Poll Results - Dec 2011

These are results of the polls appearing on this blog

Which amongst these SRK Films was he Best in?

1. Chak De India -- (24%)
2. Swades -- (34%)
3. DDLJ -- (10%)
4. Darr -- (6%)
5. Baazigar -- (24%)

I have always wished that SRK played more characters and less of SRK the star. This poll shows that there are others who agree with me :)

Swades clearly stands out in people's memory, but in my heart 'Baazigar' is a clear winner


Which among these is Anurag Kashyap's Best Screenplay?

1. Satya -- (40%)
2. Dev D -- (20%)
3. Black Friday -- (0%)
4. Gulaal -- (20%)
5. Kaun? -- (20%)

Take a bow Mr. Kashyap, What a list! Each one of these is very special, but every now and then a film shakes the industry up and leaves a mark forever. 'Satya' is stunning and has inspired an entire generation of filmmakers. I really hope Anurag Kashyap writes for RGV again, the results are usually quite amazing.

New Poll is up! Please let us know your Best 2011 Film!

Not A Love Story: RGV Experiments

Not a love story(Trailer) is the latest flick directed by Ram Gopal Varma. This will be his 36th film as director. He has also produced another 20 odd films. He finishes them faster than most of us can make short films. Anyway this is not a post about him, its more about the film. I thought the movie was not bad, in fact it was a good watch. But the reason I thought this film deserves a post was because of some interesting techniques used in its making. I got all this information from his interviews and his blog.


The Camera
The film is entirely shot on a Canon 5D (digital) which is a DSLR camera. Canon 5D is tiny compared to the traditional 35mm film camera which is what most of the Hindi films are shot on. Not to mention it costs a fraction of the price. I believe it can be as less as 1/3rd the price. RGV shot a Telugu film(Dongala Muta) in 5 days to experiment with these digital cameras. And because he was so impressed by its flexibility and its HD output that he decided to make another feature length film in Hindi. Needless to say that a camera that small can easily be maneuvered and the possibilities with angles and movement are endless. A few other filmmakers have also started using these cameras in Hinidi cinema and many think that eventually these(Digital) will take over all cinema.

On the Set
Some more RGV madness. There was no Director of Photography(DP) in this film. Typically, the director comes up with what we call a shot-list. This is then discussed with the DP who is responsible for lighting the shots and composing the frames as per the shot list. Obviously it is an extremely important job as he directly affects what we see and a lot of the aesthetic sense comes from him. Besides he is the busiest person on a film set trying to get the lighting just right for every shot. When I heard that there was no DP on this film I was genuinely confused as to how exactly did they shoot this. Firstly RGV decided to "not do lighting;" meaning everything you see is mostly natural lighting. He hired 5 fresh film school graduates, handed them a 5D each and let them go about their way. So that means the actors do a shot with 3-5 cameras recording them without really knowing which angle will be used. I have done some filming myself and this sounds chaotic. Imagine trying to keep the crew and equipment out of the frame for all 5 cameras. Or if you did a shot and the retake was done several hours later because of a delay, the natural light is now completely different. The DP is supposed to maintain the light so that it stays consistent. Also, what kind of shot list would they work off, would they have a separate list each? But knowing how RGV likes to finish films fast I suspect this whole experiment was done to make things simpler. So instead of intricate planning which is required for multiple cameras they shot it without much detailed instruction. Which means the footage was then sorted out by the post production team as it came in. The lighting may have been handled by the 5 camera controllers themselves which would include adjusting the lights so that they work for all cameras and maintaining consistency for all the retakes. Many amatuer short films are shot like that with minimal planning. These pictures give us a good sense of how minimal the lighting arrangement was. (Almost looks like one of my student film sets :)). The entire film was shot in 20 days.

