Things film school never told me about making a movie
Pune Highway
, into a movie. 'It's cinematic. The time is right. Audiences are hankering for good stories, and OTT is here to stay,' he said, adding, 'But can you raise the dosh? It will then truly be an
independent film
. We make the movie on our terms - no interference, no committees, and we take as long as we want.'
#Operation Sindoor
India-Pakistan Clash Live Updates| Pak moving troops to border areas? All that's happening
Why India chose to abstain instead of 'No Vote' against IMF billion-dollar funding to Pakistan
How Pak's jihadi general Munir became trapped in his own vice
I sold my mother's jewellery, comprising one ring and a necklace. 'You have the money, Rahul?' my father asked, through steely eyes. 'I'm not lending you moolah for a film about three buddies. If you add some dames, you can break one of my FDs.' Fair enough.
'Any item numbers?' I shook my head vociferously. 'So, it's an 'inty' film?' - his abbreviation for 'intellectual' meets 'intense'. 'What's the film about?' he asked.
'Pune Highway is a
crime thriller
, a buddy mystery... a whodunnit that morphs into a whydunit.'
'Stop quizzing him, Sylvie,' my mom said. 'We have an early Jehangir Sabavala bought for ₹740 in 1950. It'll be worth significantly more now.'
Live Events
Bugs and I sallied forth towards the windmills. I was armed with Syd Field knowledge, lots of advice from 'legends', and even a course at FTII. Bugs is three films old. We were ready, and everything made sense. Until...
...the day we began shooting.
No one told me that an 8 am-8 pm outdoor shooting shift in December isn't 12 hours. A late sunrise means you begin shooting at 10 am, and an early sunset means pack-up is at 6 pm.
No one told me that, as you're fighting to finish the day's work, the sun is setting. But at that moment: a plane flies overhead; the camera's memory card is full; an actor asks you a question; the sun disappears, and you don't have all the shots you want.
No one told me you can spend two days capturing a sequence on camera, only to ruthlessly chop it out of the film during editing. 'We wear one hat while we shoot, and another when we edit,' Bugs told me.
No film institute warns you that the process of making a movie can take 21/2 years, from screenplay to show timings, from page to poster.
No one ever told me that your independent film is up against the tsunami called 'distraction'. The same weekend you plan to launch in cinemas, you might come up against an SRK starrer, a Southern remake, or a horror comedy... or a war thingie going on outside.
Your trailer may be trippy. But will the audiences come? All the rules I've learnt in advertising hold me in good stead. You've got to somehow cut through the clutter. 'Why should I watch your film?' 'Does it have songs?' 'Does it have stars?' I am asked. What I do know is: it's a captivating story.
What no one told me is there's an insidious component called P&A. I thought I was done paying once the film was ready. No such luck. Paul Anderson, director of Boogie Nights and There Will Be Blood, once famously said, 'Only 40% of filmmaking is the actual film.'
And no one warned me that it comes down to one Friday, your release Friday. No one ever warned me that tickets go up for sale 48 hours before.
So, where will we be next weekend? Bugs and I will be running all over town, catching shows at Metro in Malad, maybe hopping across the highway to Pune to sit among cinema-goers to get a genuine feel: Are they laughing? Are they on the edge of their seats? Are they busy trying to guess the killer? No one warned me that 10 days from release, India would bomb terrorist camps in Pakistan.
