Nishabd – Only 15 Days to go???
Yes”, replied Abhishek, and we are shooting in Munnar, kerala. Our DOP Amit Roy, writer Kusum and art Director Aparna Sud had already returned from the recce, and already got the Bungalow approved from RGV. The script was read two three times. Work had started full on… now it was the time to look for Revathy’s Brother, and Amitji’s daughter. Since I have been involved with casting since I started, I knew fairly decent number of actors. A word was spread and we had to take care of so many things. That included scheduling, casting, taking out prop requirements, costumes, number of costumes, most important of all we wanted a TEAM. Both Shake and me were very sure of having Vikas Sharma on board as he had worked with us before on MR ya Miss and D. There was a level of familiarity and comfort too. Then came our Princess Five star AD. Extremely competent and efficient girl. Sheel had also suggested her name, he asked us to meet her. I still remember her first entry… she came with Big Glasses on her head, looking extremely happy. Sheel introduced me to her, as sheel started explaining her that its a film we are going to knock off in one schedule, thirty five days straight in Munnar, kerala. To which her reply was “oh wow, its such a lovely place, how are we traveling? By jet or some other airline? And which hotel are we staying??? Three star or five star. Obviously, sheel and me had to exchange looks. Sheel told her all ads will travel by train and we will ensure that we will keep you in a place, which is extremely comfortable, just after that we realized that she had worked on some Nadiadwala project before… So she was on… focused. Abhishek and me have always shared responsibilities as we made a good team. We were scheduling, meeting actors, at the same time giving options for Reavthy’s brother to RGV. Right from the unknown theatre artist to known actors like Nassiruddin Shah, Anupam Kher, Om puri, Mohanlal and others name were suggested. But every time we got an answer “look for some more options”. I tell you guys, if at all anybody has given me stress on this project; has to be Reavthy’s brother and scene number 55+56. Meanwhile Vikas was full on in synch with Abhi and me. Sheel too was busy with his ever-efficient team of Ganesh, Farukh and Harmeet. Every evening we used to Ramuji with the schedule file and he used to return it back to us saying tomorrow. In between ramuji’s one time, assistant Ramesh Khatkar had visited him, Ramuji shared with him the story of Nishabd, there he happened to ask him if he had someone in mind to play Amitji’s daughter. Khatkar immediately suggested,” this girl from zee telecine ki khoj, u should meet her Ramuji, I think she fits the bill”. “Can I meet her?” Half an hour later Shraddha Aria was sitting in RGV’s cabin, cast finalized. She was on. Urvashi was informed, Kusum and RV wanted us to do her look test, Kusum being the writer could see, how she looked. The next day I was shooting her pictures in the factory. There was not much time RGV had still not seen the Schedule, we kept pestering him in turn to see the schedule. One fine evening, he just got back at us, “arrey but what is it that u want me to see??? U guys have made it no?” Yes sir, we replied, “than no need to worry”. We will take care of it. Amrik Gill on the other hand was busy writing the dialogues, which Vikas every evening used to key it into the comp. Amrikji prefers to write on paper, and has been associated with films like ‘Jeet’ and ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’. The best thing that we thought was there were only five key characters in the film. So by now Revathy’s brother was not yet finalized. One day me and mone were sitting and discussing in the basement of factory that we thought of Nasser. I decided to tell this to Ramuji, I did the next day. He didn’t say anything, just thought of something in his mind and said will tell you tomorrow continuing typing a text message.
Two Days before this, Romnath our office attendant cum kitchen head of the department came running to the basement saying Surya sir Ramuji aapko aur Abhishek sir ko cabin mein bula rahe hain. In ten seconds were about to enter his cabin in the factory. The moment we entered his room, standing there was a beautiful sexy girl called Jiah. RGV introduced us to her saying these are my ads. “Hey” said she. In my mind looking at Jiah, the first thought that brushed my mind was ” Maa ki Aankh, surya yeh Firang hindi kaise bolegi?” that too knowing that RGV is going to direct. But as we started shooting all my thoughts, reservations I had about Jiahs accent were completely shattered that she didn’t only speak good Hindi, but for a newcomer even performed well. As far as Jiah is concerned she too was completely involved into the project, as she, Anita Mirpuri, Raghu Shetty and Kusum were majorly shopping for her all over in Andheri and other parts of Bombay. Aparna Sud or Appu had already left to Munnar to set up the house with her team almost five days before the shoot. Since then, I realized now there were two problems. One was till Revathy’s brother and second was the Jeep that Amitji had to drive in the film. Ganesh our Production person had assured that “Sir, ho jayega”. But still it was not finalized. Both me and abhi were now on the look out for the Jeep in Bombay. I have a friend Sanjay Rautray who I met because of Sriram Raghavan as he is the EP on his film ‘Johnny Gaddar’. Now Mr. Rautray is a very influential person and is well connected. I knew the