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Photo
A behind the scene image from the shoot of The Madman’s Audience. Me with one of the storytellers and my friend who assisted me on the project. This was in Quilandy. Incidentally, just this month, after all these years I went back to Quilandy to shoot something.
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Day 0: The Madman’s Audience
I remember writing out an entire proposal for this film, and this was the first project where Remya got involved with the writing and conceptualizing. As luck would have it, Remya was also in Kerala while the film was in its final edit stages and the two of us worked with Sreekumar Nair who was working at a studio in Cochin at the time. That may actually have also been the last time she was actively involved in the actual edit of one of our films.
But during the writing stage a close friend, Jayanthi ch’mma, discovered a book that made a reference to the place where the madman used to live, and where his descendants live. Both of us then traveled to this location and met the head priest at the temple on top of a hill where the “madman” used to roll the rock up. We realized later that this head priest’s photo was in the book and he was in fact Naranathu Bhranthan’s descendent. In the making of this film I made another friend, whom I had met at the Trivandrum Film Festival, and Aneesh in fact makes an appearance in the climactic shot of the film.
I wrote Bhranthande Prekshakar, (The Madman’s Audience) as a journey of discovering stories about this character – the madman - through the voice of various storytellers, alongside a journey of uncovering the Camus connection. Each of the storytellers shared one incident and what they thought its interpretation was, and then there was me undertaking a physical journey to the place, which would culminate at the place where the madman used to live and have a conversation with the head priest. I was fortunate, through family and friends, to have been able to find some amazing storytellers who shared their stories on camera. The film was shot in Trichur, Calicut and Quilandy and went on to be screened at a festival in Portugal and later at a screening at the India Habitat Centre.
“The struggle itself, is enough to fill a man’s heart.” Camus’ take on the Sisyphean myth could be condensed down to this one sentence. But was the madman of Naranathu saying the same thing? This question formed the premise of that 42-minute film.
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A Tale of 3 Balconies
Can a balcony become the stuff of nightmares? Rather, is it possible to be obsessed with a balcony – or two? Adjacent ones.
I don’t mean living in a house with a balcony that has had a life of its own (a la Bhoot). Neither do I mean the one which involves longing and pining of the “O Romeo, Romeo!” sort.
I mean just a regular balcony in an upper middle class neighborhood next to another balcony with a stairway that allows, even sparks, conversations, and maybe more.
Can you really be obsessed with something so “ordinary”?
Add to that another balcony. One that stands witness to the unexciting, noisy lifeline of the city, i.e the Metro Rail, as it makes its daily trips from one end of the city and back.
If you don’t think that it’s possible to drive around town and see nothing but these balconies then try line producing.
More specifically, line produce an indie feature film for a filmmaker who has it all mapped out in his head and will settle for nothing less. A filmmaker who doesn’t compromise just because the indie style of filmmaking he has chosen doesn’t afford him the luxury of building balconies maybe even an entire apartment for 4 seasons. Why should only the big studios have all the fun?
Try line producing to understand the energy and effort that it takes to put together a world that a cinematographer is going to breathe life into so that actors can inhabit it. Try line producing to be able to watch as the director goes about creating magic using each and every prop that has been arranged meticulously by an art director who, to source these specifically stray objects, has made calls to long lost friends in the city.
That is when you know that filmmaking is more than just saying “Action!” It is about writing a scene and then inspiring a whole set of people to make that scene come alive. And my stint as a line producer on Onir’s latest feature film ‘Shab’ taught me that it can be just as gratifying when you are running behind the scenes making that action happen.
And now as a result of this experience, sitting in the dark confines of a cinema hall, when I notice what is visible from the window of a character’s room my thoughts also travel to the obsessive hunt that must have ensued to look for a room with that exact view.
#shab Onir indiecinema independent filmmaking lineproducing filmmaker writer#production#lineproduction#cinema#shabthefilm#films
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Inventory
I’d like:
a piece of paper
(lined),
an ink pen
(red),
a topic
(abstract, preferably),
a room to sit in
(two windows, minimum)
and
I won’t write
poetry
for you.
