ROCKSTAR JIAH KHAN TAKE LIGHT!!!
Kya kahoon Main Kaisa yeh asar hain, Yeh Figure aur sexy nazar hain.
Hot hain attitude, full on jeena hain, haan mujhko masti bas karna hain,
Wrong hain ke Right, Jo bhi ho… JUST TAKE LIGHT.
This is what this young sexy siren going to sing in the video that we shot for the last two days and mind you I have a feeling its going to rock, as its full of energy and jiah has also helped in writing, singing and composing this song. So we were shooting this song at poonawala bungalow in Madh Island near malad. The song is choreographed by this first time choreographer Sonia Jaffer, it was shot by RGV’s hot favorite DOP Amity Roy, and since its a part of Nishbad Appu has done the art direction under her ever efficient assistant Sheena (pun intended). So I first heard the song on the 6th Jan when RGV was shooting ‘Rojana’ sung by Amitji for the same film. This was the first time I happened tomeet Sonia, s till now I had not got an opportunity to meet her, as my colleague abhishek was with her doing recce and following up with her requirements that she needed for the shoot. She conceptualized the idea, and had a Vision in her mind as to how she would want to shoot the song. Seventh Jan I messaged jiah saying, “so all excited that we are going to shoot again after such a long time?” ” I am fucking nervous” came a reply in no time. Cut to 8th Jan Poonawala, aparna and her gang has been working all night setting up the bungalow. I reach a little late as I travel from Vikhroli that is some distance from Madh Island. The first shot that Sonia wants to take is just some shots… Amit Roy is there, the shot is canned in a room, close shots and some combination shots with jiah. She is looking HOT, somehow hr hairstyle reminds me of Shakira, plus she has put on a Bronze make up. Amit frames her and with his lighting, the set has further come to life along with the actor and the dancers. In the meantime there arrives RGV probably carrying some script in his hands… hecomes and see’s the shot. We take, Sonia orders sound, the song begins amit shoots, and Sonia cuts… She looks at RGV, RGV asks herthat takea close up. Take 2 – Amit as changed the lens Sonia “Action -song begins Amit rolls – Sonia cut… everybody looks at RGV. RGV stares at her and shakes his head. In the mean time he looks at his cell phone the messages have started comingin. He reads them… amit starts composing again in the sameroom, this time the shots are with Jiah and dancers. Combination shots…the room is already lit, within no time he is ready. All of a sudden, he remembers something andasks me “surya, what are we shooting in 24 FPS or 25 FPS?” and this question is because its a song for the promotion of the movie and will be seen only on TV.Though, after having shot this, I just pray toLord (in this case lord rama) that he puts it in the film in the end credits at least as we all have really worked hard to put this song together. I tell amit lets shoot it24FPs only no? Helooks a little unsure, I tell him ok, wait let me go and ask boss, he nods. Cut to RGV is nowhere tobe seen around, I enquire, and he is in the make up van. Knock, knock… I open the vanity vans door, RGV is intensely reading some script, ” ramuji, what do we shoot this song in 24 or 25 FPS?”, RGV let amit decide, maybe ask Sonia also, its entirely his decision” cut to amit, “boss, he is saying its yourand Sonias class” amit,” fuck are u sure” “yes”. hethinks for a few seconds, and walks out of he room,I follow him, he stops again and returns back to the camera. I dont ask him anything. We shoot. Cut to next shot…Soniaas per her vision has a shot in mind where in Jiah is supposed sit on the windowsill and perform. Amitdecides to put the camera on the crane and shoot… somehow I feelthe shoot is going on slow. I feel a little down. Abhiskeh asks me, “kya bhai, why are u so down? itna shant kyun lag raha hai? are u thinking? (this question is a taunt, as well as his concern for me, as he knows aboutthe time when I reallyfeel down thinking of my future, my career). “No nothing, just feeling as if we are not doing anything”. Today the tempo seems to be low. The crane is ready, amit shoots, we do two three magnifications, that part of the segment isdone. The entire crane movementis looking good, so does the entire song.RGv is