The wheels were in motion and the i heaved a sigh of relief each time i ticked of a sequence from the to do list! We needed crowds to pose as bank account holders on the set, however bringing in new junior artists would have added to the expense of the film hence a novel idea was decided upon!
The producers decided to ask their friends and family to come over to the sets and witness in close proximity, a shooting of a feature film! Thsi would satisfy their urge to be on a film set and we would get a respectable crowd that we were looking for- at no additional expense! Sounded good but there were two problems- one was the consistency at which people would turn up and second was whether they would have the patience to hang on the set all day long doing the same thing again and again!
Somehow we were pulling through and the shooting was progressing.
It was on the third evening i.e on 12th April'09. We were going to shoot the sequence which would be the introduction shot of Sanjay Narvekar in the film. From the begining we had planned this to be an eloborate sequence not only because he has a star value amidst the Marathi audience but primarily because the story had him playing a flamboyant character and the entry would have driven in the point!
We were behind schedule and the shots had already been altered...all the same they still needed speed and sleek execution. I was standing right in the middle of the set pushing the crew to speed up when my cell rang.
The caller was a very respected gentlemen who has never called me over the last two years that I've known him. His voice shivered as he asked me where i was. I knew something terrible had happened.
As it turned out it was a car accident. This gentleman whi himself is 45 years old was travelling with his 62 year old sister in a cab towards Mumbai Central railway station from where they were going to take a train for Delhi. His sister died on the spot as the tempo smashed into their taxi and he himself had suffered some multiple fractures...Can you come, he asked!!!
Everything froze- we film makers visualise our lives too as a motion picture and as such i could see myself being filmed with a round trolley on a three axis camera! I could feel the dryness in my mouth and there was no energy that would carry me close to uttung wherein i could inform him as to what had happened.
Finally when i did tell him, he reacted just the way i knew he would- extremely calm, warm and understanding. the man with the disheartened feeling of having changed his shots for an important sequence and who was running behind schedule for no fault of his could have easily been irritable or upset on hearing the news! However he placed his hand on my shoulder and asked my calmly to be safe and hurry. I had no choice. I did just that.
However on the way i called up a couple of friend who i thought could assist Uttung that night but they were busy and far away.
Finally on the last day at the bank we were on schedule and in control. By all that was lined up it seemed we would have an early pack up. But alas...
One of our actors was coming over after wrapping up another shoot and he got stuck causing three and a half hour of delay!! Wow! We were back to pushing and running...
It turned out to be the usual critical and border line day and as usual we finished what we planned. There is always room for more but there is also something called as being realistic!!
On that count we were doing great...tomorrow we were heading back to Goregaon to can the preinterval sequence which we could not shoot earlier due to technical snags!!
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