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| mens rea |
Standing next
to the outlined
corpse of the
deceased
relationship,
the stench
of foul play
and false promises
overpowered
bystanders.
(But not me,
partner in crime,
camouflaged
as victim,
that I was.)
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pride sans prejudice
People,
who sometimes kill
without
guns and guilt,
were seen walking
ceremoniously,
leaving an
impression on people,
who, sometimes,
kill without guns
and guilt.
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A gay
I loved the line "Are you a gay?"
It cracked me up when I wrote it, I smiled when I heard it during the shoot and I loved it even more when we were working on this scene during the post.
Of all the 'prejudices' BC has, it was the treatment of the one against homosexuals that I was the most worried about. What he feels for 'modern women' comes through some insinuations during his interrogations and his hatred for druggies just makes him angry, almost violent. But what about his aversion towards homosexuals? His homophobia.
The entire plot of the film revolved around actors who were in a play called 'A Perfect Relationship' originally written by Doric Wilson. The play methodically, albeit subtly, played against all the stereotypes about homosexuals. You watch the play and don't realize that you are laughing with gay people and often at your own stereotypes as opposed to laughing at or because of 'them'—as it so happens in mainstream media.
So I was worried that leaving BC's antagonism directed at homosexuals open-ended might be misunderstood as the film siding with BC on the issue. I shared this apprehension with Arushi Singh (who had co-adapted the play for an Indian audience) but she didn't think it was misleading. I needed that nod of approval because I think it's imperative that as a writer, I am conscious of what I directly or indirectly say about an issue through whatever medium my writing is transposed onto.
And that's why I love the line 'Are you a gay?' The 'a' which is more than just a linguistic error takes the attention away from his prejudice and the joke is quite clearly on BC. And in a sense the line also undercuts BC's authority. I think when Amol responds to this question (and Sukhesh Arora very subtly brings out the humor in that line) "A gay? You mean a homosexual?" he will have the audience on his side.
People will drop their guard, even if for a moment, to side with other points of views in spite of their own inherent prejudices. Films can do that!
#homosexuality#queer#after the third bell#sisyphus rocks films#bc banerjee#udayan salim banerjee#ajay govind#words rhythms images
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The case of the extra 'r'
Imagine being in a 90 minute film, in which your screen time is close to half the film (if not a little more) but you have just about have 12 minutes of dialogue (if not less).
That was the challenge that I presented to Akanksha D. Sharma, who played Insp. Balbirr Chowdhary, in after the third bell.
On paper and in my head (yes, in that order) Balbirr Chowdhary's character evolved during the course of the film. There were changes, additions mostly, even during the shoot. The character started off as a mere quirk. A silent deputy who would have just one line in the whole film. A character inspired by the nameless faces that crowd the under lit corners of the RGV gangster movies. The light cutting across their face just above a scar – the only clear mark of what that character is all about.
All Balbirr had to herself was a dialogue in the film and an extra 'r' in her name. Sure the dialogue itself was pivotal and established her as a crucial part of the investigation. But during the course of the screenplay, she just had to sit in on the investigations.
As the screenplay grew, so did her character. She had more dialogues now, but the ratio was skewed towards the quiet.
While in the case of the suspects I had written their characters as an exaggerated version of their real selves with Balbirr and BC that wasn't quite the case. The challenge with these other actors was to show restraint even in that exaggeration but the rules of the game changed when it came to Balbirr. How many different instructions could I have given her?
Every now and then during the scene, Akanksha, without any instructions from me, would suddenly be seen noting something down in her case diary. Balbirr was always alert during the investigation.
During the post of the film, as I watch her performance I can't help but marvel at how brilliantly she has brought Balbirr alive. Her every move is studied, every dialogue measured and her every action purposeful.
By the end of it all, am sure Balbirr Chowdhary will stay in people's mind. They may even forget about the extra 'r'.
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Temporary Sach
I have never been a big fan of research. Definitely not for fiction. In fact, it was this laziness (if I may be completely honest) that kept me from writing about the murder in any great details. 'He took a sip of the coffee, had convulsions and died.'
