• Raja Chaudhary

  • Published: on Aug 02 2008 @ 2:12 pm
  • Popularity: 976 views
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The Colour Of Gulal

Jan 1st 2001. The first day of the year. I was at I think one of the lowest points in my life. Ironically, I was standing at the highest point above the ground I’d ever been. Maybe 100ft and I was scared when I looked down. No not scared, I was shit scared. But I jumped. I mustered up whatever little courage I had left and jumped. As I hurtled towards the ground, I lost track of everything..time, my mind, my sight. It was only when the bungee cord pulled me back up did I regain my senses. The feeling was exhilarating. The throbbing in my head wasn’t. The sudden rush of blood to my head made it hurt. Actually, I was at the Andheri Sports complex where a bungee jumping camp was being organised. I had four hours to kill before my turn came. Amidst a lot of scared screams and jumping people, I thought of something. What if there was a film on ragging, a film set in a boy’s hostel in a professional college…a film as stark, as realistic and as hard hitting as “Satya”. So, in the days to follow, recounting my experience of my engineering college hostel days, I put together a script or so I thought. Somehow I always associated “Satya” with Anurag Kashyap. Not Ram Gopal Verma, not Saurabh Shukla. So, six months later I thought I’d meet him and narrate my script to him. I asked a friend, Suresh Singh, who was an actor in “Paanch” at that time to introduce me to Anurag. Anurag refused saying he didn’t want to meet any wannabe model. Eventually we did meet a couple of months later at a party. Pankaj Saraswat, another actor in “paanch’ and now the director of ‘the great indian laughter challenge’ introduced us. We shook hands, said hello and sat silently next to each other for the next one and a half hours. Having screwed up my chance, I requested Pankaj to oraganise a meeting again. This time we met at Pop Tate’s and I narrated my script to him. I don’t know whether he liked it or not, but we went to Jaipur post that. Once back Anurag disappeared only to emerge and narrate to us the script of “Gulaal”. It was spellbinding. I then realised that my script was like something written by a five year old as compared to what Anurag had written.

Thus began the journey of “Gulaal”. And what a journey it has been. False starts, heart aches, betrayals, humiliations, disappointments to begin with. But, something or someone always came along to offer hope. The hope that this film would happen. The hope that gave us the belief that we should not give up. When one hope faded another one sprung up to keep us going. And then Mr.Jhamu Sughand stepped in. We shot 80% of the film under his production but unfortunately he had problems which couldn’t be resolved as much as he tried. I am eternally grateful to him and his son Jugal for having faith in Anurag and “Gulaal”. Without him the film would never had taken off then and I wish he was here today.

Today, we have reached the final leg of this journey, the details of which if I were to write would take reams of space.. The shoot is complete and we are on to the post production. And as I look back I wonder what “Gulaal” means to me. It has ceased to be just a film for me. It has been my life line and life for the last 6 years. “Gulaal” and Anurag have been the reason why I’ve stayed on in Bombay. They have restored in me the confidence that I had lost. It has restored my faith in people when I see how selflessly people like Rajiv Sir, Wasiq da, Aarti, Piyush Bhai, Kshipra, Neel, Bilbo,Vasan, Kunal, Sanjay Maurya, KK, Aditya Srivastav, Deepak Dobriyal, Jessie Randhawa, Mahi Gill and everybody else have worked in the film and I’m so damn grateful to them. It has been such an enriching learning experience working with actors like KK, Aditya, Deepak, Piyush Bhai.

I don’t know why I am writing this. I don’t even know if I’m entitled to write this. But, maybe this is my way of telling the world that sometimes a film is more than just a film, irrespective of how it turns out. Maybe this is my own small story of a group of people who set out to do something in which they had unwavering faith irrespective of all the obstacles that they encountered. Maybe this is the story of my journey during which I discovered myself. Maybe this is the point where I’ve stood highest in my life and when I jump, I know for sure like the bungee chord, they’ll always be something to pull me back up. Maybe that’s why I’m not scared today.

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36 Responses to “The Colour Of Gulal”

  1. Pavan Jha on August 2nd, 2008 3:56 pm

    Raja,

    a good account of “ek khayaal ka safar…”

    You should be telling to Anurag and complete team of Gulal

    “Meri kalam se jo nikali to ek khayaal huee
    Tumhare haatho.n me pahunchi to ik mashaal huee.. ”

    Good luck to the team!

  2. Jateen Gandhi on August 2nd, 2008 5:36 pm

    Good luck to you and everybody.

  3. Nik on August 2nd, 2008 6:22 pm

    I am sure every movie making has a story behind it.. The way you guys are publishing stuff about Gulaal, we have more and more curiosity and since it is yours and Anurag’s baby, its even more hype.. Hopefully it meets the expectations.. good luck.. looking forward to Anurag’s movie as long as he makes realiastic movies..

    Nik

  4. Premal on August 2nd, 2008 9:27 pm

    gr8 post Raja Bhaiyya..kudos! Hws da post going?? All da best…give my regards 2 the team..

  5. tushar patel on August 3rd, 2008 2:21 am

    Best of Luck man. Your hard work is going to pay.It shows in the film. Tushar Patel

  6. Vikram on August 3rd, 2008 6:42 am

    When’s Gulal gonna release,will it be this year :)

  7. rusted rick on August 3rd, 2008 7:21 am

    well i dont know about any one else but i cant wait for this to release. i just pray that its this year, we need some good movies in the theaters soon yaar…..cant remember when was the last time i went in to see a hindi film this year and came out satisfied.
    best of luck.

