logo

15^TH Jan… 7.30 am… I spring up from my bed… I do that often…why…I haven’t been able to figure out… Satish wishes ‘good morning’…I respond…I am sharing the room with him…he orders tea for both of us…I look out of the window…it’s drizzling…wasn’t expecting that…I go back and cling to my bed…just for few minutes…just for few…was it just few minutes or…I hear Satish ‘uttho…cahi aa gayi…’ I turn…open my eyes…flabbergasted on what I see… fuck…There she is just pouring tea…standing couple of meters away from my bed…looking beautiful…‘good morning’ she goes…fuck fuck fuck…oh god…no god…I didn’t want her to see me like this…early morning…straight out of bed…all messed up…not minding my personal belongings… …guys don’t…early in the morning…no body wants to be seen like that…at least I don’t…she smiles and leaves…I am left wondering…did I respond to her good morning…I don’t remember…did I…I am not sure…I am definitely messed up!

It’s still drizzling…we have lots of thing to do today…Casting, Props, Costume…going to be a very hectic day…Satish agrees…I am worried…Tariq and Kedar are more…about the house…the status on it…we can only know when Harish comes in…we bide time…with our worries…we patiently bide it…Ms. Harish walks in…informs us that there ha been snowfall at Parkent…he is coming straight from there…and the status on house…the platform has been built…he informs us…Tariq, Kedar and I exchange a look…it’s good news and bad news…good is that the platform has come up…bad is…we know it will take four to five days to get the structure in place…Anurag and rest of the unit lands next day…I ask him about when I can see my actors that I need to cast…I can only do it next day…as Uzbekistan Cinema will be lining up the actors only next day…I am informed…I can also see rest of the props and costumes the next day…I am assured…I am frustrated…I so much wanted to finish all the things that day…Tariq and Kedar are frustrated…they can only go to check out the house in evening…Mr. Harish leaves as he has to finish all the formality regarding the shoot with various authorities…Fair enough…still…I am frustrated…not with anybody but the circumstances…I call AK…He goes again ‘Tu tension mat le…hum log kal aa rahe hain…Jo hoga dekha jayega…aur sun abhi tak kuch….’…JO HOGA DEKHA JAYEGA…such a magical word.

It has stopped drizzling…we wait for the car to arrive…to take us to buy stuff…clothes, shoes…to prepare ourselves form snow…we wait…I want some fresh air…I step out into the driveway…suddenly thoughts start crossing my mind…from where…I don’t know…why…I don’t know…I want to make my film as soon as possible…when will I make my film…what will happen to all the scripts that I have written…are they good…they say it is…I know it is…will I be able to make it…will I find my producer…will I get a star…One of them, whom I gave the script has been sitting on it for couple of months now…I am sure if it was a established director, he would have started reading the moment it was handed to him…why don’t they trust first time directors…Every director had his or her first time…they refuse to understand…that’s the way it is…I know…fuck it…I should remember to give my script to John…I will…my moment of catharsis is interrupted when I notice her through the glass of the coffee shop…the glass just has a thin tint…I see her clearing off one of the tables…I keep looking…she steals an occasional glace towards me…I am not sure whether she is looking at me or somewhere else… the occasional glace becomes frequent…I look down at the table…there is noting on it to clear…I smile to myself…I need to do something.

I am sitting a the coffee shop…sipping tea…this time I ask her name…about her…she responds… About me…she wants to know…I tell her…she hardly understands…there is a problem…she doesn’t know English…that well…I don’t understand Russian…at all…surely it is a big problem…I ask her about the music she like…she names her favorites…the only I get is DIDO…I like her too…Adil comes in with the car…I had to leave.

Great thing about Tashkent is…the great sense of dressing that people have…colorful and vibrant… specially women…I remember from my last visit…Mr Harish informing me …People there spend sixty percent of their months salary on their cloths…that says it all…We do our winter shopping too…Tariq, Kedar, Satish and I…snow boots, gloves etc…Satish shows me his usual joints that he used to hand when he was residing in Tashkent…He is turning out o be of great help…Again I spot a music shop…again I make a rush for it…this time…I HAD to buy a DIDO!

Back at the hotel…Traiq and Kedar can only see the location next day…they can’t go to Parkent…roads are blocked…because of the snowfall…they frustrated…they are helpless…can’t do much…they head to their room for drinks…Satish goes on the on the net…he has a love life…I don’t…I hit the bar… again alone…at the bar…Vodka again…this time just one…the nights have started to get boring…I realize…I need to make it exciting…I do!