But after that initial meeting with a few of the principal actors, when they asked me to thrash out the story in more detail I decided to put some work into 'how it happened etc. and that bit of research certainly helped me add layers to the twists and turns of the story.
As part of research for the film, I also met a senior cop working in the Narcotics Department. I planned this meeting after I had written the entire film and it was primarily intended to help me understand the nitty-grittys of solving a real murder case. I came out of that meeting having learnt a lot.
For instance, I discovered that the preliminary post mortem report, which has more or less conclusive information about cause of death etc can be obtained within 24 hours. This meant that I had to mention a delay in the report (which I was told could happen) because in the screenplay I had written, the discussion over the post mortem report and the consequent interrogations only happens on Day 2 of the film.
Other details, such as difference between the ranks of the two officers involved and the need for uniforms was also discussed. A lot of interesting things came out from that meeting including a piece of information that I wasn't expecting: I discovered that in a regular Indian police station there was no designated remand room. So much so for me wanting to see a 'real remand room' as a reference point for the set we would create?
This presented a challenge because it questioned my innate desire to keep the film 'realistic'. So I chose to be realistic within the parameters of the average film-goer's vocabulary. A remand room that wasn't too stylized or exaggerated!
But these technical details aside, this meeting also helped me understand a cop's point of view on his own job. And one of the ideas that he shared with me, I managed to incorporate into the film - something that real cops would definitely be able to relate to.
There may be a time, or times, when a cop is faced with a case that he finds he just can't solve. What should happen in such a situation? He should go out there and say, "Sorry, I have done my best, tried every possible lead, all possible angles but I just can't solve this one." But depending on the nature of the case a series of stakeholders—influential or otherwise—would persecute the cop. So what he does instead is to file a charge sheet and let the case drag on endlessly. The accused on that charge sheet may be mere victims of circumstances but they have no choice because the system has left the cop with no choice.
So while on paper a cop's job is to find the truth, in reality he is often just working under the pressures of filing a charge sheet and proving that he is doing something. The cop I met was quite disparaging of this practice and he wished that cops would be allowed to stay focused on the truth rather than having to carry unnecessary political and social baggage.
This piece of information was translated into what is referred to as "temporary sach" in the film.
I figured that this is probably also how cops (especially cops like BC) justify their actions to themselves. That while they are pursuing a truth that is some distance away they might as well keep themselves busy with the temporary realities that interest them. Rather than only chase those that interest people/politicians and the rest of the world.
That's when it also struck me that such introspection can neither happen in the middle of a case nor at the end of it. Maybe much later…
BC says it best… "Samajhne ke liye tankha nahin milti mujhe, samajhne ke liye milegi pension…"
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Leela Ram
This is not a review. Just some reactions to the problematic gender politics in Goliyon ki Raasleela Ramleela. (Spoiler alert.)
I am starting with the premise that everyone knows their Romeo & Juliet and so I don’t need to get into the background of the film. And whatever background there is to the film that is non-Shakespearian is not really worth elaborating, primarily because in its inconsistencies, it is utterly confusing. Even irritating.
From the time when he first sees her, to the time he gets into her bedroom, Ram (Ranveer Singh) can't take his hands off Leela (Deepika Padukone). Yes, not just eyes, hands. And Leela doesn't mind one bit that he wants his hands, not just eyes all over her. She looks like she will let him have whatever he wants.
That’s the nature of the relationship between the leads in this kiss-at-first-sight-not-just-love story. In fact, the first kiss, initiated by Leela took me by surprise but I was hoping all this passion and fierceness doesn't fizzle out the Ishaqzaade way.
I was disappointed pretty soon. It bothered me that in the raunchy and sexually overloaded song Dhishkiyaon it was the man shooting his mouth off. Sample this.
“Ladaaku vimaan hai
Par tu meri jaan hai
Bistar ye tera mera
Arey jung ka maidaan hai
Jo tu trigger dabaye
To main chumme chalaaun"
There was not a word from this woman who has so far outwitted the man—and not just with her words. She has in fact risked her life by coming into enemy territory for a quickie—by way of song and dance, that is. And yet, Bhansali doesn’t let her have a say and merely makes her mimic his rhythm.