  8. Rasik on August 3rd, 2008 8:28 am

    something which is a result of a honest effort always strikes a chord..this movie will not only do that but will be a brilliant one for sure…

  9. Vasanbala on August 3rd, 2008 10:23 am

    LOVE U RAJA

  10. zoomin on August 3rd, 2008 2:48 pm

    Have all the AK acolytes taken a look at RGV’s latest blog comments, and what he really thinks about AK’s talent…? Please do, it’s an eye opener..

  11. the tribal on August 4th, 2008 4:30 am

    guys anyone pls tell me wats ramu’s blog called.I tried reaching it thru orkut but cudnt find it.Pl help

  12. Philip on August 4th, 2008 5:29 am

    RGV’s blog is at

    http://rgvarma.spaces.live.com/

  13. Phoenixnu on August 5th, 2008 4:33 am

    its such a lonnnng journey. all the best Raja. eagerly looking forward to ur bungee jump!

  14. Raja Chaudhary on August 5th, 2008 8:48 am

    nik,jateen , rusted rick, rasik..thank u guys for the good wishes…
    vikram..gulaal releases most probably early next year..

  15. Raja Chaudhary on August 5th, 2008 8:50 am

    pavan..it was good to see you in jaipur…choki dhani to chomu palace must have been quite a drive..

  16. Raja Chaudhary on August 5th, 2008 8:55 am

    thanks premal..good to hear from you..post going good…let’s catch up soon

  17. Raja Chaudhary on August 5th, 2008 9:00 am

    thanks phoenixnu..its been really long…hope all of it pays off..even the bungee jump..

  18. gk on August 6th, 2008 11:45 pm

    hey raja jee.. believe me.. GULAL’S going to be one of anurags best films. all that u guys have been through (even i was a very small part of it during its 2nd attempt) its sure going to translate on screen.

  19. zoomin on August 7th, 2008 3:06 pm

    Philip, do you think there’s any truth to what RGV has to say about Kashyap?

  20. Raja Chaudhary on August 8th, 2008 12:24 am

    thanks a ton tushar…

  21. Raja Chaudhary on August 8th, 2008 12:25 am

    thanks gk…you have always been an integral part of the film..

  22. Mike on August 9th, 2008 4:29 am

    Hi Raja,

    nice article buddy…
    hey wish you all the best to entire Gulal team.

    i think AK and team is doing great work, i am sure after AAmir ..gulal is going to be next best film…

    bollywood need more people like You and Ak, who dare to make film on offbeat subject…..

    all the best and …keep posting !!!

  23. Joyjeet on August 9th, 2008 6:08 am

    Waiting for Gulaal. Waiting fot long. Bring it along guys and let’s have Holi

  24. Anandi on August 10th, 2008 8:05 am

    Balle Balle

  25. Gajendra S Shrotriya on August 12th, 2008 12:22 am

    All the best Raja… we are all ears… no… eyes for Gulaal to release.

  26. Raja Chaudhary on August 12th, 2008 8:39 am

    thanks mike, thanks joyjeet, thanks gajendra

  27. Roark H. on August 17th, 2008 2:30 am

    good luck ,Boss….hope it has a release here since the time it was annouced

  28. harsh on August 18th, 2008 11:39 am

    just wanna tell why wholae story of film is given in your site it to be release here just remove it

    http://www.rajachaudhary.com/

  29. t! on August 18th, 2008 12:48 pm

    @ Harsh - Who are you asking to do what?

  30. Tushar on August 20th, 2008 12:30 am

    Is this the wife beating, big boss raja c??

  31. ram on August 20th, 2008 12:48 am

    Yes it is but please refrain from personal comments and observations. Everyone deserves respect and forgiveness. And also you are unaware of the circumstances and the stress he faced so do not judge

  32. Raja Chaudhary on August 20th, 2008 3:09 am

    tushar..i am not the raja chaudhary you are talking about..there are two raja chaudharys..the guy who you are talking about is the one married to shweta tiwari…..if you have the time, i’ve written another article on pfc called ‘the namesake’..please read that…you’ll underatsnd what i’ve gone through and suffered beacause of the ‘raja chaudhary’ of big boss…there have been a lot of misunderstandings and i’m at my wits end trying to clarify my identity..

    ram..i appreciate the attempt at support but i’d like to clarify that i’m not the ‘raja chaudhary’ you guys are talking about…
    also have my own website…www.rajachaudhary.com
    please check that and i think a lot of doubts will be cleared..

  33. Raja Chaudhary on August 20th, 2008 3:10 am

    harsh, thanks..i get what you mean..am getting it removed from my site

  34. Raja Chaudhary on August 20th, 2008 3:11 am

    thanks roark h

  35. vasanbala on August 21st, 2008 12:39 am

    tushar and ram…..do you see any talk of “TV/Big Boss” or “Bhojpuri” films happening here…rest your doubts…and let this Raja Chaudhary breath in peace too.

  36. Jeetu on August 28th, 2008 4:00 am

    Nice artical Raja…. all the best wishes…..

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