16^th Jan…the balls starts rolling that day…everything happens fast…9.30 am…Tariq and Kedar has already left to supervise the construction at Parkent…Satish has left to do some production related work…I get to see my actors at Uzbek Cinema…am not happy with all of them…but have no other option…I finalize key actors…and some extras that we needed…decide to cast the burly man that I had seen at the hotel reception…gets to see costume and props…has to take a call regarding it…I do…hoping AK likes it…Everything happens fast…in just three hours…I am back at the hotel…in the afternoon…We have to leave for the airport…in an hour…to pickup Anurag, John, Kumarji ,Rajiv Ravi and rest of the crew…I am looking forward to meeting them…but before that I have to do something…I spot Satish get back from his work…’Satish’ I call out aloud.

She walks in room with a cup of tea…smiling…unaware…Satish wishes her in russian…she responds…I nudge him…again he tells her something in Russian…again she smiles…Satish looks at me ‘De do’…I remove the CD from one of the drawers and give it to her…DIDO it is…first she is surprised…smiles… accepts it… ‘SPASIBA’ is the word in Russian…for thanks…she thanks…wishes…walks out…shuts the door behind…I jump on to Satish…land a peck on his cheek…Thank You!

There walks in Anurag first sporting his glares…out of the VIP lounge at the airport…all smiling…I am more than thrilled to see him and others…Behind him walks Rajiv Ravi, John and Mr.Kumar Mangat…Anurag takes me aside …rather in a corner ‘Kuch kiya?’ he quizzes me… ‘Nahin’ I reply… Anurag ‘Jhooth bola toh bamboo kar doonga’ John joins anurag in pulling me… smiling… ‘raj kumar…I want all the details’ I go ‘what detail?’ …John’s limousine comes…he gets in…leaves…Anurag ‘bata na kya kya kiya?’…I can’t lie to him…I tell him things…not everything…but most of it.

We are at the hotel…rest of the crew comes after an hour…Gautam and Abhishek are the only other two AD’s…we have a small production meeting … Tariq and Kedar has also joined us by now… where we discuss the status at the house…they inform us it will take another two days…Anurag decides to shoot some shots at a local hospital and the airport next day… ‘Lets begin and see how it goes’…Kumarji agrees…meeting is over…I exchange notes regarding the shoot and other stuff with Gautam…we always do…for the past four years that we have been working together…we always do…he is tired by now….wants to rest…I go to AK’s room…he is unpacking…he takes out something from suitcase…hands it to me…yeh tere liye …kya hai?…I look…it’s a fucking new Rayban… I say ‘but I got one made’… ‘when?’ … ‘few days back’…he looks at me…I am about to thank him…when he snatches it back from me… Why…I cry…will give it to somebody who doesn’t have it… But you got that for me… so what, you have one…but I don’t have a Rayban…please give it back to me… No…Please…O.K,I will get you one when we return…OK…

Everybody is jet lagged that evening…all want to have a decent night…we all go to our respective room…to sleep.

17^{th Jan}…we are at the breakfast table 10 am…we have to leave for the shoot…but we have got some time before the permission for the shoot comes in…Anurag is sitting beside me…and there I see her again…I nudge him ‘yahi hai’ She comes…wishes all of us…serves us tea…SPASIBA…I say…she smiles… leaves…I wait for his reaction…it doesn’t come for few seconds…there are other unit members on the table having breakfast with us…and Anurag ‘Abhi jo aayi voh tum sab ki bhabhi hai…if anybody tries to flirt with her or even get close to her…I will fuck him and fuck him royally’ he lightheartedly warns all the Casanova’s of the unit …for few seconds nothing happens…and then all of us burst into laughter.

Kumarji joins us…he asks Anurag whether we can shoot the hospital some other day…Just concentrate on the airport shoot… Anurag agrees…we wait outside the airport…we have to shoot at the runway…we wait for the authorities to let us in…we have a small unit…only twenty people are allowed inside… Mr.Harish comes in…informs us…now they are only allowing ten…we decide to cut down on the crew…Abhishek and I are out from the direction department…Ten of them including John and the other actor go in…we realize it is going to take time…rest of us head back…to the hotel…we don’t want to sit at the hotel…we decide to take a walk…we do…we look around for about forty minutes…again I spot a music shop…I drag them in.

