Dvandva-Making of Duality
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Dvandva, is the continuous duality of right & wrong that engulfs the daily lives of everyone. Five seemingly unimportant events weave a fabric… And this fabric unveils the story. In other words, the film is a mesh of interleaved stories & inter-related characters. And it revolves around the search of a mysterious contract killer. Dagadoo leads a gang of street-dacoits… Anand supports his wife to recover from the trauma…, Roy, owner of an NGO, is trying correct his problematic account books … Vijay is a lonesome druggist hallucinated by his troubled past… Rahul & Prashant are spoilt brats planning a big theft… Pandey is a corrupt cop, pressurized by seniors and the media to resolve infamous contract killing case… 110 mins devoted exclusively to life of all these characters, almost everybody is engulfed in duality of action, thoughts and ultimately duality of life
Trailer
Film Website
http://passionforcinema.com/dvandva-duality-of-an-independent-filmmaker/
Genesis of Duality
My journey of Independent Filmmaking started with a lonely house. There I was learning to write screenplays. I started writing short screenplays which later I was planning to turn into short films. I was stuck, simply because I didn’t’ have resources and know-how to implement my “mind blowing” ideas. So writing short stories was most obvious thing. I took my first screenplay to a famous writer and he torn it into pieces. But I kept writing. It was tough for me because I was not a “born” writer and never wanted become one. But I desperately want to record my ideas, my visuals, and my hallucinations. I simply didn’t know how. I read Syd Field many times. It was about doing action. And the trouble was fear of doing it. Then I tried to draw the screenplay and wrote what I was seeing in the drawings. That’s how my first real screenplay was born. And I took it the same writer and he became very excited. He was drunk. But I really respect drunkards. And I started to write again. Process drawings visuals become obsolete and started recording my ideas directly on my laptop. Today I think that writing screenplay is toughest part of filmmaking, toughest in the sense of labor and pain.
Character of Pandey
So I wrote more and more, more characters, more plots, more stories and lots of experiments. Soon I observed that there is one common thread in all my stories that is the house I was living in. So I thought could I connect them? And to my surprise I also found lots of similarities between characters from my different short stories, Character of Pandey kept repeating and So was Rahul and Prashant. The place I was living became Kawabhai’s house. And then characters started to interact with each other. They were making connections with each other and few more were getting introduced. It was all happening in my mind. And it was complex enough to draw. It was too much for me to handle. I was new to screenwriting. The chaos and pain became unbearable. After certain point I simply couldn’t write. I packed the whole idea of turning these short films into a non linear narrative. But back of my mind was constantly interacting with characters; I was observing my characters in real life, noticing how they will behave and what should become part of them, and what should not. I even tried to play with different plot points and come up with a structure. I started narrating the idea, and giving narration helped me to improve storyline further. It went on for two years. It was excruciating pain and extreme chaos. But before I could realize I had a story for a feature film. Eureka! Short films finally connected with each other. Characters finally made relationship with one another. And there were plot points and so there was structure, of course nonlinear.
Kawabhai
But then I realized that when one feel Dvandva is a story of character X, it become a story of character Y, and when one finally one thinks it is the story of Y, it becomes story of Z and X and Y reappears and connects with Z. It was all against Syd Field. And I was scared, really scared. Will I able convince anybody to produce such kind narrative? Or will it remain as figment of my imagination? Even if I am able to make it, How people feel and relate characters and story strongly and more will they able to make connection?
I didn’t know answers then and even I don’t know now. Only future will tell.
In the meantime I was experimenting with camera and short films which made the idea even better and better. After certain point my mind gave up. And that’s where Aadil and Anurag came and took the screenplay to the next level. The process improvisation of narrative went on and on. We kept improvising till dubbing. Btw Anurag and Aadil were not only my co-writers but also producers of Dvandva and equal partners in the crime. They took big risk on producing such an experimental film. And I think without them “Dvandva” would never have been made.
Duality Improvisation
Helmet Cam
Any Process has number of steps or stages. Filmmaking process has its own, screen writing to mastering of soundtracks. When I made short film “Cheque of Death” I storyboarded it. I shot what I wanted to shoot. I compromised when I couldn’t do so. But I tried to achieve, what I visualized. Alfred Hitchcock says “Compromise starts when you go to shooting floor”. Very true. And soon I realized that you need good budget to get even in that position, where you won’t compromise and the budget is always remains a luxury, which I never had. Most of the short film makers never have that kind of luxury. In the Era of Hitchcock, it was studio filmmaking, I mean filming inside a studio environment. Today you go and shoot on actual locations, where you can’t control much. You don’t have means to control. Men and machinery rules the set. And both of them are costly, very costly. And hence I compromised when I was making short films.
