If Day 3 was the ‘most happening’, Day 4 most out rightly, hands down won over! It was many ‘first times’ for most of us. Here begins the anecdote of Day 4…
Entire cast & crew eagerly awaited Day 4 because it had ‘new experiences’ lined up: Re-recording, Interviews, & night shoot. Much before the actual shoot, our experience began with search for a proper venue and night shoot police permission – law abiding we were or was it to save our skin ;) While the venue was fixed a week before, the police permission finally worked out with Gops parting with Rs. 100/- (we were worth so much :) All set, the ‘D’ day began with a frantic search for the hero of the movie, Maheshwaran. With a plan to get started by 2pm for the day’s work, I thought might he will require a search warrant, but for small mercies; I got hold of him at 1 pm precisely and managed to get started @ 2:30 pm.
Wasn’t I glad to find all the cast & crew together after running behind them for some answers to questions for our movie’s blog. They couldn’t escape me so easily as I adorned the cap of a journalist! While they were warming up for the shoot with a briefing from Gops, I went behind each one with my laptop & questions, and finally managed to get the tit-bits from all. An exciting experience for me, but how good or shoddy my job was only they can say…
After the warm up, it was time for storyboard discussion: visual and written – a very good documentation of the complete thinking through of the director and cameraman; an easy tool to wind up the shoot quickly & without much of missing shots. Then it was turn for re-recording; great experience to see the actors go live with their emotions and dialogs; Some funny incidents ofcourse during the re-recording but that can be viewed in our blog’s ‘behind the screen section’.
With some bit of recording done, we set off to energize ourselves with some food. Dinner was an experience in itself as the hotel staff ensured we had the most pathetic service! So much that they were least bothered even when we canceled the order when it was ready! Less said the better!
By then, the sky was too glad for us… wldn’t say well-timed because camera is not yet compatible with water! It took about 1-2 hrs of us requesting the sky to slow down, and help us proceed with the night’s event… The only entertainment for us then was one guy who was completely bowled down and was loitering around talking to his friend, which was a ‘mirror’ :) unfortunately, we couldn’t capture that scene!
Wanting to see some action for itself, sky chose to let go & allow us get started. Cutting the story short, a quick recap of some of our top experiences:
•Vivek had to go down on the muddy / wet ground followed by a cute display of a kick by Gops & there was a splash of all that mud & whatever (:) on his face;
•had a new character, portrayed efficiently by Dhanasekar;
•Prabhu falling down on the muddy road;
•Gops canning shot from the roof of the car;
•Maheshwaran’s final dialog delivery:)
Might be u can catch a glimpse of these shots in the “behind the screens’ section of the movie’s blog.
After a good night’s work, it was ‘pack up’ at around 3:30 am. Quickly scanning through the shots, we finally reached director’s abode by 4 am… Sangeetha was kind enough to treat us to a hot cup of tea at that unearthly hour! A quick round of sharing of experience, some laughter, and unwinding; all we could think of then was only one thing “SLEEP”:)
‘HATS OFF’ Gops for having pulled it through despite all odds! And to the cast & crew for being there with Gops always! Though each of us would miss these shoots, we are glad nearing the post production stage and soon to display our work to the world…Behold, we are coming!
But off all this, my most memorable moments were with little princess Aman! Gal, what an energy – she made me revisit my childhood and got me to play all games : running/catching, ringa-ringa roses, swinging her in air, football, throw and catch, running race, some toy-games, and finally teacher-student!!! Just a few hours with her and c the amount of experiences she gave me:) Bless u always!