IG of kerala was his friend. I just happened to tell him that I was looking for a jeep for Amitji just by chance that he asked me to contact his friend Arun Sinha. I was very happy as the jeep was an important property that we needed in the film. I happily called Mr. Sinha and introduced myself to him and told him that Mr. Sinha I need a Jeep, I need a sports jeep. Mr. Sinha told me, not to worry as he will manage and just to give him two days as he was busy with some elections there in Kerala. The next day was a routine day, as we were cross checking if we have ensured that all the requirement has been told to the production department, the costumes, art dept. was already in Munnar. Me and abhishek were still looking for Reavthy’s brother, and were also meeting many actors at the factory. Cut to, one of the factory employees comes to e and asks me if I was Surya? Yes, I am Surya… did u speak to arun Sinha??? Yes I did. No but, did u speak to Arun Sinha??? Yes, I did… I mean u spoke with Arun Kumar, The IG of Kerala state??? Yes, I did… and u also asked him to arrange for a Jeep for the shoot? Yes, I did!!! cut to ten minutes later, Romnath again came running to inform me and Sheel that Boss was calling. Cut to RGV’s cabin, Chakri or Chakraverthy or Satya is also present. RGV doesn’t seem to be in a good mood. The gentleman who asked me before is also present. Full on tension… RGV,”Zurya (as this is what it sounds when he says Surya) did u call the IG of Kerala and asked him for a jeep?” Yes sir, I did. “why, why why, why the IG?” hmmm… sir… because I know him… through a friend of mine, hmmm… and I guess there is no problem”. “arrey but s(z)urya, we are talking to him for Amitji’s security there in kerala and u are asking him for a Jeep???” ” oh boy, I said, fuck… no wonder this man was pissed with me. Fortunately, it was sorted out there, nothing like scene number 55+56. I was told to respect the mans position and arrange for it on ourselves without bothering the IG for such small things. We had left with just two three days, the jeep was still not finalized, we called our local Munnar production people and asked them about the jeep, they told sheel “that u will find one here”. We left it to see it there only. that we again got a message from the Boss to come to his cabin. Cut to RGV’s cabin - Me and Abhishek are in front of him. Guys you don’t have to worry about Revathy’s brother. Both me and Abhishek looked at each other for a surprise, ” Nasser will play her brothers character”.
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
terrific post surya…great insight on how Factory actually wrks…maan i was shittin loads in the part where u were called in office for callin IG for jeep…it really shows how shrewd one oughtaa be if u gotta survive…thnx a lot for letting us into the minute details of pre-prod wrk
Great post…Pls keep them coming:)>-
goddamnnnn surya! what a post dude \:D/ mindblowing! now THIS is the true behind-the-scenes that i was looking for :D needless to say, EAGERLY awaiting more (especially this scene 55/56 fiasco u mentioned!)
- YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! Completely engrossing… it’s as if you were writing a story Surya… and the many production info tips you sprinkled all around the post was an eye opener… every two or three lines I was going “hmmm… so this is how it is done”… Good ONE… sent you an email…
wow!… gr8 post dude!..keep us updated wid ramu and nishabd..gr8 2 know about behind the scenes dat too of a ram gopal varma movie
wow
precious
thank u
- Quote: In my mind looking at Jiah, the first thought that brushed my mind was
i am just amazed at number of people needed to make a film.
Thanks for the detailed post Surya, there seems to be so many things going on behind the scenes. Enlightening
wow, thanks for taking the time to write this surya.. really interesting stuff
This is an awesome post.. esp. for a layperson to understand exactly all that goes on in making a movie
>>Nasser will play her brothers character
Thanks Surya…
…generally one never get’s to hear this side of story.
This is the first time I am experiencing a real pre-production experience…I mean all that that happens before a movie starts…now I know why Ramu gives most of his AD’s a chance to direct for FACTORY (man what a place that would be…actors/directors/writers/costume designers/AD’s/RAMU…Gosh I want to work there).
Super man but the bar has been raised too high with this post Zurya…..
Confessions of an AD-1 – Superhit
…….waiting for Part 2..3…4..5…6..7….
Nasser has one of the most interesting faces in the Tamil industry. Great actor and I think must have acted in around 25-30 films in Tamil with Revathy.
yeah i am totally with shitij… i wish i could work there too :(… if not work there.. then just once i wish could experince all this firsthand.. [-o< [-o<[-o<[-o<
Way to go Surya…after so many teasers…you sure have a knack of building the curiosity and throwing a fine “product”. 55-56…waiting on that now…
Wah, Zurya! Thanks for this precious post dude. Can’t wait to hear more. Guess Chakri is a regular factory fixture, eh?
Wow!…thanks for the post.
Arrey O kaalia,
yeh wahi nasser sahab hain, from south. And yes he is a kickass actor… as far as language is concerned, i dont think that should be a problem… in the mean time, thank u everybody for your feedback… love u all.
wb,
Hi, chakri has ssisted RGV, acted in his movie satya, has directed one fim for the factory… and is working on another script right now.
great going… u hv got ppl totally hooked on;)