Desi Jimy JIb
X
I don’t want to compromise.
Y
Between idea and reality falls the shadow.
X
So what? You take up “baby” and lit the shadow.
Y
But “baby” is not enough.
X
So you have option of shooting idea, shooting reality or shooting shadow. You can also shoot idea and shadow or some different combination.
Y
Or best way is to shoot everything or possible combination.
X
And when one have10 ideas and equal number of reality and shadows comes up, you go broke.
Y
Lets Compromise
X
No Compromise
Y
Stop making low budget films.
Who is Shooting Who?
X
We can’t. Because we have big “licky” (It is a tapeworm of Filmmaking) and it won’t let us sit quietly.
Y
So compromise
X
We will improvise; Let us open our mind to unknown number of ideas and reality and shadows. And choose what best or what you think is the best.
Y
Really
X
At least this is what I believe.
Creative Film Lights
Best thing was I could not complete my fancy 3D storyboards on time. And our ultra tight resources allowed 22 shooting days. We had to rush because Manson was rushing fast. It was 75 percent night shoot in short and hot summer nights. Casting was incomplete and problem with casting of only lady character due to nature of screenplay. Real locations were challenging. Crew was fresh and actors were inexperienced. We had Unknown and criticized format. There were no technical men to rule sets. No gigantic machinery to impress not so technical men. It was cinema 54’s first production and my first feature film and it is first film of all cast and crew, baring few. It was first feature film in Nagpur in 16 years.
Improvising Sets
That’s when I learned to process of improvisation. Simply because I didn’t want to compromise, neither producers and nor any of cast and crew of Dvandva.
Keep Reading Passionforcinema!
Tags: Chhatrapal, debut, Dvandva, Filmaking, Independent Filmmaking, Struggle
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Mindblowing trailer chhatrapal…bas sound ki maa-behen ek hai…cudnt hear it properly dude :(
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yes man … i also noticed it now … It was good before compressing for net … Let me see what i can do with It!
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Hey Sindabaad! I just checked … it is ok on my laptop with or without headphones and also on other few comps… i think it is issue with your speakers …use headphones … Cheers!
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awesome. was looking forward to this. the trailer looks cool. all the best bro chhatrapal
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Thanx for support Bro:))
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Lookin good! You guys turned engineers on sets. A Kaalchakra released many years back. This film has the same feel, only more sleek. Doubt whether family audience will take a fancy to this film. BUt you never know. All the best!
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But the trailer itself does not reveal what we can look for. We need to read your article to realize whats happening. IN fact the trailer reveals or showcases nothing. Hope this isnt the publicity trailer!
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The Madan Jain starrer Kalchakra was indigestible.
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Thanx VJ ! It is not publicity trailer … it is primer … we will come up with more revealing trailer … and i haven’t seen Kaalchakra … let me catch the film
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Hey!Chhatrapal good to know more about the journey.Keep updating us with more dope – like any special moments while filming,how did you go about casting etc.desi jimmy jib & helmet camera looks cool
any updates on the release & promotion side?
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Thanx Sethumadhavan for your support! Producers working towards release and promotion … lets say they just started showing it to people … planning a preview for distributors and production houses soon … we will keep you updated
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this is good Chhatrapal…ur desi workarounds are cool…waitin for more
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Thanx Ankur … more coming!
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Mind boggling..really want to watch..when can I ?
And regarding you…dude u r my inspiration..kudos :-)
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Thanx Saurabh … i feel shy when you mention inspiration thing … thanx for support!
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All the best..the trailer looks neat.
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Thanx a lot Sourav!
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Great Going Guys..
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Thanx a Lot Karthik!
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This looked absolutely WOW!!!!
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Thanx Kiran for supporting “Dvandva”
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trailer looks good and background music too..
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character speaking about indian police looks genius to me… Good luck for film Chhatrapal.
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He is Satyakam Anand … he is genius … Music composed by Vishal and Prashant … and thanx a lot for wishes yayaver!
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Loved your write-up. I can truly understand the state of mind you were in while writing the screenplay.
Looking forward to Dvandva…
All the best!
Vishesh
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Thanx Vishesh …!
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