BEING ON A FILM SHOOT
(Warning – no offence to anyone – but my words have potential to be injurious to health! They’re usually honest n sharp!)
….ACTION!
This year I learnt,
‘Films are about people’
–Those who work on the film – crew, cast, everyone who puts in their sweat, blood, grey cells – black hair that turn grey…etc …
– Those who are in the film itself – the characters – their world, their spaces – life as it is lived.
– Those who watch the film or even choose not to.
This is why when Anurag mentioned on PFC that he’d be shooting at Dharavi I couldn’t help but pester him to allow my annoying presence on the shoot for that one day, for how else and where else would I experience film making on all these three levels and that too with a script that’s exceptional at level 2 – that happens rarely.
Meri tareef? Let’s just say, as of now I am a voice who feels and reacts. The test of patience is to see how honestly I feel and how honestly I react.
So, the point is I have been very lucky to be on the sets of NO SMOKING for the Dharavi shoot and now I feel like writing about it and sharing.
THE PREPARATION
It was my second visit to Dharavi. The first was two days before the shoot for a recce just so that I don’t get lost on the day of the shoot- that day I also discovered that amidst the many ethnicities that inhabit the place – deep within the slums is Kumbhar wada – a community from Saurashtra that specializes in pottery – the genX there however, although aware of the inheritance of their art – are more keen to explore work outside – it’s the same story everywhere in India.
THE SHOOT
On the day – I located the unit effortlessly – koi na koi mil hi jaata hai rasta dikhane ke liye. But some people I asked, were actually surprised to know that a film is actually being shot there – ‘madam pehle hota tha shooting-vooting ab kahan’.
ON THE SETS – THE DISCIPLINE OF THE SET
I had always wished to be on a film set with total freedom to observe as much as I possibly could – to be like one amongst those crowds who just stand, but to also watch and learn. Well..i tried..and I learnt quite a bit…
Here, I am only sharing an overall experience, hoping that the actual coverage of what was shot and how would come from the unit..it was a tough day for them – trust me!
Firstly, if you want to be a part of a film shoot you have to have some work to do – anything – hangers on are distracting – because everyone there is working their asses off – there has to be full concentration on the task at hand – the day has to be efficient – they have to take everything into account – the film itself, the sunlight fading, the crowds going beserk and even the strange woman on the set!
WOMAN WITH A CAMERA
Luckily, I carried my little handycam with me and Anurag, the rare person that he is, gave me freedom to shoot with it. I had bought it 2.5 years back with whatever I earned from my very first film work. So, now at least, I had something to do. But, there’s another truth and I have experienced this earlier – I feel safe with a camera. The strange crowds all around respect you a bit more when you face them with a camera. I couldn’t have stood with them as freely as I did without my camera.
But then, there are other hazards – like disturbing the main actor..oops..that’s a big one.
THE ACTOR
Now, one has to realize that an actor is on a film set because this is where he works – it’s his office in a way. He has to be prepared emotionally for the scene as well as distanced emotionally from everything else that’s happening on the set – quite a challenge, isn’t it. John Abraham is a fine actor and a good human being – it showed in the way he gave his takes, discussed with Anurag and took time off for himself to relax and be ready for the next shot. I’d imagine the way an actor conducts himself on a set also depends on the emotional requirement of the day.
Yeah, for a split second with my camera hovering about – he just politely requested me to take photographs rather than videos. Quite a gentleman this. Another rare human being.
AK, if you manage to share this with John – I was just a bit shy to apologise formally to him after that – but then again – you saw the anger he put into the last shot of the day – phenomenal, wasn’t it – maybe I contributed 1 percent to it – I hope I did.
So one has to be careful, on the shot, rehearsals and takes – the actor’s in the public domain but every other time – it’s his personal space – he deserves it – respect it.
THE DIRECTOR
The one who is fated to get harrowed by every concern, every issue and best of all – in some magical way – not to get affected emotionally by anything other than the shot at hand. Hmmm..tougher challenge?
AK – I’d imagine the 8 years that you’ve lived with this script made it easier for you to breathe on the set. The day after the shoot I thought to myself – oh my god – this was Dharavi – there were onlookers everywhere – anything could have happened and Anurag was so much at ease.