So, on that critical Saturday, on May 17, while hopefully hordes will throng to cinemas to catch my debut film, where will I be? Well, I'll be at the Mahalaxmi Racecourse, watching Guns N' Roses.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
7 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Tiger Shroff and family owns MMA league, training facility with 16 gyms across India: Ayesha and Krishna Shroff explain their business empire
Almost all Bollywood celebrities diversify their portfolio and have multiple income sources, like businesses and real estate. Similarly, actor Tiger Shroff has invested in his own training facility called MMA Matrix and an MMA fighting league called Matrix Fight Night. However, he isn't the sole owner of these and shares the control with his mother, Ayesha Shroff, and sister, Krishna Shroff. In a recent interview, Ayesha talked about her own career as a film producer in Bollywood and how the family have overcome tough times to create an empire for themselves. While talking to Zero1 Hustle, both mother and daughter shared the story behind the gym, and Krishna said, 'Our gym is basically a passion project that my mother, brother, and I came together for. There is no one better than Tiger to represent something like fitness; he is the epitome of it. I think a lot of tier-2 and 3 cities have shown him a lot of love, and some of his most loyal fans come from those places. Tiger was very keen to bring these facilities to them.' Ayesha added that the idea behind the Matrix gym was to create a premium space that combined several different aspects of fitness and martial arts. ALSO READ: Amitabh Bachchan-Katrina Kaif film was shot at Dubai hotel that turned down James Bond, on Gaddafi's private jet; flopped instantly, bankrupted Jackie Shroff 'No one really had what our gym possessed, at least in the city. Tiger already did martial arts, and Krishna was big on strength training. So we thought of building a space which combines both those disciplines. The name came from the film Matrix. There is no division, and everyone contributes equally to the venture, Tiger less in terms of time, because of his acting career. We put in our own money, and we weren't answerable to any investors. Today we have 16 gyms Pan-India, including our mothership here. Now we have involved some partners as well, and we choose between franchising or partnering up with someone, based on the kind of money they can put in,' said Ayesha. Talking about the martial arts promotion company Matrix Fight Night, Ayesha took the viewers back to where the journey started for them and said, 'It all started when we attended an MMA show here in India, and Tiger was a part of the organisation that hosted it for some time as well. Krishna had been a fan of MMA for a long time, and she was also very familiar with a lot of Indian and international fighters, so that's her strong point. I take care of the organising aspect of it all, and my love for films and production translates here. Everything, down to the very last detail, goes through me.' She explained the pay scale of their organisation and the business model and stated that they are on their way to competing with the biggest brands in the world of MMA. 'The ticketing thing doesn't work in India yet, because we still don't have the megastars to bring in those huge crowds. When we came into the space, the starting salary for an Indian fighter was $200 (Rs 17k), and now a debut fighter gets paid $2000 (Rs 1.74 lakh). If you are fighting for a title, you get paid $10k (Rs 8.7 lakh). So if you compare our pay scale with a lot of other promotions globally, we are still pretty good. The idea is to make this into a proper salaried profession for all these fighters. We are currently on JioHotstar, and we literally bullied them for that platform. They didn't expect the numbers we got, and then they came back to us all excited and even came to watch a show.' A post shared by Matrix Fight Night [™️] (@mfn_mma) Krishna added and said, 'We are in the process of changing the whole revenue model, because a lot of these fighters didn't have any kind of recognition before MFN, and now they have massive followings in their hometowns and villages.' MFN has been active since 2019, and they have had 17 shows to date.
Hindustan Times
37 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Faissal Khan levels new allegations against brother Aamir Khan: ‘He has always been jealous of me'
All is not well between superstar Aamir Khan and his brother Faissal Khan. Faissal has alleged that his family once kept him under house arrest and branded him as a mad man. Taking things further, he has now accused Aamir of misusing his power and influence to bring him down. Faissal Khan worked with his brother Aamir Khan on one film, Mela, which was released in 2000. On Aamir keeping him under house arrest Opening about his ordeal, Faissal tells us, 'For many years, since 2003, torture is happening to me by my family. And the torture is not of a small extent. My fundamental rights are being infringed upon. My family doesn't respect me or trust me.' He admitted that he wrote an abusive letter to the whole family in the early 2000s, following which they started calling him a 'mad man'. 'In 2005, Aamir came with the police and a doctor. He used his power to put me on medication and a nursing home against my wishes. In 2006, I went to Aamir's other house where he let me stay. For some time, everything was fine. Then suddenly in 2007, he wanted my signatory right… And that would have made me zero as a human being. Giving up your signatory rights is losing all your rights.' 