And then a little Shakespeare-ness later they are forced to elope. The first moment of digression in Leela’s character comes when Ram scolds her for something and she just sits there and listens and nods her head like a docile wife. But of course she doesn't follow his order and goes out and does what she wants. And what is it that she wants? Ek chutki sindoor. After all, they are going to be spending the night together and it must at least be unofficially officiated.
And then comes a song, which I felt was the antithesis of that previous sexually overloaded shootout that we had seen earlier. But no bang bang in this one, just a pious woman’s yearning for her man fully oiled, partially clothed.
“Raat banjar si hai
Kaale khanjar si hai
Raat banjar si hai
Kaale khanjar si hai
Tere seene ki lau
Mere andar bhi hai
Tu hawa de isey
Toh mera tann jale
Jala de re sang jala de re
Mohey ang laga de re
Main toh teri joganiya
Tu jog laga de re”
Can there be another expression of a woman’s sexual desire? Especially if that woman is a 'Bollywood heroine'? Of course not.
But one could pass this as creative liberty—after all its up to Leela how she wishes to express her desires. But what’s interesting is how Leela (I mean, Sanjay) choreographs this scene. Suddenly, Ram now on the brink of husband-dom (did I coin this word?) is able to keep his ladaaku vimaan well in control and even at a fair enough distance. So while Leela (I mean, Deepika) is busy warding off mosquitoes in a budget hotel that has murals on the wall (if he can exaggerate visually, I can verbally?) Ram exploits the notion of ‘film time’ and takes his sweet time to get from the balcony to the bed.
Ram has never minced words when it comes to expressing his sexual urges (and conquests). But suddenly, when it’s his docile wife who wants him in bed, Ram seems to not mind a stanza-long self-imposed exile. Stretching and posing, making her want him more.
And then there was the final and truly dismal digression right at the end of the film from a character you least expect it from. Or actually, the one you have most hopes from.
Allow me a slight digression first. In the film Phata Poster, Nikla Hero, there is a scene when Shahid Kapoor in a cop’s uniform is chasing a van in which Saurabh Shukla’s gang members have kidnapped a girl. When the helpless gang members call Shukla and tell him that a cop is chasing them, he immediately says “meri photo dikhao”.
I felt like a photograph of Pathak as Baa the Godmother in full costume would have sufficed because at least the character would have stayed consistent. And consistently menacing.
Spoiler alert, for sure.
The final attempt to end the 500-year old violence between the Capulets and the Montagues is made by the Ram’s bhabhi. She comes in to the rival fortress with her young son confronts the matriarch and tells Baa to kill him because he is the last beej/seed of that family because with the end of the last boy standing the conflict will also end.
Baa who has been the Corleone of her village, whose daughter has proven the ability to succeed her, who has another potential successor in her daughter-in-law, realizes the weight of the situation.
The death of the boy would indeed mean the death of any possible future. It would be unimaginable to choose a woman as a leader, after all. She has a change of heart.
That decision felt far more tragic than the one playing out between Ram and Leela at the same time.
I remember thinking at the end of Ishaqzaade, how unfortunate it is when credible performances are wasted because the characters are so loosely written? After all, it is credible performances that are rare on Indian screens--especially from the leads.
But full credit to Bhansali for overcompensating for all the inconsistencies in the plot, character and screenplay with the visual extravaganza that his films are known to be. You are taken in by it all even if a lot of it seems Devdas-esque and even though the Gujrati-ness was a bit too Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam-like.
But unlike many, I find myself easily bored in an art gallery. The art may overwhelm me for a few seconds maybe even minutes but for me to want to stay (and stay engaged) there needs to be a captivating story.
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second going
there
was a fly
hovering around
the corpse
she smacked
it dead with all her
might
she wanted to
let the corpse rest
the corpse died again.
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Time for the idiot, to get out of the box?
The new of the death of those children is terrible, of course. And the politics played over it abominable. But for me what leaves a bittersweet taste is the games the news channels play. They are now discovering insects and cockroaches in midday meals, other children falling sick, reporting the death of 1 malnourished girl in Karnataka.