nowhere tobe seen.I amfollowing a certain discipline that I always do in his presence, point being we behave and are 200% more focused than in his absence. Cut to Sonia decides to shoot a proper choreographed movement, the location is just outside the room where we canned the first three our shots. Amit and Sonia discuss, he takes a call camera is again to be on the crane. The song is played,this time the dancers are also a part of themovement, Sonia is rehearsing with them andguys, its such a pleasure to see her dance and do the movements. So do her dancers, bhavna, sunita, priya andone moregirl whose name I dont recall, superb dancers. Bhavna is the prettiest of the lot. we shoot that segment also…Post lunch…we don’t see RGV around, I ask abhishek, “he has left during lunch time only” ohhh… must have as anything ispossible with him. Cut to evening we shoot the chair sequence, Amit wants the floor clean… he is busy lighting, and m setting boys are continuously wiping the floor, as in between people are walking, Sonia is rehearsing with Jiah, light men are running around fixing the lights. Admits assistant, “30 sec Sir – AMOL” is on his toes. getting the perfect look and light as our man wants it. And this had started since morning… trust me guys, aparna’s setting boys spent the whole day, wetting the floor as amit needed it. babu, allahbaksh, maruti and sheena spent half the time the whole day just cleaning and wiping the floor. Amit wouldnt give up, but then thats the beauty of our profession isn’t it?. After RGV left, Appu too left, she had to go to mukesh mills to see another location, as she had a shoot today, so she had to finalize certain things. Its pack up. we shot onlysix cans today. Its a little late, I dont want to go home as the location next day is the same. Abhi asks me to crash at his place. At the end of the day, it was nice to have some vodka and nice meat curry cooked b abhi’s mom. I thank her, as I crash out.
Day 2 – Everybody is on the sets on time, including Jiah. The day starts with a lot o energy. Ro enters the sets, he directly goes to theswimming pool, thereare twosequences to be shot there,plus some morearound the pool area. Today we have some hot looking male dancers too, Veron is the coolest looking dude, nice physique and all. They are performing a new dance form what the called BriBoying (Idont think I have spelt it correctly) so veron, himanshu, kundu and again one more guy whose name I dont remember. But I believe its very common in the US and according to Veron no other dancers in bollwood other than them do it. Later on when amit fucked Kundu’s happiness over something in the evening that I got to know that he was a dancer in Madonnas group, wonder what heis doing here???? anyways… that besides, I feel sorry for him as we could not shoot him aswe d have had he listened… Cut to… the energy levels are very high today. There is lots to do… we shoot non stop… there is onesection still left in the bungalow that is left, plus the tunnel/cave/a room, we are shooting with the briboys thegirlsgot enough rest the whole day. briboys and Jiah, Jiah solo, Jiahs walks. Some shots with the hottest Jimmy Jib operator cum owner of ‘only’ sixteen Jimmy Jibs prakash Mohapatra. May we meet next time prakash, I hope the number goes to 26. “kya karte kya ho aar tum itne jibon ko leke” nonetheless. We have canned a sexytop angle shot with veron and Himanshulying on the floor and doing their steps… mind-blowing… its around two PMlunch is over amitand Sonia has decided to shoot the remaining stair portion inside the bungalow, aparna and her gang is busysetting up the pool portion and the harem whereJiah and other dancers are to perform. The lighting inside is ready, we shoot, and this time its just the walk where Jiah and other girls are getting down the stairs. The shot is okayed wequickly move to the harem, its ready… Jib is ready too… Jiah comes, rehearses, dancers are always there. At one point of time Amit asks Sonia, 24 FPS or48 FPS??? yes she says, amit again ask Sonia yes? 24 or 48? she realizes… what amit is asking. She tells him 48 Frames. The paceat which we are working is rocking… all of us are on our toes… somehow I feel, today abhishek’senergy levels arelow. In the mean time at our PM sheel comes and whispers in m ears “boss, we have this bungalow