Yeah right! So I thought I’m Spielberg. The next big Oscar winning director. Somehow this dramatic bug has always been a part of me. Sometimes, I’m inclined to act, sometimes to sing. Now the bug had caused a new disease – the disease to direct! I wanted to see my actors being treated like cattle. But then I even thought I’m Alfred Hitchcock…
What intrigued me most of this field of dramatics was what I saw backstage, or what I saw when they aired those “Behind-the-scenes” footage of any recent blockbuster. I saw these moments and realized that those invulnerable actors and actresses were vulnerable after all. They were all answerable to the director. It was this person who told them what to do, when to laugh, when to cry, when to jump. I wondered who would want to be an actor now. Heck, I’d like to be their boss, their head. Their ruler!
The idea to direct my own film, however small, struck me when I was preparing for the 3rd trimester exams. Here I was supposed to be trying to understand the tenets of “Electronics-2”, but I was busy imagining myself in a business suit, running around with a silenced gun. Enthusiasts of a popular cult computer gaming franchise would here know which fictional individual I was attempting to imitate, although I looked nothing like said individual. I pitched the idea to my friends, who too found the circuitry and connections of film-making more interesting than Electronics-2. I clearly remember me and my friends frantically throwing ideas and visuals and plot devices onto a notebook, while Boylestad lay unattended in one corner of the table. What resulted from this exercise was the screenplay of our movie. Weeks later, it materialized as our first bonafide short film. Months later, it gave me an abysmal GPA of 2.85 (yes, that IS an abysmal and pathetic GPA!) Anyway, who cared about scores when we were on the path to fame and fortune! For now, we were bonafide filmmakers! Short duration not withstanding.
Our exams got over on 26th April, 2007. Two people from the principal cast were to leave the city on 30th April. One on 29th. So time was at a premium. The crew included my class mates Sanjeev Krishnan and Rushabh Shah. Other members consisted of Kriti Mehan, Ashwani Rathod, Shailaja Sukumar, Tripti Jain, Dev Sharma, Mrinal Tiwari and Vivek Shah from other divisions. We also had a few seniors to help us, namely Mrinal Sharma, Pratik Kothari and Urvish Kukreja. Another senior from DJ Sanghvi College, Bhavya Acharya was also part of the cast. So this motley crowd of fourteen took it upon themselves to make a film!
On the evening of the 26th April, as soon as the exams got over, we were down in the canteen with a n
otebook. My “cinematographer” or “Director of Photography”, Pratik Kothari was bearing down on me for the lack of planning. We sat there and wrote down the plan for the shooting, deciding when to shoot which scene and where, what would be the props necessary for the particular scene. We had got down to shooting the bulk of the film on the first day. On the second day we were to shoot two indoor action sequences. The climatic gunfight was left to be shot on the final day. Later on we added another optional scene for the last day, which we actually shot when everyone had come to my home on the last day for the celebratory lunch. But we are going too much into the end already. Lots left yet.
The two of us were kept waiting for a long time on that first day itself by a majority of the crew. My hopes were being dashed on the rocks at sea, when my great film stars arrived, (pardon the cliché) fashionably late. With a quick discussion, we dispersed for the day. Then two of us, Sanjeev and I, went about procuring the props. Plastic guns and red paint. We were making an action thriller! Props in hand, I headed home. I didn’t even have the luxury of enjoying the end of the exams; I was busy preparing the schedule for the next day. And the joke was that I was going to wake up the next day, earlier than what I usually woke up for the exams. Talk about priority.
Early next morning, at around an astounding 8:00am (that is early right?), six of us met at college. We then got into two rickshaws and headed for the BSNL colony at Juhu. The guards looked at us suspiciously as we carried fake firearms that looked ridiculously authentic. We went straight to Mrinal Tiwari’s house, where the first day’s shoot was scheduled. We all felt so professional about it. A planned shoot, deadlines, a screenplay. All those great airs went for a toss when I realized that I had forgotten the notebook at home, in which the great screenplay was written. The order was slipping already at 8:30 with hardly anything started and chaos began its reign. But this is also where the amateur beginner’s fun began. Armed with a Sony Handycam, we were about to make cinematic history!
First, it took us 15 minutes to figure out how to handle the tripod stand that my father had given t
o me for the shoot. That settled, we plunged into our movie. The shoot began haphazardly with Pratik shooting the first scene that came to his mind. Let me tell you, the feeling was exhilarating! It was supposed to be a mute scene, to which we would add music later in post-production. Yet, the high that I got as I instructed my actors to do my bidding was unimaginable! It wasn’t authoritarian or anything, as I mentioned before, but very beautifully sublime. I was collaborating on art, on a piece of cinema with other individuals! Seeing Sanjeev and Rushabh play out a silent make-believe discussion made me shiver with joy. My whole body was shaking.
