It’s the people who make life worth living for. And there are so many of them with such a variety of personalities within them that they can never cease to amuse you. In the past two months I have met a so many people. So similar yet to distinct. In a matter of just few days this acquaintance grew into a bond that will remain for a lifetime. However big or small their stature on the set is, everybody has a role to play. Many of whom are sardonically useless too! Only on a film set will you ever get to know 100 people at once! The gaffers, the spot boys, the junior artists, the coordinators… faces and people who I will always remember…
Sajid: my director. You’d be a fool to be around him and not learn anything. He is cynical, people have perceptions about him, he is in your face and honest to the extent of being rude.. he is Sajid! We have exchanged very few words but passively I have learnt the most from him.
Vik Sir: He is the man behind those incredible shots. He makes them all look so good. And he made it all look really easy as well. He has taken the brunt of my work most yet has been kind enough to not deter me ever. I don’t think a person of his stature would ever spend so much time teaching a new comer like me her job. I was stunned to see him walk up to the DJ console and jive for he is otherwise so serious. Great to have been worked with a maverick like him.
Anshai: my chief AD. He is composed, well most times! He knows a lot, he knows his job well and he is good at it. He has silently stood by me, fought for me and fought with me as well, but at the end we have had a blast together!
Ali: Very diligent, assiduous and super fun. He belongs to a different school of thoughts, but that school surely has some good teachers. He has been patient with me and yet driven me nuts at times when he would call me off work and pose in front of my camera! I have more pics of him in my camera than my own!
Avni: she is young and an atomic bomb of energy. We would all sink deep into our beds after a 12 hour long shoot and this little one would still have the energy to dress up and party all night. She has shopped at all possible places in London when we couldn’t even manage to shop for our dailies. She has learnt London tubes like she would be living there forever and she has eaten at ping pong more than the owner himself would eat there! We have had rough arguments on set yet some fond memories that will never evade from my shoot, I share with her.
Rohini: I thought, a chik Camera Assistant! And she proved me wrong… glad I am. I saw her picking heavy light equipment and moving around camera stands and kino’s and thought this frail young girl has a lot of muscle. She and I shared a common passion for food and that is what got us together. Our pack was beginning to shape up. We have hung out everyday almost. We ate food together on set however bad it was. We shopped together and we loved every bit of it. I found a very good friend in her in no time.
Momo: is more madness. She is on ecstasy all the time. She looks doped out to people or that is what she wants people to perceive of her. The one chik who shared common passion for life apart from Rohini was Momo. Her dance moves that Avni so loves ;-) her eating habits that Rohini so hates ;-) her piercing that everybody so talks about ;-) OMG she is mad! Rohini Momo and I could inverte London with our madness.
Niki: Niki is the loudest among us all. But that's becoz of her enthusiasm for anything! She can give you an impression of being submissive, but you should see her at work. Aggressive is her second name. She cannot speak hindi, she got detained once for her Kenyan passport, he has lived in Canada for 8 yrs and calls Toronto 'Trono' for some strange reason and can easily get away as a 20 yr old! Niki you are absolute fun!
Claude: he would talk less but always talk sense. Initially he would give me tips on my clap and that really helped me. Then he gave me advice on how to behave on set and helped me too! His advice has never failed. His wise cracks would go over my head. He was omnipresent. He was the only guy on set with a license to hold up a shot! Everytime we were all ready, he would come with his little light meter and count numbers minus 4, 2.8, +5-4… he was the villain of the film like Akshay said! Always popping at the wrong time! I have not seen Claude ever sit on the set.
Deepakji: I have annoyed him the most! Deepakji slate le lo… deepakji clap aa raha hai ke nahi? Deepakji ye deepakji woh! He was unperturbed… always absorbed in his work. One other person who would constantly be on his feet with the walky-talky in his ears giving him instructions and deepakji following it like an subservient child. He taught me lenses, he taught me how to clap without bugging anyone ;-) He has been a great support on set for me without whom I would have lost my job in two days!
Shaunak: I have grown fonder of him during our London visit. I couldn’t sleep that one night I fought with him. He is total ladies man and at work the busiest among all. But he really works hard. We see him working hard for what he wants to be and at this rate you will get there sooner than you blink Shauny! He is a darling and will remain forever.