But the fact that these stories shock them oh-so-much just goes to show that the news channels that report from 'ground zero' actually live in the same disconnected ivory towers as the politicians. Goswami calls a BJP man and Congress man to his show and wastes half the on-air time saying 'gentleman please don't play politics'. What's next.. asking Dhoni to not play cricket?
If they actually cared, with all the wherewithal they have, they could have actually got stuff done. Something, anything. But for that the green screens would need to be removed and they'd have to see that there's a school perhaps less than a few kilometers away from your studio that's serving stale food while you serve inedible drama. Go there everyday with a camera, even if just on way to work. They'll be forced to do something about it. People do all kinds of things for the camera.
"That's not our job" they would promptly reply. Fair enough. After all, who am I to dictate terms? It's not like am doing that. But am just saying neither is it their job to do a mock display of 'shock' or sit on judgement over others who also claim 'that's not our job''. Their job is to report? So report, they should. And then move on to the next story.
No noise, just news. Don't just say that, do it.
PS: The set top box ticker on the TV screen allows a restricted number of letters and often abbreviates things. But never more meaningfully as when it reads: The Buck Stops Her. Ah! Interesting observation, TV.
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Bringing Zoe Home
This was not meant to be my first blog about Zoe. But I am convinced that this is an important 'story' to share, so that people can be more careful as they go about taking the decision to bring a pet into their lives.
Let me start where the story ends. With me driving back from the Police Station in Amar Colony after having managed to finally convince the cops that I had adopted Zoe in a legitimate manner and not stolen her as the woman from whom I adopted was claiming.
This time around the cop was straightforward. He asked Mrs. Handa (name not withheld) whether she had given an ad in the HT City saying she had two pups she wanted to give for adoption. She said yes but she wanted to find a 'lovable caring dog lover'. He cut her off and said did this person, pointing at me, come to your house to see the dog. Did she give the pup for me to take home? She said yes but the pup was unwell and they requested that they wanted to take her home for two days to see if she adjusts and now they were refusing to give her back. Why would anyone allow someone to take an unwell pup home, I countered. He continued, they requested it and you gave the pup, yes? Yes. Then how can you want her back now considering they’ve got her vaccinated; and she is obviously doing fine in their house. Then what’s the problem?
She said because she now knows that we are only taking the pup ‘status ke liye’. The cop, who has a lhasa apso and 3 other dogs at home, took one look at Zoe and said “yeh to status wala kutta hi nahin hai..” to which she made her, by now favorite accusation, ‘yeh kutto ki film banate hain mujhe nahin pata tha’. He said to uske mein kya problem hai. I gave out the last of my visiting cards having given 7 of them out by now. Saying I am a filmmaker, yes. But what she means to say I can’t understand. And then she made the other extremely nasty one about Sparkles having died in our house 15 days back and that there would be some sort of infection there. While the fact is, we had told her we wanted to wait for 15 days before bringing Zoe home because that’s what the doctor had advised us to do. She also knew that in the meanwhile we had got the curtains washed, got pest control done etc. She knew all this, but was just twisting things at will and quite randomly.
For instance, she had been in touch with Ms. Madhu Goyal who had sent her an adoption form to fill out. We received the form on email, filled it out and sent it back by email. Rather than the absence of the signature the cops chose to take cognizance of the fact that she had after all willingly given the pet to us on Saturday and the email was exchanged prior to that. But she tried to refute that saying it was I who actually knew Ms. Goyal. I told the cops that had only spoken to her for the first time that morning when this situation arose. By this time, thankfully Ms. Goyal had forwarded me all her email interactions with Ms. Handa and I was able to prove to the cops that she was clearly just lying about that also.
Another cop sitting in the room watching the proceedings finally lost his cool and told her they had better things to do and she should go to the courts. “Mere mein itni shakti nahin hai” she said. He was curt and told her they had better things to do. He told me to go back home ‘apne kutte ke saath’. The bawling began, again. I left the room.
I wasn’t entirely sure if it was over of course because I had already driven home from the Amar Colony Police Station and even before I could cover the 15-minute drive home I got a call asking me to come back with proof. The proof was the email exchanges and everything else that I just shared.
