DAY ONE AT THE BANK- 10TH NOV'09

I wasn’t as nervous on the first day of shoot as I was on the morning of 10th Nov’08. I was worried because I was not sure how so many artists were going to be handled. Unlike some people who don’t give as much credit to the background artists, I have always believed that if you make them feel you are taking care of them they do a better job. Besides, personally I’m a stickler for organization and hate when things are left to be discovered and handled as and when the time comes.

That apart I also knew the pace that we would have to maintain if we were to finish the climax portion planned today and some other sequences. No delays were to be allowed at any cost.

We were shooting in the normal shift i.e. 9.00 a.m. to 10.00 p.m. by now I had understood the pace of the unit and was hoping that the first shot was to be canned by 11.00 which by regular standards was going to be demanding and add to that the crowd that we had on set that day the task seemed humungous!
Hence I almost fainted when our DOP- Prasad Bhende- was unhappy with an entire wall being orange and asked it to be painted white! Although he was only doing his job and would eventually be in the interest of the film, I had my reservations regarding the timing of the suggestion! However it had to be done. It had to be done!

The wall being painted meant that we had to avoid that part of the set where the painting was in progress and thus the shots were redesigned! On my part all the artists were present and ready by 11.00!
Our action directors- Kushal and Moses- had started designing the sequence and the actors needed in the first shot were on floor getting their rehearsals right. We finally rolled around noon.

As expected the sequences were demanding and taxing. However the action masters had got into the groove and with the artists being of the repute the pace was fast. All the same by the day’s end we could only can the entire climax. I had expected that and had convinced myself that beyond a certain point I’ll have to accept where we stand and keep moving accordingly.

Every time I realized I could unreasonably create an issue I would look at Uttung and seeing him composed and focused I knew the fight was on and I had to stand and deliver subtly but effectively.

However the most important part of this day was that I realized getting the background artists ready was not going to be an issue. It was only the artists’ continuity and art and props that will need attention. Besides the toughest sequence had been canned.

The next 4 days were going to be something we had grown used to by now.

However not in my wildest dream did I foresee that I would I have to leave the set and go when one of the most important sequences of the film was going to be shot!!

Why?...fate!

THE JNBC BANK, VISAGE STUDIO.

From the very beginning when the film was in its "talking stages", Uttung would often mention the bank! He knew this was going to be the most non-compramisable location of all the locations in the film.
The script was conceptualised and written with the thought that not only is it creatively enchanting and believable but also economically feasible. Thus keeping the above factors in mind it was going to be very tricky for us to get our bank!
The search took us to various subarban studios(within the ten days that we had before we began shooting!!) and also to certain banks which we were told we could shoot in but of course only at night!!! All options were considered. I even went to check out a bank pretending to be a customer and was relieved to reject it within 30 seconds on account of its space or rather- no space!
Finally we locked the location we had seen before any other- VISAGE STUDIO, JOGESHWARI-WEST. The floor was that of an office. The furniture had to be moved around to make it look like a bank. Counter Tags had to be created that would hang from the ceiling...passbooks and other bank stationery had to be arranged...but most importantly the name of the bank and its logo design and color had to be finalised!!
There was no time to ponder, the first thing that came to my mind was JNBC!!...not many have guessed but its from the fact that we were doing a BHARAT JADHAV-SANJAY NARVEKAR starer and hence JADHAV NARVEKAR BANK CORPORATION!!
Prashant Rane our art man got some logo designs and keeping with my tradition i went with my gut instinct and chose one which Uttung too approved. Orange and White was to be the bank color.
Now all of this was on paper!! It remained to be seen how much of it would be done on the morning of 10th Nov when we had to begin shoot...
However call it blessing in disguise or a day gone waste for we had to cancel the shoot on the 9th and hence got to be at Visage studio, the whole of 9th to push the art department. Work was on in full force and while we worried about it completing on time, there was one major concern... The first day the location tomorrow...we were going to have around 8 secondary characters posing as the bank staff...there were going to be 10 more people posing as customers...our two main lead actors plus Girish Salvi and the senior most- Satish Pulekar along with fighters as we were going to shoot the climax action sequence!!!
Ideally we did not want to start with such a heavy day but then film making is crisis management... we did not have the dates of certain actors in combination and had to take the gamble!
So what waited for us on the morning of the 10th was- A NEW LOCATION, AN ACTION SEQUENCE CLIMAX, AROUND 25 ARTIST AND THE EVER PRESENT CRUNCH OF TIME!!
all i could hum to myself was....attapitta...attapitta...attapitta....attapitta!!