Nazar: he was shooting the making I felt like shooting him down every time he would occupy my place near the camera! He is the reason why I said ‘end slap’!!! He is the reason why I called out numbers wrongly many times. He is the only one who laughs on his jokes. Yet I adore him.
Raju Bhai: our spot boy. Very very experienced and has taken care of me like his I were his own daughter. I do not know or wish to know what his intentions were but he never made me feel homesick. I would get tea whenever I asked for it, he would keep choco chip cookies for me, he told me stories of people he worked with and just listening to it was delightful.
Micky: he was our dolly boy who did not have many friends on set I observed. He would keep to himself and a few people around. But he was immensely fond of me. He got me chocolates, marshmallows and cider! He even got me a hamburger once! He is a rockstar really! He had his own rock band where he played the guitar, rode on a lambretta with flared jeans and long hair… hahaha… super cool!
Ricky: my radio man. I have not seen him frown even one day. He would always greet me with a warm smile and a heavy burden of 4 walky-talky’s for each one of us ADs. His energy from beginning to end of the shoot was the same. So good to know you as a friend.
Sue: This woman is what I want to be when I become 40. She is so full of energy that she can put a 16 year old to shame. She drove Akshay to set and did multiple other things that I could never grasp. She has 2 sons who are more friends than kids to her. You’re a cool woman and no pretence!
Lee: umm, the date is still due! Such a player, he promised every girl on the set to take out on a date but never did. This ex-shippie is an incorrigible flirt and you cannot ignore him really. Our local line producer who speaks hindi and would put us all in splits instantly. His favorite target ajay, avni and me! Super smart and super good at his work, Lee is a killer guy!
Ajay: He is one person who has never been stressed on set however big the set up is. He would always be smiling and his smile would piss the hell out of my director but he wouldn’t sweat even one bit. Ajay would come out with e uncanny one liners and leave me amused. I love his sketches and looking at him one wouldn’t ever guess he would sketch so well. He is an absolute delight to be around with and work with.
Ritiesh’s gang: Nitin 1, Nitin 2, Kamal and Vinod are madcaps. The only star gang that I found fantastic. They are all super fun people and really good friends.
Boman sir: He is a gem really. The one day I spent 20 minutes chatting with him made me grow fond of him. Thorough gentleman, so humble and down to earth and so warm! He is fantastic on screen we all know but he is even better as a human being.
Few of the many people who made work seem so easy and so much fun. I can never thank them enough for just having been a part of my learning curve. I hope to cross paths with them sometime soon and show them proudly how much of a difference they made to me as a person.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
London Good Bye!
Stars in my eyes, anxiety in the mind, a lump of nervousness in the throat and fast track heartbeat when my feet touched the ground at London Heathrow airport. Some forty of us making our way out of the airport and the chaos to sort our luggage. Some known and some unknown faces waiting to be introduced. We were gona be each other’s world for the next 50 days. We were looking at each other scrutinizing and judging personalities. It’s like wedding jitters; this anxiety was.
We met again on the day of the shoot. Each face had a distinct emotion strongly reflecting on it. Experience, confidence, over confidence, nerves, relief or simple stress… I could sense every face giving out the exact detail of what the mind was going through. Shot after shot as we finished one scene for the day the expressions changed. It was like a barrage of emotions all around me. Gradually as familiarity grew in, the emotions became personal and they communicated a lot more than just the heartfelt. Some faces grew fonder some distant and some only exist. I was told that you get sick of people after 50 days of seeing each other 24x7. But the welcoming smiles haven’t disappeared even after 30 days of toiling in the weird London weather.
Waking up at 4am and leaving for shoots at 6am has become a part of live, however annoying it is everyday. I hate the alarm every time it goes up to wake me up. I slap to shut it like I will kill it. I hate the warmth of my duvet because it doesn’t let me step out of my bed. I hate the thought of not being able to steal some sleep with a fear of being late and left behind. Yet I love every bit of this madness. I love the idea of waking up everyday to a new day of shoot. I love my work!
