Shooting in Egypt was like war!” says Srijit Mukherji, back home after a gruelling 19-day shoot in Saqqara, Cairo and the pyramids of Egypt. “We had military and police personnel with us constantly. There were a lot of restrictions. One day while returning through the Sahara, one of our trucks was attacked by the Bedouin mafia. We had to negotiate and pay them in cash before things were settled. We also had a lot of equipment malfunctioning,” he adds.

Prosenjit as Kakababu shoots at the Cairo International Airport. “We shot for a day in the airport. We had a 5am call time because Indraneil (Sengupta, who plays an Egyptian revolutionary) was supposed to leave for India that very day. So he didn’t check into the hotel, he shot in the airport and took a flight back home.... Shooting in the airport wasn’t easy. It’s a high-security zone and we had to take our passports and go through a security check. Also, I wanted to take trolley shots but since hiring Track Trolley was very expensive, we shot the scenes from a luggage trolley! Soumik (Halder, director of photography) plonked himself on a luggage trolley. It was fun.”

Aryaan, who plays Santu in Mishawr Rawhoshyo, takes a break from the camel chase sequence in Sahara. “It was very difficult shooting with so many camels because they are very moody creatures. Besides, the camels we hired were not the ones usually hired for shoots. There were a lot of retakes from various angles for this particular scene.”

Srijit settles down on top of a jeep with a 5D camera to shoot the camel chase. “I have been using 5D since 22shey Srabon. The resolution is great and the camera is very mobile. You can take shots from various angles. The main shooting happened in Arri Alexa R, this was our second-unit camera.”

Swastika Mukherjee, who plays Santu’s neighbour Snigdha, rides towards the Pyramid of Menkaure on the Giza Plateau. “It’s a part of the camel chase.”

Srijit, Soumik and Prosenjit with crew members. “Every day we would start at 6am and shoot till evening. We mainly had daylight shoot. Night shoots were difficult because of the icy breeze in the desert. For the scenes with Bumbada (Prosenjit) and Indraneil, we shot from a height with a 5D camera.... A major hurdle was communication problem. Of the 40 crew members from Egypt, only three knew English! It was a monumental effort on our part to translate everything for them.”

Text: Kushali Nag