So how did the result turn out? They were able to cut it seamlessly and the lighting was not bad at all. So in a sense they succeeded in the experiment but I didn't like it. This is clearly more because of RGV's aesthetic sense and less to do with the techniques described above. If you have watched a RGV film from the last 5-6 years you will know what I am talking about. The film has constant moving shots(not driven by action ) and fast cuts through out which I personally do not like. I have been curious about what he tries to achieve through these, it almost feels like its because he is bored doing the standard shots. I love some of the frames, but just wish he used the movement more sparingly. However that choice is subjective and may well work for others. I will need another post to discuss how his cinematography has changed over the years. Having said that, this technique is quite fascinating and could be used to reduce time required in setting up multiple shots. The conclusion that I come to is that if as a director you want to control the look of the film, this process will have to be looked over by a DP(for lighting and consistency) and then you would have to work very closely with the editor. This is because you are essentially writing the shots as you decide the cuts. If you do not do this, you will have little control on the end result which will be a product created mainly by the camera controllers and the editor; which is how I believe 'Not A Love Story' was made and intentionally so.

COLT: Finally Releases on YouTube

"The initial script was written only in 2 hours."
"The only professional on the set was the director of photography."

To get a dolly shot, we made the DP sit in a walker and made MG push him on a rough, unstable ground multiple times until we finally got a steady shot with the actor's right expression."


These and many more snippets of memorable moments in the making of COLT, I have heard since I have known the crew members of COLT.

COLT is the first short film of Aisle Seat Productions(ASP) and is a conversational thriller.
Although, I have never discussed this movie with the other 2 members of ASP, I am sure that each of them has more unique and still lucid anecdotes to share. COLT is an attempt of 4 engineers, Onkar, Sal, Nazzu and Tushar, at an art, films, which like cricket and religion in India, comprises of fans and fanatics. While each of them chose to make a film for different reasons, spending all their spare time from a full time IT job, one sentiment is common - passion for the art.
 While i was never on the set with the 8 member crew, the people involved have told me a variety of stories. It was shot in 2 weekends, nights included!
It was then I realized: the movies that have gotten me through long boring study holidays, those that I watched by bunking classes and those that I stood in ticket lines for hours to see first week, were indeed a complex art. It has many artistic facets, acting, direction, cinematography and music to name a few. To get all these right and create those few special moments, the emotional attachment and entertain the audience sitting on the couch on a lazy Sunday afternoon, is a challenge! But the process of film making , pre-production, shooting and post production (which I experienced closely), goes on for months and sometime years. To keep the energy going, to not let one's mundane and hectic life sap the energy out of the art, is a personal struggle. How Onkar, lived and breathed this movie, to be able to revive it from the dead after the initial shooting was done is what I have been privy to in the making of COLT.

The frustration, accompanied with the enthusiasm of the the stakeholders as they tried to get the raw footage from the camera onto a film on the big screen, was a tumultuous, tedious and seemingly never ending process for the team. Once the post production was done, the next challenge was how to get people to watch it and if they watch it, will they like it? The stakes were not too high yet they were. ASP didn't have to live up to any prior audience expectations (except for their brilliant 1 minute short-films which had won accolades) so they didn't have much to lose but for all the time and emotions invested in COLT, they had a lot to lose if their audience reacted negatively. For some of them, each reaction would decide if film making should even be considered as a future career.
They held 2 screenings for friends, family and people in the industry, in the 2 centers of cinemas, Los Angeles and Mumbai. They received mixed reactions. ASP heard their critics, trying to absorb what their film didn't do right, while they humbly accepted the praises with happiness and sense of achievement. Like Onkar says, 'When you are an artist, you have set yourself up for ridicule". With that positive attitude, ASP finally made COLT public on YouTube on Dec 30th, 2011...almost 3 years after the idea was conceived.

As a close observer, with no vested interest in COLT, all i can say that it was a long, bumpy ride and they survived it well with grace and confidence.

The voice over in the movie has been recorded at the least a 100 times, at all different times of the day, with different instruments over months until Onkar thought it was fine. The final voice over is what he did in a closed, walk-in closet of his bedroom. This will always be my memory of COLT.

Now that my rant is over, here are the links that I sincerely hope you enjoy as much as I did.
Movie: http://youtu.be/E5wwpUparM4
Blog posts written during the shoots by Onkar: http://amstillalive.blogspot.com/

Go watch it guys, not because my friends made it but because it is good.

All the best to ASP in their future film making endeavors and Happy 2012 to all the blog readers!