Soon we kept finishing scene after scene. Pratik was in charge of the camera most of the time, so I was having a tough time trying to persuade him to follow my vision. He almost always had something or the other to say and he had the feeling his was the better option. With a few heated arguments, we managed to move ahead slowly. By noon, we realized that we had completed only 3 scenes. Suddenly the time pressure started telling on all of us. We began to get frantic, most of all, Sanjeev and me. Two of the most hot-tempered people on the group were losing their cool. God alone knows what stopped us from banging each other’s heads on the wall. The storm soon passed and we moved down to shoot an outdoor scene.
Now, there were some children playing in the compound. As we were attempting to finish off the shots quickly, these children started playing truant. Believing they were witness to a big-budget future box office monster (how I wish!), they started appearing in almost every frame! Like those crazed civilians we see in news channel footage, where the newsperson is telling us of the suffering the common man is going through, and we see these nuts laughing their guts away to glory because they are on screen! Somehow, we completed the shot, with one of us shooing away the children like goats.
Some more temper tantrums and hoarse throats later, the first day’s shoot was officially over. I had a feeling of triumph, although it was just the first day. Tired, but happy, I headed home for a good night’s sleep.
The next day, most of us got a breather. The shoot for the day was to start in the afternoon at my house. At approximately 2:00pm, Pratik and Vivek arrived. Vivek was doubling as the music director and action choreographer! So he was fixing the fight moves that Sanjeev and me would be performing. Sanjeev had lost his way and was frantically calling me up for directions. I spotted him from my window and started giving him directions like how one would give a robot – move straight, halt, turn left, move straight again, look right and so on and so forth. He finally did make it to my house. The fight scene was proceeding nicely, when we had a “wardrobe malfunction”! Sanjeev, in his excitement, tore his trousers, right in the block hole! Chaos ensued, as we were trying to find a remedy. Putting a safety pin didn’t seem to solve our problems. Then I rummaged through my wardrobe and Lady Luck smiled at me and helped me out by providing me with a trouser of the same shade. Shooting resumed and got over with no further obstacles. In the evening, we headed to a flat where Urvish and a few other seniors stayed. It was here, on the second day, that we finally managed to shoot the opening scenes of the film. This method of shooting according to location and not according to the canonical timeline of the film was also a very new and interesting aspect of filmmaking that I got to learn about. Experience counts, and this was one of those, so-this-is-how-it’s-done experiences.
Finally, the last day of the shoot dawned. We were really on a tight leash as Vivek, who had an important role to play on that day, was to leave for Baroda in the afternoon. This “racing against time” situation had me tingling with excitement! This time, four of us met at 7:00am, (even earlier!) at Jogeshwari station. The shoot was an outdoor shoot, the climatic gun battle of the film! Bhavya Acharya was playing host to us that day. The interesting thing to note was that at every apartment we went to shoot, the parents were conveniently absent. Even at such times, early in the morning! We were not complaining!
Guns in hand, and paint bottle in tow, we headed for the location, a little vegetated patch behind the building. Half an hour was spent in assessing the location and choreographing the scene. Soon, we were (finally!) running around with guns! I felt so footloose and insanely happy, that my wildest fantasies were playing themselves out in front of my eyes! Pratik, very sportingly captured us in the frame from very weird angles, lying in ditches and what not. Sanjeev, Vivek, Bhavya, Mrinal Tiwari and myself had a blast of a time, acting like FBI agents, out to capture a wanted man. I tried to put in every action movie cliché and motion in this scene. What we finally got wasn’t very far from professional action sequences and was a very impressive scene indeed.
That afternoon, everyone came to my house to have lunch in celebration of the completion of the film’s shooting. We watched the entire footage and laughed at ourselves as we made complete fools running around and fighting. A beautiful time had gone by.
The next few weeks were spent in post-production. I edited the film, Pratik assisted me in the editing. Mrinal Sharma saw a test preview and gave his suggestions. Vivek made some original music with his friends in Baroda and sent it over e-mail. Music in place, the film was finally done.
College re-opened. All of us very proud and happy with what we had managed to do in the summer. It might not have been very great, but we tried our hands at something we obviously keep dreaming and fantasizing about most of the time. We had managed to become “film stars” and “dream gurus” in our own right. The film was shown to a few friends at first and then we managed to show it to our entire class. The film is now uploaded on YouTube. Some random people from around the world have seen it and have given positive reviews. So the day is not far now, when the Oscar will come to India. When you have me! Oscars, here I come!
P.S.: To watch the film, access:
Clip1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Rx8ihUGU8w
Clip2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tlJZ2OMVQY
Clip3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLXrIjs8kHM
or contact Himanshu at 9819593680
or Sanjeev at 9892732334.
We would be glad to arrange a viewing.
