOHR performs. Chill it…You had done your part.
All the best for AOHR. I am gonna watch it.
@ Mahesh,
That won’t sell.
(I’m actually writing some screenplays). Let’s see.
Thanks for the compliment. But an Ogden Nash in the Bollywood mode would produce only -’Thora sa Moroni(c) ho jaye.’
In this scary Swinu Flu season- Let me try and become Charlie COUGHman instead.
Mahesh nice write -up, hope you write more.I to remember my journey in train from Kalyan to Palakkad.
May be know i think that filmi keeda was born while waiting at platform.
Hi Mahesh..
Your story reminds me very much of mine. Even I’ve been struggling to get my film made since 2004. Finally I’ve found a producer and if God Willing all goes well, we’ll begin shooting next month.
I really hope buddy your film does well not only because you’d waited and worked hard on it, but also because you’ve been given an opportunity you don’t screw it up. Your life depends on it. Trust me guys like you and me don’t have the luxury of multiple chances in life :-)But let me not scare you.. I must say the poster looks promising, and I am sure you’ve put in your best in the film too.
All the best.
Hi mahesh..
One more question..
YOu said you film is shot on Viper. Are you happy with it? or had you wished you shot it on RED. There another camera, albeit much cheaper option, the sony XDcam EX which interest me a lot. Have you seen anything converted to film for projection shot on this cam? What is the other camera in the digital domain you’d suggest?
Thanks for your feedback on this in advance.
SOrry guys, I’ve just gone a bit technical on this one but I really hope PFC had a section on these queries separately.
i m indirectly related to this film…
Its been a long journey of yours, many milestones crossed
and u are reachng the place u wanted….
All d best….saw the trailers… good production.
But when we gonna see the trailers on television????
hi mahesh, anoop saha here from bhandak. cheers for ur new film releasing in oct.wish to see u jump very high in ur field in coming days. & i hope u will. cheers again mahesh. see u soon.
Anoop