Okay so it's two hours past midnight, and I am sitting at a bar stool. No, not in a pub, but in my home office. This bar stool is one of the few material possessions that I have. So I am sitting on this bar stool and thinking of the last 18 months and my life's journey which incidentally followed the same path as that of my first film "Love, Wrinkle-free".
It all started in March 2009. Though I had heard the word, I never gathered the courage to utter the word, but that month, I said it. "Independent". I decided I wanted to be an Independent filmmaker. What does that mean?! Well it means fuck what the world says about how to make movies, and going ahead and doing it the way your heart says. So the world says: Make a Hindi film. I say "Sorry brother...my film is set in Goa, and a Roman Catholic family doesn't speak in Hindi in Goa.". The great thing with listening to your heart is that you die a satisfied man, and you become a better lover(more of it later towards the end of this blog:)).
Once you utter the "Independent" word, then you got to get into action mode. Because no one else is going to push your ass forward. Lots of story ideas, but I zeroed in on a theme that I wanted to explore through my first film. The idea of "Wrinkle-free" was the starting point. I started to feed it, nurture it...
Writing is a lonely profession. There is no body else you can turn to or who will understand what you are going through. I had my wife of course who was very supportive. But she had to leave for office in the mornings, so I would stare at the blank page for a while, go out for a walk, come back, tell myself to sleep for a few hours...that routine was not going to help the script. The problem with me was that I wanted to be left alone, but didn't want to be lonely!!! So I had to push myself into something new, something which I haven't done earlier.
I decided to step outside the home to write. At home, all I could think of was sleep and dream:)
So got into an arrangement with a friend Ashutosh Pathak to lend his extra room to work for which I was willing to pay a princely sum of Rs.1000/- month. He was sporting enough to allow me to use his extra room(close to the bathroom). I loved that small room. Excitedly I carried my iMac which I call MacMohan to this room, made myself comfortable and set about the task of creating "Love, Wrinkle-free". The entire April and bit of May, I used to write from morning till evening. Come back to my home and wife, go for a game of badminton. Repeat the process the next day. I enjoyed every bit of those two months. There is nothing better than working on your script, except I wish I was getting paid for it, but no pain no gain as they say!
Once the first draft was done, i started showing it around. Started getting good reviews. Then started seriously thinking of raising some funds. I had written the script of Love, Wrinkle-free keeping in mind the difficulties involved in raising big funds. So essentially wrote a script to suit a low budget investor. Initially i made a few mistakes, approached the wrong producers who wanted a lot of say in creative decisions which i was not comfortable with, so I walked out on them. I was telling myself - I don't give shit to others, so why take shit. That is my attitude even now. The main thing is your film, nothing is bigger or smaller than that. Around this time my friend Giju stepped in. He was in the process of setting up a Production house in India, and this small budget film came in at the right time. Also the fact that he and me were friends in childhood helped too. Also he is a singer-dancer who had even released an independent album which the big guys refused to entertain in Mumbai. So I guess he could see where I was coming from. He was willing to invest part funds, and the rest of it, he was confident of raising from the US, where he resides and works.
The next 3 months I invested in putting together a team. Since Giju and Kamal (the other arm of Tiranga productions) were based in the US, I took over the Pre-production. So in some way I was the Line Producer too for this film, which I think is good because when a low budget independent filmmaker can take his own decisions, things move faster. Also this way he can keep the budget in control much better.
It took me 2-3 months to shortlist a team of passionate youngsters who would become my backbone during the shooting later in Goa. Binendra my Cinematographer friend came in early into the team. Then Priyesh. Followed by a fabulous bunch of guys like Podu, Sanjog, Joseena, Rudro, Sumod etc, a long list actually
We didn’t have a production office. So my house became the Production office. My bar stool where I am sitting and writing this blog now became my chair from where we went about the task of planning this film. At one point just before the shoot in September, my house was so full with Production materials, Boxes, and crew members that I had to request my wife(and my two month old daughter) to go on a trip to Delhi where her sister stays, for a month and a half. The team members worked and ate at my home. A maid cooked for us. Some of them like Binendra stayed at my place. We bonded like friends. I got to know them, they got to know me. It really helps when they know you. Then they can understand you without you uttering a word in times of crisis during the shoot.
And all those moments shared together before the shoot really helped during the shoot. Giju was there for the shoot to look after the on location production issues. That was a huge blessing since I could focus on my work. The shoot was an amazing experience. I remember waking up every day at 3 in the morning for planning out the days work. The countless Goa trips that I had done before really helped since by now I had met a wonderful group of people in Goa like Marianne, Karen, Belinda and Carmelline etc who went out of the way to help us through the issues faced during the shoot.
But despite the non-seasonal rains, the generator refusing to work one afternoon, and the countless other niggles, our team completed the film exactly on schedule. Not a single day extra than planned. Everyone worked their pants off to achieve this.
But despite the non-seasonal rains, the generator refusing to work one afternoon, and the countless other niggles, our team completed the film exactly on schedule. Not a single day extra than planned. Everyone worked their pants off to achieve this.
Now the post production...Again we had to be on tight budget. Taking a studio in Mumbai for editing would have easily cost us around 3 lakhs or more. So I got my Mac Pro which I used to give out for rentals in Chennai to Mumbai. Took a temporary office for 3 months from a friend for nominal rent, and started editing with a talented editor Shreyas, who has become a good friend. We used to work from afternoon to early morning four. Enjoyed every bit of this. Then for the last two months, I got the machine home, and it resides in my bedroom where minor finetuning keeps happening. And when the editor comes in, I shift my little daughter Amelie to the other room so that we don't disturb her sleep. I like watching her sleep...Anyways she smiles a lot these days. I think she gets the joke. And the joke is me:)))I guess what I am trying to say is that Independent filmmakers can't whine, they got to find solutions.
Now tomorrow we start the Digital Intermediate process...and by April 10th, the film is going to be ready.
Can't sleep hence writing down these memories....don't know whether any of these things made any sense to anyone. If it did, great. If not too, great:) Need to mention the support that I got from wonderful human beings and talented performers like Ash Chandler, Shernaz Patel, Sohrab Ardeshir(for letting us conduct rehearsals in his beautiful house, amazing person), Seema Rahmani, Ashwin Mushran, Marianne Borgo...a long list actually...Dasang, Arika.....goes on...
Will write more later. My bum is paining sitting in this bar stool and typing. Okay i was typing, not my bum! Whatever I am sleepy now. It is 3.30am. Take care and Love, Wrinkle-free. Stay positive, smile and think "POSSIBLE"