only till nine pm, so please ensure you hurry and shoot fast”. we have been, all day long, harem is done, its around five…. wequickly run to the tunnel set put up in the same bungalow…Amit is not happy with the way the tunnel looks through the viewfinder. To our naked eyes its fine. He lights up the tunnel where jiah is standing and dancing solo and with the dancers… neither is he happy with all his experiment to get that right lighting that he tried with… aparna is called, paint is again… just spray the whole thing et again.The set is repainted… Amit is ok with the look… we aregetting late,sheel is standing nearby. We shoot, and guys… hold your breath… Jiah ROCKS…. Sonia decides to let her perform on the entire song… she does once, twice, thrice, fourth time, every time an entire can of film is used… then we shot her with he dancers, men and women dancers. Cut to its eight pm, sheel says we have only an hour to pack up, we all run to the swimming pool area… prakash is readywith his Jib… basic lighting is done… amitdoes last tid bits… Jiah comes and so do the dancers… get in Jiah… its close to Nine PM… we are at madh island, next to the see, its cold… Jiah and the dancergirls enter the pool. The shoot begins,the entire jib movement is cocoordinated with Jiahs and the other dancers movements. Sunita one of the dancer is unable to balance herself as she is in waist deep water, she tells Sonia tochange her position. Bhavna quickly replaces her position. The shoot begins…. ganesh comes and tells sheel, the cops are here, we will have to finish the shoot.Ganesh is managing the cops outside… in betweenI hear Jiah asking Sonia, are wetaking one more shot??? Sonia, “many more Jiah”. The entire Jib shot is canned… the top angle shot looks super sexy so does jiah and the other girls. Everybody thinks its a wrap.But amit calls for the fish tank, he wants to shoot underwater… we have already crossed the time limit, I see its close to ten PM, everybody is on their toes. The camera is put in the tank, this amit too has entered the pool along withhis assistant amol, light man, fakru and amit’s fourth assistant Samar… the shoot begins we shootthe underwater segment… Jiah is freezing in the water… Amit wants to do a retake o the last shot. a new magazine is loaded…Jiah performs…. its an ok shot… why shouldnt itbe; this time Sonia on take asks Jiah to get completely wet in the water, so she makesher sit, lie, stand in the water as Roy continues to shoot till the can gets over… Its pack up. I feel satisfied at the end of the day.The entire unit has worked very hard.We are on ourway home… amit is driving me, sheel and abhi home. we discuss… how many cans did we shoot sheel???? sheel, “six yesterday and 17 today, in all 23 cans”. we all look at each other, nobody says anything, asif everybody is trying to tell each other “TAKE LIGHT”.
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
great post!!!! :-? just a bit apprehensive abt the position the song will be placed in….
“24fps or 48fps???”
“yes”
just a suggestion.. it would be better if you could break it up into more paragraphs.. it looks cluttered right now because of all the details you’re giving and lack of punctuation in some parts (which i’m assuming you’re doing to give it that “adrenaline-rush” type feeling)..
but formatting aside, a lovely read.. thanks
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very detailed…love it!!
great read.
love the way you write
thanks!
surya
you didnt say anything about my outfit!!!
or my dancing! :( im gonna sulk now
JIAH!!! is it u ….:o
- Orange… yep… it’s the soon to be a star… Jiah… thanks Jiah for kicking Surya’s ass… for not blogging in depth about the shoot… ;) (Surya… I’m just kidding !)
Makes me wonder if RGV is also aware of Surya’s blog and has time to read it :-?
= Manjeet… you wondering??? I thought you were at the No Smoking shoot today…
Everything looks great except for the stupid lyrics..TAKE LIGHT…WTF
anyways TAKE LIGHT.:)
jiah…are you aamir khans step sister? :d
just kiddin…TAKE LIGHT.
which parta london u from?
leaving soon its a long long shoot:)
now sir(rgv) will sit on the edit & will take light.zurya you should let them into the post 7pm session.you know what i mean.
thanks for another good post surya. I have a question – is vishal b doing the music for this film?
