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Tinsel town has never beckoned me the way it does most people. I appreciate good cinema, but I have never gone weak in the knees at the sight of any star or stood in long queues to get autographs. So I was not as thrilled as many might be to get a chance of assisting director Nilanjan Bhattacharya on the sets of his maiden film Lal Ranger Duniya starring Debashree Roy, for a day.
And I wasn’t impressed at learning that I was going on an outdoor shoot, on the outskirts of the city.
To me, it only meant that I would have to get up two hours earlier to negotiate the early-morning traffic to reach location on time.
Still, I packed my bag, perched a floppy hat on my head in preparation of the hot sun (or shower) and set off at 9.30am, trying to feel cheerful.
12noon
Act I, Scene I or rather Shot I in filmi language! I arrive at the location — a Krishna temple on the banks of the Hooghly near Sodepur. The rest of the team was already there. And hard at work. Yet there was none of the chaos that I had expected.
What I am told
The scene is of Debashree, a sex-worker, visiting a temple that she frequents, in conversation with Gouri Shankar Panda, who plays the priest.
The inner shrine closes in the afternoon, so a few scenes that are to be shot inside the temple have to be completed quickly.
A few scenes with the priest have already been shot. I find Panda sipping tea in full costume and make-up.
What I do
Nothing! For there is nothing that I can do in the highly technical setting that I find myself in. I don’t know the script, I can’t handle a camera and the constant discussions on the density of light and shade for a particular scene seem Greek to me. So I sit down beside the script writer and strike up a conversation.
What I learn
That even a film crew has a still-photographer with him. Just to take pictures of every shot, so that the director can compare the shots later.
12.30pm
Debashree appears and immediately the tempo picks up. She had reached sometime ago and I had expected the star to take more time to dress up, but as soon as Debashree was told that the temple would close soon, she sped things up. She was out of her capris and top and into her red-bordered sari and make-up in 15 minutes.
12.45pm to 2.15pm
We start shooting the temple sequence.
What I am told
I am told to assist the assistant director. Which basically means that I have to keep an eye on everything… what the actors are saying, what they are wearing, the camera angle and the light.
What I do
Again, very little. The only thing that doesn’t need any technical training or experience is maintaining the continuity sheet, or a book where the details of the shot and the scene are recorded. So I watch the scene and write down what I see. I need a little help to find out whether it’s a long shot or a close-up, but otherwise I am told I do it quite well.
I also maintain and hold the clap-stick, that famous black board that has the shot, scene and take written on it, which is shot before each scene. This makes tracing each take easy during editing.
I also hold the script before the actors, so that they can learn the lines.
I cajole the cameraman to allow me a peek through the lens.
I stare at the monitor through which director Nilanjan Bhattacharya is checking each scene, but can make out nothing of the details that he seems to so easily spot.
What I learn
That a lot of real sweat goes behind the making of the perfect scene that we see on screen — not just the crew’s but even the stars’. The old stone stairs of the temple were scorching, but Debashree easily ran up and down them without complaining, when even her make-up artiste was grumbling.
An eye for detail is essential. A shot was re-taken just because the bindi on Debashree’s forehead was a shade darker than in the last scene.
Light is of primary importance. In real life, it may cloud over in a split-second, but in reel life such quick change will seem like a flicker, so in case that happens, artificial lights have to brought in to ensure the same density of light.
The scenes are not shot in the sequence that we see them on screen. The last scene may be shot first and then arranged during editing.
A good actor can turn on and off emotions in a second. I was surprised at how few retakes were needed.
A scene that is only three minutes long in the film needs four hours of filming.
2.30pm
Break, finally! I join the team for a lunch of khichudi and bhaja, a meal that Debashree’s character will be feeding a group of poor people in the next scene. I soak in the camaraderie of the set. The unit makes me feel I’m one of them!
3pm-3.30pm
Perhaps we have had too much khichudi, for more needs to be prepared for the actual scene. Also we need a few more people. So we move on to another scene, to be shot on the ghat.
What I’m told
It’s a scene where Debashree reaches the ghat to see a dead body.
What I do
The glare is too much to allow an easy shoot, so I listen to the cameraman discussing the various camera angles that can best capture the scene.
As Debashree reaches the ghat, my stint on set is done. I’m happy! I still have no desire to belong to tinsel town, but I am now able to appreciate their labour a little better. And I’ll wait for Lal Ranger Duniya to release. I’d like to watch the film I assisted in for a day. |
