Anecdote- Chupke Chupke
An interesting anecdote about shooting of Hrikesh Mukherjee’s film Chupke Chupke –
Hrikesh Mukherjee was making Chupke Chupke. He phoned to Dharmendra that you are acting in my film and reach here and here at this time. Dharmendra reached there (perhaps Hrishi da’s own house). There he was given a uniform of a driver to put on . Dharmendra did this and then he saw Asrani walking here and there in a nice suit. Dharmendra became puzzled and took Asrani in a corner and asked him,” what is the matter with Hrishi Da. I am given Driver’s uniform and you are given this nice suit. What he is making”?
Asrani said,” I dont know what are his plans, I was asked to wear this dress so I did, I dont know what role I am going to play in this film”.
They both saw Amitabh, Jaya, Sharmila and Om Prakash in their dresses given to them by unit.
Later Hrikesh Mukherjee came on set and explained them the scene which he had thought as the first scene to start the shooting of the film. Whole of the Chupke Chupke was picturised by this approach only and its such a hilarious film to watch. Its repeatability is more.
ManMohan Desai also used to work in this style where he used to create new scenes on the spot.
It seems that with light comedies this aproach can work because in comedies, lot of improvisation can be done on the spot, while with films like Guide its difficult to leave everything to be done on the spot because story has a certain depth and actors has to understand the layers of their characters.
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
Actually this is the notorius ‘on the sets’ approach of bollywood. Perhaps it is from there that the entire corruption of ‘write the scene on the sets’ approach was developed …. Somebody like HrishiDa can most certainly get away with this …. owing to his immense talent and rare understanding of the medium. Although lesser mortals may stick to pre planning and thorough detailing.
Actually it is very much like a typical wedding. With there being plans and all, and eventually everything happening on the fly. Although the ‘on the fly’ approach may suit comedies more (owing to improvisational efforts), but that should’nt take anything away from the pre planning efforts.
Why should u create unnecessary pandemonium when u can plan before hand and avoid such last minute panic ????
But then … as they say … Whatever works for you ….
Real good post RK :-) A very intresting point to debate on …
Kartik:
Only real directors can tell but as an outsider I can guess that in few comedies, thrillers, horror movies, it should be some time better to tell the scene on the spot to the actors involved to catch their natural reactions rather than to get their reheresed expressions.
Director may be knowing whole frame of film in his mind and its not necessary that he tells his actors also the whole of the screen play. I am not sure if any writer can visualize the way Amitabh Bachchan and Prakash Mehra had enacted the scene in MQS, where AB has visted first time the kotha of Rekha and he is waiting at the door of the kotha while Rekha is talking to Pyare lal(Ram Shetty). Watch the use of AB’s voice in this scene when pyare lal teases him that he has affected deeply the heart of Johra Bai. This is an effect of “on the set improvisation” in the scene. Both being from UP, AB and Prakash Mehra could bring that special lukhnawi touch in AB’s expression and voice. These things cant be written earlier.
Second ” on the set example” soon in second posting!!
i think the bottom line here is the sync that the vision of the director and his actual practice share. sometimes one can visualize the scene in one way, but as to how this can be physically attained on the set is way different. as such, if the director has the confidence and the understanding to pull off a scene (or an entire movie) without shot sequences or prior rehearsals or a bound script, then that makes him all the more special, case in point hrishida.
those that take a more detailed approach (in all probability) have the resources for it. and more often than not, resources = $$$. but we all know that doesn’t always make a good movie.. conversely, someone like RK santoshi (who, despite having the $$) is notorious for never having a bound script and coming up with his scenes on the day of the shoot can be just as effective with a “khakee” or “legend of bhagat singh” but WTF was “family”??
it’s like this smart mathematicians will always be able to successfully solve difficult problems in their mind.
likewise, genuine creative people……
The more I know about movie making, the more amazed I am how the whole thing comes out so well. If actors don’t know what they are playing, their inter-relations with other characters, the history of the scene and so on, how can they tune their action, they body language and their emotions to fit the overall movie! May be that is the role of the director to make sure their acting is coherent.
Thanks for these tidbits.
Guys..first time i went on the sets ..i had my shot divisions.. and when i reached there i didn’t know how to go about them..so i started to improvise..i felt i am being stupid..but you know what.. all the good directors i have worked with are as clueless and without shot divisions..Ramu doesn’t do shot divisions..mani ratnam doesn’t know his shots before taking them..he doesn’t do shot divisions..and if i am correct even martin guru doesn’t do them..
Spontaniety allows you to explore whats before your eyes ..allows you to see more than what’s on your script..you have to be really greedy to be spontaneous..you have to be open..you have to give your film the breathing space..its a relationship the director shares with his film..you can’t suffocate your film..its your every fucking thing..let it live..
what’s the point of making a film if you have already figured it out..magic is to make love to it..discover its pleasure points..foreplay guys..that’s what the script is..foreplay..
smell it..smell your location..explore the possibilities..you can explore only when you don’t know ..otherwise you are just revisiting..reminescing..masturbating..
don’t be afraid to fail..
i have failed and learnt..
Anurag, but if you are completely spontaneous, won’t you be re-setting up all the time and wasting time? At least having an idea will tell you all the shots you need in that set up before you break it down, no?
Thanks a lot Anurag for your insight and experienced views
Striker, Twisted DNA, Shripriya,
To be open towards the filming the scenes are not based on “not having a story at all”. A story as an basic idea is always there, character’s macro outlines are always there that an actor is playing which type of a character but micro nuances can be dependent on spontaniety. What people allege Dilip Kumar that he used to interfere in his Director’s work can be a better example and in recent times Aamir is also known to say his minds about the scenes. When these actors see that a Director is completly clear in his vision what he wants to shot then such actors wont waste their energy but when they know that Director is working with overused set formulas then certainly their craetive side will provoke them to suggest the ways so that quality can be brought. Dilip Kumar’s case is very important because most of his co stars have said that his continuty is amazing as far as relations between characters are concerned so if spontaneity kills this factor then he could not have that deep as an actor as he has been. Improvisation is a must.
Pran has mentioned in his autobiography that while filming Dil Diya Dard liya, DK worked so hard on Pran’s character to make it wonderful and he himself underplayed his character as per the demand of the role that people asked after seeing the film, DK where you were in the film, it was Pran all over.