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The plot just seems to thicken as the shoot of Aamir progresses. From the vastness of the western express highway the film has moved to the dingy morbid lanes of Null Bazaar to narrow rickety staircases leading to shady hotels to watching dead-slashed-skinned goats hanging like dyed jeans on clothesline…at dhobighat….Aamir seems to have strayed into the dark morbid alleys he never ever dreamt he would step in.

It’s 7:00 am now as I write and the crew is still at the MUTTON MANDI…..I was there at 5:00 am this morning but chickened out…ran away…more on that a little later.

Bang opposite Metro Cinema there is a huge structure which has “abandon immediately might fall off anytime” written all over it. As I worked my way up the narrow staircase was crammed for space. The DOP, Director, Assistants, Lightmen….all have found their corner and are ready to shoot. Rajeev walks in looking like a zombie and Jhilmil smiles at him and asks him……Halka hona hai?

All those who have seen Black Friday and must have laughed at the woman who tells Rakesh Maria that Dubai is Gaon…..yeh that same women….she is Jhilmil. A brilliant actress who has again resurfaced with Aamir. Was talking to Gautam about her. Gautam was the casting director for Black Friday. They were blow away with the variations Jhilmil gave them during the audition. The naïve the all knowing, smart, cocky…..finally the naïve one was selected for Black Friday. After Black Friday she did some work, more of theatre and conducting work shops actually and a few FTII student film till she was brought back to the screen thru Aamir. Jhilmil will always remind us of those enormously talented people who we might have seen….might have just exclaimed seeing their 2 min performances and felt man here is a good actor….why don’t we see more of them. We always complain of dearth of talent but then maybe the industry has a way of filtering the talent and driving them away from Mumbai. Welcome back Jhilmil. Hope to see more of you.

As Jhilmil’s close ups were being taken saw Rajeev taking the camera from the still photographer and clicked away. Of what I have observed of him over the past few weeks…. His determination and focus stands out. He is almost like a Kapil Dev who would himself run and fix the sidescreen and then get to his mark and bowl. I have seen him on numerous occasions do the clap himself if the angle is too awkward for a clapper to come in or himself clearing the background with the assistants before a shot, giving instructions to his co-stars which ideally an assistant should be giving. He just is eager to get on with it….Very rarely I find a call being given for Rajeev or an assistant running to the vanity van to call the actor as the director and DOP wait. He is always around…and work on Aamir happens nonstop usually….it’s either a stuffy shady hotel or the claustrophobic Null Bazaar lanes or like this morning…the Mutton Mandi….as he came in this morning at 5:00 am to the sets…he looked at the setting and exclaimed….”socha tha hero banuga….Switzerland mein slow-motion mein bhaunga….” he looked around for Rajkumar, who was smiling. Rajeev: “thanks for such an enriching experience…Raj…”…. I guess the heartfelt ? gratitude was a culmination of emotions built up over the past few days of shoot. Man it’s not easy….kuddos to the team.

Rajeev hails form Jaipur. I exclaimed Irrfan Khan too is from the same place. We were waiting as the light men were setting up the lights yesterday at the hotel. He was recollecting his early days in Mumbai. “It was crazy….I used to carry my phone to the toilet so that I missed no call….Those days I just waited for the phone to ring…Even if you are half done and there is a call for an audition or work you run…..”

He recounted those days when he would go to Jaipur for Diwali or other occasion…as soon as he would land there invariably there would be a call for an audition and he would have to rush. The conversation veered into the obvious…his fans. Initially he said it’s great to have people clamoring for you….sending him gifts and messages….so much so that his house is filled with them….and filling up so much space…but then it becomes a responsibility, the more you are loved the more you feel…do I even deserve this…he insisted it’s the other way around…it does not make one complacent or arrogant but makes one humble…more responsible towards ones craft and profession….an added pressure to perform better….at a level for others but at a deeper level for oneself to assure myself that I am good enough to deserve all this. Profound…Rajeev…..there he goes for another shot.

Rajeev told me about this particular scene where he had to run in the middle of a cramped Chor Baazar with a rope tied to his waist attached to a motorcycle with a cameraman on it. He had to run along with the motorcycle keeping in mind the tension of the rope to the motorcycle and his path ahead too. So he had to maintain optimum distance from the motorcycle laterally and also keep a healthy body movement so that the run does not look fake. The results he said have been fabulous.

As the day wrapped up at around 10:00pm. Rajkumar invited me to join him and his team for dinner. Nitin, Neel, Devanka, Ajay, Amar and Anubhuti. The team was put up in a hotel in South Bombay. There was an early morning shoot the next day…5:00am was the call time. Had great fun…by the time all hit bed…it was already 1:00am. Barely 3 hours of sleep. Devanka and Me have already made plans for a backpack trip after Aamir. Amar recounted that day of the shoot where he actually collected SHIT….yes HUMAN SHIT….as it was required in a scene….Confessions of an AD. As this information was being let out…Nitin gorged on his sweets…he claims he can kill for sweets…one can ask me for anything and I shall part…but this…sorry…. A whole lot of unit trivia and gossip…that I’ll keep it to myself….ethics. Raj promises me that tomo is going to be an exciting day….will take you to place where no Hindi film has been shot. I am all ears. He lets me know it’s the mutton mandi near Mohammad Ali road. Raj told me I should have been there at the Chor Bazar shoot….where the cameras where hidden and Rajeev and Raj were on the phone. As in the film a lot of conversations happen on the phone….Raj while giving the cue the dialogues was also giving direction in the same breath…..they had to shoot fast and run….could not afford a crowd situation…Raj felt Rajeev was great in those scenes….where he had to mouth the lines….express and also work on the directions Raj is giving on the phone in the middle of a busy Behrampada with hidden cameras.

It’s 4:30am. Groggy eyed we reached the location. I barely stepped into it and I felt like throwing up. Skinned goats…..some still dripping…blood on the tiles…..testicles hanging…yuck…I ran out….puffed a few. Psyched myself… “if this was a film I was working on….this is what…this is what I would have contributed….a coward….” I puffed a few more. Walked in. Slow breaths…but not deep enough to take the blood soaked air into my lungs…nicotine any day for me…..not this. Saw some people rest their head on the same log where they shred the goats. Some sight. The lights were arranged and Rajeev was getting ready for his shoe. It’s around 6:00 am now. It’s a big enough place and a few butchers had already started work. “Bismillah karke shuru ho ja..” was the instruction given by a man sitting near a log with two huge blades to another one. Chop….chop..chop…chop…chop….my eyes just won’t move from there….I don’t want to see it…..am here for the shoot….just could not move…felt blood flowing in my legs…ran out….puffed a few more…..called for a taxi…Dadar….

I always felt I had an appetite for strong visuals…..after all have seen a few oriental films…what gore…..gore is just fine…..Unit Aamir is sure leaving no corner of Mumbai unturned. It’s one rollercoaster thru Mumbai….and it’s getting darker and murkier……