6.30 we are back at the hotel…Anurag and rest of the unit has come back from the shoot…all are sitting at the restaurant having drinks…John is also there…How did the shoot go…I ask AK…Fantastic…he replies…John looks at me…comments…I am still waiting for the details bro…he smiles…I smile…I realize I cannot get away without telling him.

A small production meeting is called…Kumarji tells us that we will leave for Parkent at 9 AM…Gautam and I are little circumspect about starting the shoot at Parkent the next day…as the house is also not fully ready and we need surly an extra day to get everything in place…KM and AK want to go…whether we shoot or don’t…at least the unit will get used to snow and cold…makes sense…we agree…meeting is called off…everybody can go wherever they want…some go out…some head to the bar…and I am in AK’s room…Anurag ‘Kahan tak baat badhi?’ I smile ‘I got my return gift today’ ‘kya baat kar raha hai…when?’ …when…when I was back from the airport …before we all went for a walk…I headed for my room…everybody went to their room for some time….I ordered tea…few minutes and there was knock on the door…and she walked in…wasn’t expecting her…left the tea on the table… handed me something ‘this is for you’ in her cute Russian accent…something in a gift bag …SPASIBA…I said…she left…was I expecting it…of course FUCKING NOT!

Anurag ‘I am happy for you…Bambai mein nahin kam se kam yahan toh kuch kiya!’

I don’t remember what happened that night…sorry.

18^th Jan…It’s raining…10.30…the unit is headed to Parkent…all dressed up…as we move ahead…the rain transforms into snow…as we go further…the snowfall gets heavy…after an hours drive we reach Parkent…as soon as we get out of our car…we are freezing…We start uphill walk to the house…our shooting location…in fifteen minutes we are there…AK, Rajiv Ravi, KM, Jai uncle(our action director) and Mr. Harish are already there…We cannot shoot today…they have already decided…There is not enough light…you can hardly see anything…Rajiv Ravi, the DOP informs us…we have to start shooting the next day…the interior of the house will take one more day to get ready… Tariq informs us concerned…I have figure it all, we will do the exterior first and then come to the interiors…AK tells us…But doesn’t that change the concept that he has in mind…I ask him little irritated…It does, but I have to shoot, cannot just sit round and waste producers money, filmmaking is an expensive affair…he replies…I am not happy , he notices it…then calls me…you are going to be a director hopefully soon, let me tell you something…when you are just starting off, you have to do with whatever you get…once you prove yourself…people will give you what you want…as a film maker, one should always be ready with an option…what has to go wrong will anyways go wrong…but that shouldn’t stop any one of us…he tell me on personal notes…I just look at him…It makes so much sense…There is so much that I learn from him everyday…as they say…you live you learn.

We are walking back…I am still thinking about what AK said…he made so much sense…that is why he is making his fourth film without a single release… something hits me from behind…I turn…see, Anurag with a snowball in his hand…he again throws it at me…I am hit THUP on my face…it throws me off balance… few seconds and at least four five of us are throwing snowball at each other… like kids…fucking like kids …and the biggest kid of them is Anurag… you had to see him to believe… He could have put any kid to shame…even Aliya, his seven year old daughter…this is his first time in so much of snow…he confesses…For us too…we all confess…The snowballs keep coming…By the time we are in the cozy comfort of our car…Both, our sensitive and insensitive parts of our body are freezing…at least mine was.

‘This is …Dollars of S… that I promised at the beginning of the film’…AK hand me the bills in his room…what do I do with this…I ask him…he gives me a look and replies ‘Yeh bhi mujhe hi batana padega?’

Our line producer Mr. Inderjeet Chadda calls for a quick production meeting with the whole…we decide on whatever needs to be done for the next day shoot…the meeting gets over…the clock strikes 10…The night has just began…I don’t remember what happened that night…seriously!

Guys and Gals(one girl in particular) I am really tired…Last part in few days.

3 readers recommend this post  Loading ...	Email This Post To Friends
Related Posts NO SMOKING-three days to go those were the days!the Alwyn days! NO SMOKING- happy days are here again NO SMOKING…Twenty four days of shoot over… No-Smoking- Last 2 days- ButterFly Effect Tashan: Raste Ka Maal and the Cheap Thrill Machine No Smoking on Sets Part 3 Happy Days - Happy journey back to college days Nishabd - Only 15 Days to go??? NO SMOKING