I saw an email message today reminding me that our BollyBrook project is three years old. WOW! Here is a short interview with some of the cast and crew.
Do you have any favorite memories from filming BollyBrook? Before, during, or afterwards.
There have been way too many moments during making of the BollyBrook video that have stuck to the insides of system like a fungal growth I wish to never get rid of.
Like the time Nick hired the cab during the production of the video and Ashok, our driver thought his job was to (once again) ferry some dollar throwing Americans as they toured the city. It took Ashok just a little over a day for the penny to drop. Apart from being exposed to many different dodgy activities that come with the ‘business of shooting guerrilla’ and after the first day of somewhat behaving ourselves, Ashok, had had enough of us. Yatharth, was soon standing on the roof of Ashok’s cab and Ashok was driving the cab to and fro, up and down the lane while making sure Yatharth didn’t fall off- all this for the sake of a shot. He was hired as a cab driver and was now a stunt car driver. Perfect, he thought. At this point, I recall catching a momentary glimpse of Ashok’s expression. He possessed a rather morbid expression of complete and absolute perplexity on his face that gave a sense of a very strong contempt towards us. He appeared to be questioning not just his decision to be with us but his entire life at this point. Poor guy. Although I think he did enjoy all the fun we put him through.
There was this other time when we were filming bang in the middle of a very busy street-side shopping lane at Colaba Causeway where we were shooting a very small jump cut/ time-lapse part where Yatharth is dressing Anne up in Indian clothes and jewellery picked from stalls around and Anne has to stand frozen at one place. At this point, Anne is wearing her shirt which she has to substitute with a bright red kurta that Yatharth puts on her. It’s almost evening so the the lane is bustling with shopkeepers, shoppers and other assorted passerbys. Anne is standing at the spot and my camera is focussed on her. It’s time to change clothes. I was thinking, uh-oh, would we have to get in a corner and out of public eye for her to change? for that might disturb the stop-block we have set for but Anne didn’t flinch. She took her top of and wore the kurta in an instant, at that very spot amidst all the trillion set of stares and we continued to shoot. Effortless. Then came the part where Anne had to break into a jig on the streets in order to try and win the dejected lover-boy back. At that point, I think I had a personal philosophical moment there for a second. Anne blew my mind with how little inhibition and people conciousness she possesses. How free she is of any perceptions, liberated of any body baggages that I or most people I know seem to have. I would have never been so brave, so uninhibited. I thought about our bodies and just how much extra attention we give it, protecting it, hiding it- for what? It might just afterall be nothing but a shell holding our insides in place. With that realisation, in that moment, I think I grew a little as a person.
What are two of your current favorite songs? Please include YouTube links.
A not-so-recent song that’s playing in a loop in my head is Life is Better (Norah Jones and Q-Tip)
The other track current favourite track is also a not-so-recent soundtrack from Tony Gatlif’s 2002 film Swing. This song has is overpowering yet seeps itself in the mood you are in. It is melancholic if you are feeling melancholic and uplifting if you are feeling energetic. Special kind of a song.
What advice do you have to someone who wants to film a music video in Mumbai?
Stay. Look. Feel. Then Shoot.