It was good to see AK get emotionally involved with the shot and performance while observing the monitor. It showed he was making his film – living his film – right there.
THE CREW
Assistants on the set – the passionate lot – the young lot – there to learn, there to prove themselves, knowing that everyone depends on them.
Possibly, their first tryst with ‘responsibility’.
AK all your people seemed to love you a lot. The passion was visible.
There were quite a few artists around – lights – sound -camera – but you can’t trouble them when they’re working, because for everyone on the film set working to make the film – this is life the way they want to live it!
THE CROWDS
I know I was a woman amidst all those boys, men and onlookers who were waiting to burst through the security ropes but still it wasn’t as bad as I was prepared for.
Crowd control did a good job. It was quite a challenge to keep up with the enthusiastic, almost desperate on-lookers.
The crowds were mostly young kids and teenagers – the ones who had grown their hair as long as John’s tried to find a place in the front row.
As I was standing amidst them watching a take, (obviously camera in hand) they asked me why was I shooting them. I replied, that usually it’s seen that someone who makes his way to watch from the security cordon has a secret or open desire to be out there – in front of the camera. They agreed! Just then, this heavy-set man pushed his way to the edge of the ropes – not a word spoken – just a cigarette in hand and watching the shoot … in character!
Well..there was enough drama with the crowds, as expected but I’d guess someone from the unit would be better equipped to write about their experiences.
Well, the crowds were star struck and I wondered what the desperation was all about – of course a lot of them just wanted to have a good time, but maybe at another level – it’s India’s story again – the right opportunities are scarce – if there is an opportunity – bag it – the crowds did it, I did it – we are the same. Anurag has to do it too – he’s making his film isn’t he – his way. And that’s why we are with him.
Good luck!
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
Great post Smriti, aren’t you the lucky one being able to be in the middle of what seems to be a rather hectic outdoor shoot and still enjoy it to the fullest.
guess..thats the way it is sangeeta..
No passion – no cinema.. Cheers!
Its seems it was a beautiful exp with u there..
Keep up th egud work…
anyways smiriti u have devided the ur whle exp into like….. LIGHTS CAMRA ACTION…and CUT….
surely u do hv passion for cinema…PFC/////
Atta girl smarty! Honest and phenomenal…i lived it… keep going!
i learned one thing from the shoot that day, what being focused means. In the middle of the chaos i saw a man and his crew focused, totally .. in the middle of stones being thrown, the roof falling off, lathi charge etc etc WOW.. a lesson on focus and concentration.
Smarty, lagey raho!!! you and yourlittle toy should work wonders some day and do something redeeming for our film industry!
i must say…very good sim…the experience was really joyful..keep it up!!!good luck to u too…& hey u definitly need to be in front of the “cinema” camera someday!!!cheers!!!
pretty good post smriti …
next time pls do concentrate/interact also on Anurag kashyap … and not just John Abraham ;)
Thanks for easing the pressure of covering the sets from me a little
Welcome to PFC ..and enjoy the ride … :-)
thank you for the comments. point taken kartik, thinking of doing a more useful post with more details, might take some time though. lets see.
- Megh, Have sent you an email…
What I found interesting about this post is that as I read it I kept thinking about the poor Line Producer and the PAs and Producers Assitant, etc. who have to try to manage that chaos. Dang. Thanks for the visualization!
quite an experience
thanks for sharing
Nice first post Smriti..welcome to the addiction
good one Smriti. If the location would have been little relaxed, Raj kumar would have chased you;) just kiddin.
What do u do? Do u plan to be a film maker?
oz.. i havent got any mail send it to meghpant at yahoo
Hey manjeet..no one chased..everyone was so professional and busy..i felt so comfortable there..but truly, had the location been a bit relaxed..would’ve managed more interaction and lots of questions…maybe they’ll call me for another shoot soon
Smriti, you just lived out my dream.
SMRITI.
this is surely a professional touch.images show
creativity at its BEST.wish you success in your
persuit.KEEP IT UP
I.PAL