THE MAKING OF "INDIA ! IT HAPPENS HERE"
Chanchal Sanyal, Director, QED Communications
Sunday 11
th January... A bright and sunny typically Delhi winter day. A lazy morning wake up with innumerable cups of tea in bed and a long and leisurely stroll with my big bouncy Labrador. After a late and heavy breakfast, the biggest decision facing me was whether to have the beer on the lawn or to plonk in front of the TV for the rest of the day.
And then the phone call - 'The project is confirmed! You and your team are booked on the late night flight to Bangalore!!! Give me the DOP's exact name so that I can book him to Bangalore from Mumbai!'
This project had been idling on the runway till then - yes, the basic groundwork was done - the skeleton scripts were in place and the conceptual outlines had been thrashed out but the greenlight for takeoff was awaited - and now, everything just took off. And moved into hypersonic mode immediately!
Bangalore on Monday - the Metro Cash and Carry Managing Director is to be shot in situ. Scripts changed, locations changed - but the Metro team was very co-operative and helpful and gave us a lot of time.
Tuesday - early morning, the Infosys Campus. "Fine that you are here, but today is going to be madness - our half yearly results are being declared - and oh! by the way - Mr. Nilekani is not going to be here today - he is indisposed." Hallelujah! What happens now ? After much headscratching and telephone calling, Mr. Nilekani gave us time at his home. By now, of course, we are running behind schedule because the CISCO Chief Globalisation officer is next and we have to reach there soon – let's not forget, we have the last flight to Delhi and a 9 'o' clock appointment the next morning with Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal!
Mr. Nilekani, as always, is the thorough gentleman and very co-operative. We finish and pile into the Innovas and Qualises and plunge into the Bangalore traffic maelstrom. Reach CISCO - but uh oh! They have their own script and their own idea on how the film is to be shot! Once again, the headscratching and on the spot rewrites. Finally, we agree and set up - but the person, Wim Elfrink, is still battling traffic on the way from the airport. Finally, it happens - and as it happens he is a superbly confident speaker and takes directions beautifully. Wrap up the shoot in almost real time and then it's the mad rush to the airport. We are terribly late and the driver has us flying before we check in - that's how we made the flight.
Wednesday morning, Mr. Mittal is right on time and in exactly the suit we had asked him to wear. Unfortunately, he has only ten minutes! Ever shot a commercial in ten minutes? Well, we have - and many times over by the end of this exercise.
After the madness of the previous two days, sent the lightboys home, the equipment guys off and was taking a much deserved lunch break with the team and wondering whether we have the time for that elusive beer before taking the evening flight to Pune, when once again that phone! "Mr. Praful Patel has agreed to be a part of this and we have a great script for him. Can you get the entire production team over to his place in the next half hour? Okay. Okay. Take your time - 45 minutes?"
Well, we got there and we shot there. An urbane sophisticated man who gave us the time and listened to us and made value additions in what was already a nice script. Looks a bit like a movie star - and insisted that all had coffee before we left - aah! That beer! Anyway, pleasure deferred is pleasure multiplied - so we went ahead and boarded the flight to Pune as dry as the Sahara!
Thursday morning. The Mercedes Plant at Pune. Of course, true to form, our driver took us to the old plant first and then confidently asserted that Mercedes has 'left'. Finally, we got here. Well, here we were - and here was the Mercedes Corporate Communications team with a new and different script! Once again, the headscratching (now I can tell my daughter how I'm losing hair) and the script thrashing until we arrived at a consensus. And then, the cars! Oh the Cars! Drove around in a Merc SLK convertible two seater. O to 100 in 3.5 seconds - I kid you not. Hand tooled leather seats with about a 15 way adjustment. And gadzillions of other things - only Rs 1.96 crores. The shoot progressed apace – the Merc MD is definitely the warmest, friendliest German I've ever met – married to an Indian of course!
Evening - drove down to Amchi Mumbai. Happiness. Back home for Aseem - the DOP.
Friday morning - the ICICI office. Much fire and brimstone from the Corp Com team - Ms Kochhar has made ten minutes out of a board meeting for this - so ten minutes it is. We set up, she arrives, she speaks, we shoot, she leaves. Bingo! Now, how do we edit this into 30 seconds? What other cutaways/visuals can we use? Can we shoot here? Hey! You are the filmmakers, go figure! Actually the Corp Com team was then very helpful and put us in touch with the producer who makes their films who uploaded a lot of footage for us to use.
Afternoon, it is the Mahindra office and Mr. Anand Mahindra is in the spotlight. Took one look at the set up and says "Oh! So, you are using a track and trolley - so, are you going to cut from mid to tight in motion?" Turns out he's studied filmmaking at Harvard! Once again, a co-operative and helpful man who gave us the maximum time he could.
Evening – the last flight back to Delhi.
Saturday morning - Mr. Kapil Sibal's residence. He takes one look at the script and sets it aside - "I can do much better than this rubbish." And he did! Maybe it all those courtroom years - but he really is a performer - later, at the post production table - I actually heard a technician say -
"yeh dubbing artist kaun hai? Kya aavaz hai!"
Next is Mr. Kamal Nath - but we have a little time before that – so, it is lunch at the Andhra Bhawan - and then it is back to the Minister's residence while chewing the Andhra
'Meetha Paans'. Mr. Kamal Nath is a very busy man - he had two meetings going on inside and at least six groups of people waiting outside - we were ready with our set up and he came out and gave us the time that he could. Advantage with all these people is that they know the subject inside out and their extemporizations make for good takes. And being in the public eye all the time - they are all terrific speakers.
Next four days was locked in the edit suites. Four tables continuously at work while the patchwork and the supplementary footage was being shot simultaneously. Music being composed, final vo being recorded, mix, matt, edit, upgrade, smoke - everything happening, everything at hypersonic speed - rough cuts being uploaded for approvals - upgrades and online mastering as soon as approvals are coming in – dialogues with Bloomberg about formats - PAL, NTSC, clock, black, audio leveling - merry and absolute madness! Fedex courier not reaching. Amit dispatching a person to London with backup copies of the digibetas - madness compounded.
However, all's well that ends well. Especially with oceans of beer!!
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