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iView Author:
Gajendra S Shrotriya
(Jaipur, India)

Email :
gshrotriya [at] yahoo [dot] com

PICNIC – A short thriller

After a long gap, I am back at PFC, though not with a new film as promised in my last article. However, I have more exciting information to share with PFC readers. I have just completed the shoot of my new film PICNIC, a short 35 minutes thriller in Hindi, shot in 4 days schedule from start to finish. The film at present is in post production and very soon, a teaser would be released. The film is shaping up well and I am really excited as this time it is a very different experience than what I have had so far. I have worked with the crew of 20 people and managed to keep them perked up all through the four consecutive grueling hot days.

Artists like Sarvesh Vyas, Anil Marwari, Dilip Narooka and Manoj Swami, all established theatre people in Jaipur, have played key roles in the film. Some of them have worked in a few TV serials as well. Manoj Swami has shared the screen with Paresh Rawal in Bhulbhulaiya. Technical association and other post production support was sought from a Jaipur based studio Folklore Productions Pvt. Ltd. Amit Ojha, a noted indie film maker is my technical associate and editor of the film. John Abner Andrew is the DP and Aakash Jaitly has done the sound and BG score. The film has been written, produced and directed by me. The film was shot on various locations around Jaipur like Kalakh dam near Kalwar, Desert Trail Resort near Kukas and at Shroville, Jaipur.

The idea of this thriller struck me when I read an article by Anurag Kashyap about a story he wrote in his child hood days, which did not get published, because his teacher thought the story was too dark for a school magazine. I hope many at PFC would recollect that story. I then developed the idea into a forty page script. Subsequently, I got inspiration from several sources during the development.

Actually it all started a month back when I had just completed the first draft of my full length feature film, an adult family drama and was looking to forget it to get back to it later. This idea filled up my time and once started, I could not stop before the story was complete. There were several iterations before the final script. The twist took longer than anything else and finally when no possible better change in the script occurred to me, I decided to engage the production team from Folklore Productions and charted out the schedule.

The story of the film revolves around the political ambitions of three friends, who go on a picnic to relax themselves before the ensuing elections. Something dreadful awaits them at the picnic which turns this outing in a never ending nightmare. Is it a conspiracy in the guise of fun?… goes the tag line.

The schedule was very hectic as we did not have deep pockets. To cut 14 to 16 scenes in a day definitely seemed herculean, if not impossible. Still with all the support from the crew and the film being in HD format, we could do it. I would like to share an interesting incident, happened at one of our locations. The hut we were shooting in was hired from a local family whose child was ill. The scenes to be shot there were of a woman dying in it and later, an arthi was to be prepared there and taken for cremation. Some one from the crew discussed this shot with the locals there and soon everybody in the village knew of this. When owner lady of the hut came to know of this, she got furious and refused to let any shot taken after that. The more we tried to convince her that this is only a film and nothing would happen to her ill son but she would not budge. Finally, we had to hunt for a different location in the same village and move all our arrangements there. Though, the final outcome was much better at the new location but for once, we all were stymied by the lady’s reaction. I suppose, this is a part of the game and such things might often happen with other film makers too.

The film would be sent to several film festivals in and outside India with subtitles in English. After the festival rounds for a year, it would be made available internationally on Home DVD and internet download. I will get back with the teaser shortly. Till then, so long.

Gajendra S Shrotriya