Its not the fun of being abroad in a different country, it’s the fun of doing something so creative and fulfilling with the added bonus of working in another country and to be able to experience something so incredible that excites me. I have met new people, made new friends, bitched, gossiped endlessly about anybody random, tried to find some solace in the midst of this madness in vain and learnt something new everyday. Life cannot be better!
Every time we got some time to ourselves we would run at the first opportunity to shop or roam around. We lived on Oxford street for 2 months and began referring to our hotel room as ‘home’. Nothing more disastrous than that can happen to anyone ever that you call a hotel your home! We all know every nook and corner of Marble Arch and Oxford like the gali in our locality. Oxford street was residence. Leicester Square, Piccadilly Sq, London Bridge, London eye, Big Ben are no more things we saw in movies or postcards or facebook pics of other people for that matter. It is now familiar, known and traversed. We have treaded all the paths of Leicester and all the lanes that took us to a good pub and good music. Camden market is Hill road, I can proclaim proudly today!
We all came with a ‘to do in London’ list and it feels so good to strike of one after the other ‘things we did in London!’ The only one thing I couldn’t do which I will regret is cycling around the lanes here. As I bid adieu to London I feel there is nothing in this life that you wish for and you do not get. I got what I wished for, and I shall never stop wishing!
We met again on the day of the shoot. Each face had a distinct emotion strongly reflecting on it. Experience, confidence, over confidence, nerves, relief or simple stress… I could sense every face giving out the exact detail of what the mind was going through. Shot after shot as we finished one scene for the day the expressions changed. It was like a barrage of emotions all around me. Gradually as familiarity grew in, the emotions became personal and they communicated a lot more than just the heartfelt. Some faces grew fonder some distant and some only exist. I was told that you get sick of people after 50 days of seeing each other 24x7. But the welcoming smiles haven’t disappeared even after 30 days of toiling in the weird London weather.
Waking up at 4am and leaving for shoots at 6am has become a part of live, however annoying it is everyday. I hate the alarm every time it goes up to wake me up. I slap to shut it like I will kill it. I hate the warmth of my duvet because it doesn’t let me step out of my bed. I hate the thought of not being able to steal some sleep with a fear of being late and left behind. Yet I love every bit of this madness. I love the idea of waking up everyday to a new day of shoot. I love my work!
Its not the fun of being abroad in a different country, it’s the fun of doing something so creative and fulfilling with the added bonus of working in another country and to be able to experience something so incredible that excites me. I have met new people, made new friends, bitched, gossiped endlessly about anybody random, tried to find some solace in the midst of this madness in vain and learnt something new everyday. Life cannot be better!
Every time we got some time to ourselves we would run at the first opportunity to shop or roam around. We lived on Oxford street for 2 months and began referring to our hotel room as ‘home’. Nothing more disastrous than that can happen to anyone ever that you call a hotel your home! We all know every nook and corner of Marble Arch and Oxford like the gali in our locality. Oxford street was residence. Leicester Square, Piccadilly Sq, London Bridge, London eye, Big Ben are no more things we saw in movies or postcards or facebook pics of other people for that matter. It is now familiar, known and traversed. We have treaded all the paths of Leicester and all the lanes that took us to a good pub and good music. Camden market is Hill road, I can proclaim proudly today!
We all came with a ‘to do in London’ list and it feels so good to strike of one after the other ‘things we did in London!’ The only one thing I couldn’t do which I will regret is cycling around the lanes here. As I bid adieu to London I feel there is nothing in this life that you wish for and you do not get. I got what I wished for, and I shall never stop wishing!
Monday, August 10, 2009
Two and a Half Hours of Magic
50 days of madness, chaos, fun and ass ripping hardwork for a 2.5 hour cinematic experience. Am only half way through it yet. 25 days into this madness and i am loving every bit of it. The surroundings have absorbed me fully as i have let them flow in my veins along with my blood. Everything, from running around giving actors their scenes for tomorrow to holding their chai cups to giving clap and getting flaked for everything! Life is fun here..