In my previous outing to the same police station, the cop said why don’t you just give it to her. I said there was no reason to, besides who’s to know what this psychotic woman would do. She was at her dramatic best through most of this, bawling asking to have Zoe in her arms at least for a minute and once even telling me I was like a son and should listen to her. When she saw me coming out the room of the cop, she got all ready to go in to have her go at storytelling. But when she saw that I was thanking the cops and leaving she began bawling. I was asked to just ignore that and leave.
But this was not how it all started.
I was on my way back from giving Zoe the vaccination when the call from the PS Jungpura Extn came informing us that there was a lady complaining that I had taken her dog away and gone. I was flustered and very angry. All Ms. Handa had to do was to call me and find out where I was gone. She didn’t take my calls and I went straight to Police Station to find out that this was clearly was not as simple as a concerned overreaction.
The adoption form had the number of Ms. Madhu Goyal (an Animal Welfare volunteer). I called her on my way to station because I knew that she was aware of the entire ‘transaction’ so to say. She was of course shocked by the situation and more so when I called her after having met Ms. Handa and recounted the bizarre accusations. She talked to the cops on my behalf and even tried to drive sense into Ms. Handa, but she wouldn’t listen. She wanted to rescue the unwell Zoe back from the clutches of a murderous (yes she said maar dalenge usse) filmmaker.
The scene that transpired at the police stations (2 police stations, 3 visits nearly 3 hours) was absurd to say the least. I was dealing with a woman who really needed help-medical help. And stepping back I could imagine the cops found all this funny, after all this was just about a pilla. Why was I making such a fuss of it, the Jungpura cops asked?
Ms. Handa had 5 puppies to start out with and was left with 2 after having given 3 for adoption. Zoe came home to us leaving her other very energetic pet obviously affected and sad. In between all the screaming and shouting she told me and the cop that her pup hadn’t been eating properly. The cop said that’s not anyone’s problem. And as I found out from Ms. Goyal, Ms. Handa wasn’t even taking the sick pup to the Vet. And then rather than taking care of that puppy she had chosen this weird conniving way to try and regain control of the situation.
She didn’t expect that I would already have spoken to Ms. Goyal, she didn’t think that coming up a consistent story and believable story was at least necessary.
She assumed that lying and bawling in the Police Station would either melt the hearts of the cops, or scare me or, after all its only been two days, I’d not want to go through the trouble and just give Zoe back to her. But the cops could thankfully see right through her drama and her inconsistent narrative. I’d also like to believe that they could see that Zoe was where she wanted to be and was doing fine.
I was very convinced Zoe was not going to be in a better place being with her. Because in her fairly small house she already had 2 adult dogs and there was no way with even her best intentions she’d be able take care of two more. Especially considering we had seen that she didn’t follow the vet’s advice and would choose to give the pups whatever food she felt was ok.
But then… really who would have thought? This woman was so considerate and we just felt that her overbearingness was an extension of her love for animals. She and her daughter offered us a 3-course-drinks-welcome each of the 4 times we went to her house. Yes, she was full of unsolicited advice but then given a chance, who isn’t?
When I first told them about the form in the Jungpura Extn Police Station her response was prompt. “Adoption ke liye diya hota to form sign nahin kiya hota maine?” I was taken aback. On Saturday she said, “Form mail kar diya na aapne, kyunki Madhu maam ne kahaan tha woh zaroori hai.” So we were sure that was that, nothing more was needed.
The big learning? Do whatever paperwork you can. I was just lucky to have cops who were sensible and were willing to listen and a woman who was as stupid as she was trying to be smart. I was lucky to have the support of Ms. Goyal and of my doctor who was on stand by in case the cops needed to be told that Zoe was not unwell and that he could vouch for the care we would give her. I was lucky to have had all that.
And of course, I hope no one misunderstands this as advocating against adoption as opposed to 'buying' a pup. But yes, the importance of doing it through the right channels and having some sort of record of that process is critical.
Its been exactly a week since this happened but every now and then I wonder if this actually over.
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