Hey Surya, very nice post. Cud see everything happening in front of my eyes. But somehow didnt like the lyrics. May be with Jiah everything will look n sound sexy!! ;);)
Promotional numbers are anyway meant to be like that. Isn’t it ? BTW, who has given the music n written the lyrics ?
its salim sulaiman i guess
Im sure I saw Vishal Bhardwaj’s name about that somewhere??
hey Guys,
Yes Vishal has given the music for the song ‘Rojana’ sung by Amitji.
Arrey O kalia, i really pity your sense of humour dude…
Ha ha ha rony, one day… good one!!!
And guys yes, yes, yes… its the same Jiah, plus as far as the lyrics are concerned its supposed to be an entertaining number, just for the promotion of the film. Its entirely upto RGV whether to include the songs in the film or not. Though i really wish to see the Jiah Khan number to be rolling atleast at the end of the film.
Manjeet, i dont think RGV has any idea about the blog that i am writing, i am doing so completely in my personal capacity…
surya…..good post….will be fun watching the movie with these posts on nishabd read. great…
hope to meet you someday…if you wish…
Hey Jiah,
Come on yaar, do i have to say it??? Just wait till the song comes on air… the entire world will talk about your talent, performance, costumes and MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, UR SINGING ABILITIES… that was quiet a surprise, even fr me. U sing soooooo WELL!!! HOT, HOT, HOT, ha ha ha ha. Anyways, good fun we had while shooting. Tabiyat toh theek hain na? Hope swiming pool sequence has not affected your health…
Rising,
insha allah, we will meet soon… but who told u where i stay? are u too a aprt of the film industry???
Surya,
That’s a sad part…I am still not a part of film industry…but yes want to be…surely want to be….One of my friend told me where u stay. he is close with film industry folks. We live in mulund and i work at vikhroli….
Striker,
i will follow your instructions, what happens is most of the time when i wote the articles, i was either very tired or wrote taking some time out of something very important… but dont u worry, henceforth i will try to write as much better as i can, keep telling me though… thanks bro… in the mean time OZ if u reading it, i need ur cell number, atleast i can message u the way i message striker boy.
no problem surya bhai.. was just constructive criticism.. like i said, it was only formatting stuff.. content is top class!!
Surya….waiting for that short film of yours…please do post on that too…..heard a lot about it…..
hey surya amazing post man!!… ya me too like striker got confused somewhere in d middle due to the formatting!.. but its ok.. ican understand !… the content is classic chalta hai!.. but i loved d post man!!
1 question surendra… all ramu movies have unique or u can say eye catching camera directions.. i want to ask does he concentrates a lot on camera directions as in he makes the cameraman go mad??…even in d promos of nishabd..d camera directions r amazing!! they grab ur attention!!..
Surya, we should all meet sometime. It was good to meet Chaitanya n Vasan today on the sets of no smoking.
Theres a shoot tomorrow at gateway of India at 7pm. Everyone on PFC is invited to come along with their friends and bring as many friends as possible as there is a requirement in the scene.
hey manjeet..i would love to come there… thanx dude!..
Jiah sings too :O.. totally missed that part.. anyway i cant wait to see the movie esp after reading surya’s posts(So thanks bud).. actually i have a silly question unrelated to this post..(sorry surya hope you wont mind)…so is everyone who comes on PFC somehow in film industry?? or know/met each other??… i been reading a lot of posts for the past month(first of all they all are brilliant) and seems like many of you meet on daily bases.. anyway i love this site there is so much information that I can learn from
Little offtrack from the post, but i never thought that this site is only for those who are related somehow to film industry. Is it??
but yes lot of people we read on pfc are in the cinema world.
i am just like baarishh….novice in this field, but trying to learn. and this is a great site as the post are really good and detailed.
manjeet thx for the shoot info….will certainly try to be there.
@rising… *handshake* good to know i am not the only one
The question is when is nishabd going to release? I haven’t seen any promo’s on tv and yet the release date on indiafm is 23 feb….
hi Rainbow – it will be released either on 23rd or 28th Feb.
