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My novel, “that thing called Love” was launched in Mumbai on 25thSeptember last year. After the Mumbai launch, a Delhi reading took place on 1st November. Initial sales were pretty good, media reports were decent and most of the feedback I got from readers was positive.

It was in early March this year that I decided to do another event around the book. However I didn’t want it to be another reading session, which can get boring beyond a point. I woke up one morning visualizing a particular scene from the novel as it would appear on screen if the film, based on the book actually happens. And I knew what needed to be done.

I called up my friend, Manasvi and discussed the idea of shooting a short film based on the novel. He was pretty excited, especially as he had liked the book. However he suggested we shoot a teaser/promo instead. I liked the idea and we started work immediately by selecting the best moments from the novel.

The teaser as I saw it then, was broadly meant to serve two objectives: a) it was meant to be an unprecedented brand building exercise for the book
b) it was meant to showcase and pitch the book’s plot as a viable film project

Within a week, we worked out the script together. We had decided to confine the promo to the three main characters of the book- Mayank, who is in his late twenties; Revathi who is in her early thirties and Revathi’s husband, Pranav, who is in his late thirties. We felt that would bring out the central conflict of the story better. Next on the agenda was casting.

We zeroed in on Akshay Anand for Pranav’s role as both Manasvi and I knew we won’t get a better brooding husband character than him. I bounced off the script to Akshay, who is a friend and he just loved it. Thus Pranav was in place.
Subhalaxmi Ray, who is a common friend, was approached for Revathi’s part. Though she is a corporate lawyer by profession, her graceful persona and soft demeanor had her automatically fit into Revathi’s character. And luckily, she agreed. That left us with Mayank’s casting. I wanted to play that part. So that’s how the three main characters were finalized.

We were ready to roll by April third week. However, we didn’t have the right cameraperson in place. We zeroed upon Saurabh Vishwarkma, who is Manasvi’s friend and batch-mate from FTII. However, Saurabh was in London, shooting for Goal, on which he is the associate cinematographer. He was approached on the net. Luckily, he too loved the concept. We decided to wait for three more weeks before Saurabh came back.

In these three weeks, we bounced off the script to friends, Girish, Ajit and Pallavi. Some interesting suggestions came up, including a rather controversial one from Ajit, which we could not incorporate for various practical purposes.

A day after Saurabh landed in Mumbai, we shot the promo. The promo was shot on 12th and 13th of May at a frenzied pace at six different locations that included my flat, my neighbor’s flat, the terrace of my building, ZF Gym Malad( whose lobby was made to look like a coffee shop), the Versova beach and the roads behind Inorbit Mall. The indoor locations were decorated with lamps and showpieces provided by another friend, Neharika who owns the company, Geti Crafts. The film was shot on a mini DV camera.

While Manasvi carried out the edit on his laptop, Madhav Ajgaoankar, who I’d met through a networking site and who again had worked with the director in the past, was roped in to compose the music. Madhav is well known for composing background music for TV shows and owns the company The Music Inn.

Initially, I was keen to have major portions of the promo in the form of a song. Since that wasn’t possible, Manasvi came up with another brilliant idea. He and Madhav had composed a music album in the past that contained eight songs churned out from poems penned by Manasvi’s Mom, Dr. Chhaya Sharma. One of these songs, “Bewajah Udaasi Mein…’ ideally fitted into our story. That’s how a music video, which is entirely the director’s brainchild was cut, along with the promo.

In two weeks’ time, both the promo and the music video were ready. We held several screenings for friends and colleagues, all of whom liked them.

The promo and the music video were screened for the public on 6th July at Landmark, Mumbai. Director Vipul A. Shah was the chief guest on the occasion.

Thus, while the first objective has been achieved, work on the second is still on.

I take this opportunity to thank everybody involved in the making of the promo and music video. Everybody has worked without any monetary consideration coz they believed in the project.

I’d also like to seek your good wishes for the book to come out as a film soon. Please do watch the promo and the music video and leave your comments..

Promo-

[youtube]TzlXdoQeZiU[/youtube]

Music Video-
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Thanks,

Tuhin