Rotten as hell is an understatement to describe the first day of work. I was shaking... so much had been filled into my head about clap and the whole set feel that i was NERVOUS in capital letter, underlined and bold in 72 size font. There was akshay kumar, ritesh and lara right in front of me and a bunch of scrutinizing eyes in my own team who would evaluate my aptitude in that one day of work. The first clap was given by Sajid sir's mother. When my turn came, my throat dried and hands went cold. I do not know what i spoke but i was pretty sure it was all wrong. So the 3 giants who stood behind my clap knew the very instant that either i was new or totally foolish. Nonetheless, i had a job on hand and i was on a mission! Everybody on set is senior to me even if they are 19yrs old... so i got gyan from all directions. Well, for people who know me, multiple instructions confuse me to death. So my state of mind need not be further explained!
Day two and three were worse coz new situations arrived and i had to learn faster than a child. I was losing it... but finally i felt myself absorbing everything around me. I picked up pace and clap has become synonymous to me! Atleast i think so....
Film making, has aspects that i had never known as an audience. The amount of hardwork and effort that goes into making even the trashiest movie is incredible. Nobody thinks they are making trash so put in less effort. Every shot is lit up like 'this is the shot that will make the movie'! Every scene is performed like 'an oscar performance'. Not a penny less... So i know now when ever i trashed a movie saying 'kyu banayi aisi picture' i was disrespecting the efforts put in by the 100 people on the crew for whom the film was a blockbuster in the making. I will now think of the gaffers who hold lights in rain, sun and blistering cold just to make that shot look perfect. I will think of the spot boys who wake up 2 hours earlier than us just to ensure that we are comfortable at shoot and everything is in place. I will think of the actors who eveng after all the many luxuries they enjoy, come to early morning shoots and stay up late to finish a scene. I will think of all the AD's who work their asses off to ensure the back bone of the film doesn't crumble.
I have lots to share... although i miss home and miss my people... i miss blogging whenever and whatever... but this work keeps me going... everyday is a new learning for me... and yet i am only half way through this film. What we do and what you see is pure magic... and i am learning the tricks of this trade by the day.
Rotten as hell is an understatement to describe the first day of work. I was shaking... so much had been filled into my head about clap and the whole set feel that i was NERVOUS in capital letter, underlined and bold in 72 size font. There was akshay kumar, ritesh and lara right in front of me and a bunch of scrutinizing eyes in my own team who would evaluate my aptitude in that one day of work. The first clap was given by Sajid sir's mother. When my turn came, my throat dried and hands went cold. I do not know what i spoke but i was pretty sure it was all wrong. So the 3 giants who stood behind my clap knew the very instant that either i was new or totally foolish. Nonetheless, i had a job on hand and i was on a mission! Everybody on set is senior to me even if they are 19yrs old... so i got gyan from all directions. Well, for people who know me, multiple instructions confuse me to death. So my state of mind need not be further explained!
Day two and three were worse coz new situations arrived and i had to learn faster than a child. I was losing it... but finally i felt myself absorbing everything around me. I picked up pace and clap has become synonymous to me! Atleast i think so....
Film making, has aspects that i had never known as an audience. The amount of hardwork and effort that goes into making even the trashiest movie is incredible. Nobody thinks they are making trash so put in less effort. Every shot is lit up like 'this is the shot that will make the movie'! Every scene is performed like 'an oscar performance'. Not a penny less... So i know now when ever i trashed a movie saying 'kyu banayi aisi picture' i was disrespecting the efforts put in by the 100 people on the crew for whom the film was a blockbuster in the making. I will now think of the gaffers who hold lights in rain, sun and blistering cold just to make that shot look perfect. I will think of the spot boys who wake up 2 hours earlier than us just to ensure that we are comfortable at shoot and everything is in place. I will think of the actors who eveng after all the many luxuries they enjoy, come to early morning shoots and stay up late to finish a scene. I will think of all the AD's who work their asses off to ensure the back bone of the film doesn't crumble.
I have lots to share... although i miss home and miss my people... i miss blogging whenever and whatever... but this work keeps me going... everyday is a new learning for me... and yet i am only half way through this film. What we do and what you see is pure magic... and i am learning the tricks of this trade by the day.
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