Rising – No no i think very few people are from the film industry. I know only kartik ie striker, and OZ through him thats about. I Know Anurag too, but this has nothing to do with PFC. He was the guest filmmaker on indie film club when my short film was screened, i got to know him there.
Manjeet – We will, we will…
Vasan – will write about my short film soon. Its about people who work in the morgue as Post mortem servants. One day i want to make a feature film on these guys… its called 0:0PM.
Hi Surendra, thanks for the feedback…..i really am looking forward to nishabd but there are many sceptics out there who are spelling doom for nishabd and for AB accepting such a role..I personally am delighted that he accepted such a role..its alien territory for him, which means something new for us, as an audience, to see…Wud love to hear more behind the scenes stories …
surya
you are creating such a craze with your blog….but make sure you keep the SECRET details to yourself!
OF COURSE JIAH… THAT GOES WITHOUT SAYING!!! WARNA BOSS MUJHE ‘KHALLAS’ KAR DEGA. HOPE U R READING MY OTHER STORIES TOO…
JIAH,
I AM NOT GOING TO DIVULGE ANY OTHER DETAILS AS FAR AS THE STORY IS CONCERNED, IT WOULD BE UNETHICAL ON MY PART TO DO SO. JUST GIVING THEM A FLAVOUR OF HOW WE SHOT, SHOT, SHOT, SHOT AND FINISHED THE FILM IN STRAIGHT 20 DAYS, AND SHARING HOW WE HAD A BLAST WHILE DOING SO, THATS ABOUT IT, NOTHING MORE AND NOTHING LESS.
That isn’t THE Jiah is it??
And there is a secret?? Ahh… now thats a surprise!
Thought I had already figured the story out!
Btw, who’s the cameraman for the movie???
STEVE,
yes its THE JIAH we are talking about, take light!!! AMIT ROY IS SHOOTING THE FILM DUDE.
The same Amit Roy who filmed ‘Ishq Vishq’ and ‘Sarkar’??
They were shot very well, especially ‘Sarkar’! That was on an international level man!! (hope I’ve got the right guy here??)
Surprised to see Jiah here?? (hello Jiah!)
You’ve obviously been chatting to her during your ‘chai’ breaks!!
Lucky people, working with Ramu on a daily basis!
Im jealous…but glad too, as we’re gettin all the info!
Maybe I should send Ramu 20 letters, lol!!
Oh, and Surya, why hasn’t Ramu done anything with Sandeep Chowta recently??
They produce good stuff together man!
I actually miss Sandeep..wonder where he has gone?????????
hey surya..u havent answered my question dude!.. scroll up for d question..
and ya..even i wanna know abt sandeep chowtha and rgv.. their teamimg was excellent right from satya to kaun and company.. wat happened???
@Surya.. i think reading your post and learding about the events that occured while making the movie just makes it more exciting to watch the final product… so i for one just cant wait for the movie….
@Jiah..maybe if you have time, you could share your experience in working with the crew….
Bhavesh,
Man i am so sorry… No, RGV doesn’t make the cameraman go mad or anything. Yes all the shots are designed by him. He expects extremely higher level of efficience from his team. He like to work at a very fast pace. For eg.Nishabd was one shoot where, he used to design a shot, tell the DOP Amit, take him to the next location, design a shot there, so while we shot in the first location, his assistants kept the basic lighting ready in the next location. After reaching the second location, he used to take the DOP in the third location and decide a shot, and while we shot there, the lighting in the next location was kept ready. We shot the entire film like this.
Steve,
Yes the same Amit Roy, u got him right. He is a dude, young and energetic. In the coming future he is gonnna rock. I see him as India’s one of the leading Cinematographers. As far as Sandeep C is concerned, i dont have any idea as to why havent they teamed up again.
cool man!.. that was informative!..thanx a lot surya and keep posting…love your posts
surya, great going dude…
your posts are always so informative and well-written. it’s almost like being present at the shoot. after reading your posts, I know a bit about the film maker i admire the most i.e. RGV. Thanks for all your amazing posts. ameteurs and cinema enthus like me need this kind of glimpse in the film industry. keep it up!!!