'That's when I left the house… I was shocked ke ab yeh log signatory rights pe aa gaye hain… I thought that this is total nonsense and I have to fight my family. All they try to do is try and defame me. They put out a statement saying that I am misleading public. But I have proof of everything that I am saying… This time, I got upset and decided to cut all ties with them to safeguard myself, my peace of mind and my dignity,' he added. On estranged relationship with Aamir Khan There was a time when Aamir worked with his brother Faissal on a film, Mela, which was released in 2000. But according to him, Aamir was always jealous of him. 'When I was working on my first film, Madhosh, which was produced by my father Tahir Hussain, my father called Aamir many times. He wanted him to hear the script. But Aamir didn't hear it. I was disappointed at that time and wondered why he doesn't want to guide me, his own brother,' Faissal said. He continued, 'Then people started saying he is jealous from you from that time. In Mela, my work was appreciated more than his work. That also triggered jealousy and sibling rivalry… Between 2003 and 2005, my family instigated him. And he told me to quit acting after Mela.' That came as a shock to Faissal, who stated, 'and then it was downhill from that time and everything went haywire'. Faissal stayed away from the limelight through the early 2000s and has only begun making frequent appearances in recent years. In 2015, he worked on a film Chinar Daastaan-E-Ishq, which is yet to be released. In 2021, he made his directorial debut and starred in the psychological thriller film Faactory. He even sang a song in the film. 'At the time of Faactory, I was not getting buyers. I tried to reach out to him for help to help me to sell it to OTT because he is such a powerful person. He refused to help me. So they are all incidents which are triggering off for many years right from 1992 when I started working on my first film,' Faissal said. On Aamir being brainwashed by the family That being said, Faissal still believes that it is his someone who is instigating Aamir against him, and making him do wrong things. 'Aamir was put in the forefront by the family to use his power. You need to be a person with influence to forcefully put someone under medication, put someone under house arrest. Aamir's fault is that he listened to the family and did whatever wrong he was told to do. He was an adult in 2005 when he first came and took me. It was his stupidity and ignorance that he was brainwashed,' he said. Faissal added, 'He hurt the people around him amid the family politics… He will pay for his karma and for whatever he's done wrong.' On his present fear Right now, Faissal is scared that Aamir will again use power and influence against him. 'Aamir has a very strong pull with the police and many other people with influence. In 2005, he only came with the police and forcefully took me, which is against the law… If he could orchestrate that thing and at that time, he is more powerful now… I'm wondering what he can do now,' Faissal said. 'Aamir is not a criminal minded person, but he might be instigated…. And I don't know and fear what he would do this time,' shared Faissal, who filed a writ petition after a month.
Mint
an hour ago
- Mint
King for a reason: Bollywood filmmaker still gushes over Shah Rukh Khan's kindness during Chak De, ‘He got it for me'
Director Ashima Chibber worked closely with Shah Rukh Khan during Chak De! India. She was an assistant director for the sports drama. The filmmaker recalled a touching memory from the Australia shoot. She was at the airport while the team waited for the players' flight. To pass the time, the then-budding filmmaker browsed books at a store and found an astronaut book she loved. But, it cost ₹ 6,000, so she put it back. For the contest, the book cost ₹ 6,000 in 2007. If we account for an average inflation rate of about 6% annually, the same book would cost more than ₹ 17,000 now. The next day, during the 'man-to-man marking' scene from the movie, King Khan called her. 'He was like, 'Look, what's lying here'. It was the book. He had obviously seen me reading it. He knew that I really liked that book. He knew that it was too expensive for me to afford at that time. He went there and got it for me,' an excited Chibber told Zoom. 'I still have that book. It's on my, like, you know, one of my prized possessions,' she added. The Bollywood filmmaker also recalled a dinner in Australia. During the shoot, Don was released. The entire team went to watch the film and then had dinner. With a massive group of cast and crew, the dinner bill was huge. Unsure how to handle it, Ashima nervously asked one of her colleagues. 'Please, not me. I don't even have that much in my account,' the colleague told her. 'Then, Shah Rukh sir said, 'Give it to me.' He took it from me. And, I was like, 'Sir, we'll go Dutch',' Ashima said during an interaction with Zoom. 'He looked at me. I think nobody had ever told him, 'Let's split the bill'. So, he was like, 'No. I am paying the bill.' And, I said, 'Okay, sir.',' Chibber said while laughing at the incident. Ashima Chibber is basking in the glory of Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway. After all, it earned Rani Mukerji her first National Award. SRK also got his first this year for Jawan.
