Wha...?! (Sujoy Ghosh at his expressive best)

There has been some misinterpretation by the media about something I wrote in my blog the last time. Just to clarify…

First and foremost: thank you for reading my blog. I thought only 8 people read it (out of which 3 are family).

Secondly when I wrote that Sir wanted me to cast a fresh face, he was being totally professional and unbiased and that’s all I wanted to convey. Come on, if it was me, the first thing I’d have asked was to cast my son as ‘Aladin’. But not Sir. 

And that’s why I refer to him as Sir.

So hope that is clarified. I shall try and write more clearly in the future else, as Nikhil says, he will joust and oust me from this blog. Gulp!

(As reference, kindly find attached with this post, a pictorial proof of: the location of the last man who did not do as Nikhil said.)

- Sujoy

Sujoy Ghosh on the genesis of 'Aladin' - Part 3

(Get ready to sit back and enjoy a narrative that you won't want to end. Here Sujoy continues his series on the genesis of 'Aladin' and tells of the remarkable faith that Mr. Bachchan showed in him and also the sagacity of the great actor in suggesting to him the next film to make after the non-performance of 'Home Delivery'...not to mention a guest appearance, in the narrative, by Abhishek Bachchan, Mr. India and 'It's the time to disco'. So turn off those cellphones, get a cup of coffee and read on... - NV)

I remember the day clearly...

FILM CITY. FLOOR 9.  2003

I stand in one corner. 

Atul Kasbaker clicks away stills for Dabur, while Mr. Bachchan poses. 

Suddenly he shouts “STOP”! 

- It’s too boring...let’s get some music on. 

Hurry hurrush rush ... and a music sytem appears by magic in which he slides in a CD. The music is from a new film yet 

to be released. I had never heard the music before... 

(It sounded OK. Very deep and intense philosophical stuff. Little did I know that this unreleased film is going to become one of my favorite films. Anyway…)

Mr.Bachchan calls out to me... I go. 

Atul pauses.

“So you are going to make Borivali?...” 

“Not me Sir.. WE are going to make it...no main or aap here... HUM…” 

The song changes in the background(apt timing): 

“Okay I am doing it. Make me look good” … 

!!!! 

YESSIR!!!! and I run out of the set lest he changes his mind. 

He shouts at my sprinting form: “But not before 2005 .. I’m packed till then…”  

Chalega! That gives me enough time to do a small film and find money for ‘Borivali’ parallely (I know that’s not a word, but then..). 

The song in the background tells me what to do... 

‘It’s the time to disco!”

CUT TO:

I had written the first draft of Aladin with Ritesh Shah.  

This was a story of Aladin and an international cartel of forty men who wanted to rule the world. They had a simple game plan. Kill the real leader of the country and replace him with a clone. They succeeded in doing that across the world till they came to India and their paths crossed with Aladin. It was - at least I thought - a fun filled film. One scene being particular favorite... the clone of a bank manager robs his bank while being remotely controlled by the forty men... one of the forty men instructs him: ‘Keep an eye on the door ” … the clone takes out his mechanical  eye and places it on the table which faces the door.

After a few months the first draft script was ready. Now to take it to Sir. 

I had very briefy mentioned ‘Aladin’ to him before.. 

“Sounds interesting… but not Abhishek as Aladin,” he had voiced his concern. “We are doing a few films together... take a fresh face…”

CUT TO:

YRF STUDIOS. Make-up Room. 

Sir listens to my narration after a long Reid and Taylor shoot.

As usual there in no reaction on his face. But rest assured he is listening to every word. 

After I finish there is a pause. He thinks for a while... 

There is a silence in the room which reminds me of ...

FLASH BACK

JALSA. Mr. BACHCHAN’S OFFICE

…the same silence. 

‘Borivali’ was not working out. 

It didn’t seem the right movie to embark upon after ‘Home Delivery’. 

Also Sir had certain issues with the amount of action in the final draft of ‘Borivali’. There was too much action. 

“I may not be able to give my 100% in these sequences and that worries me. The film may suffer... that makes me uncomfortable"… 

(Honestly, at that point, I thought he was taking it too seriously but then every shooting day of ‘Aladin’ is standing proof that he takes his work seriously. Very seriously.) 

Also he is worried about me. 

After the failure of ‘Home Delivery’ he wanted me to make something bigger. 

!!??!!! BIGGER!!!!???!!! 

Here I was...people had already written me off...and Sir wanted me to make something bigger and happier! 

‘Borivali’ was dark and disturbing. 

“Come back to it at a later time but for now trust me.. and write a brighter movie.” I am blank. “What do you say?”, he asked as he turned to the man beside me and that fellow nodded in agreement and took me to the next room.

“Don’t worry...is there anything else you can do?” that man asked me. 

After Borivali I had only one thing and ... 

“Perfect! You write and I guarantee you dad will do it. But write a kick-ass script...who will you cast as Aladin?”. 

That was the simplest part. The answer came without thinking. 

“Ritesh”…

“Perfect ! He and dad will be a good pair”...  

But my worry was different. Script, Ritesh sab thik hain lekin who will give me the money to make Aladin? 

“If you don’t find a producer, I will produce it for you,” Abhishek said, “but write a mind-blowing script…” 

I turned to Riteish for support but that was a complete mistake... 

That dude was jumping up and down at the thought of making ‘Aladin’. 

“Write it, write it, write it NOW!” 

He was like one of those kids you would take to the zoo but bring back because there is no empty cage. 

I tried to tell him ‘Dude I just had a flop film’. Riteish was rolling on the floor with laughter. 

“...Yes. And with that you have added another flop to MY career… So now you owe me a hit” 

I was going to hit him but then remembered he too was in ‘Home Delivery’. 

I turned to Vishal and Shekhar and they had their own grumble.. 

“You do whatever you want BUT will you film the songs or not? 

“Yes”. 

“All of the songs? In full? 

“Er… Yes.” 

“Not like what you did in Home Delivery?” 

“No.” 

“@£$% it! We don’t believe you!” 

“Arre!!” 

But these are my brothers. Even if I walk on fire, they will walk with me. 

And it happens only in India.

BACK TO

The silence is broken. 

“Er... Sujoy it sounds great and has lots of new stuff…but what’s the story? I am not getting a feel for the story...and it sounds very childish…” 

I tried to reason which he patiently listened to. 

“Let me think about it,” he requested. 

I knew instinctively that he did not like the script. 

That night I re-read the script. I realised Sir was right...my script was potty! 

It was lots of gimmicks but no soul. It was a Van Helsing and not a Mr. India.  

This is India. We need to feel our films. This is where a bullet ridden Vijay Verma drives to the temple to meet his mother… and a dying Aman Mathur runs out of the hospital to meet his love...these are moments in which we shamelessly cried because this is what we are made of. This is India.

And so, back to the drawing board and to write such a script that will make Sir say yes.

A big, happy movie.

So how does one write a script for a film which wants to be a BIG summer franchisee? A movie that is hundred percent made in India and nothing that the world has seen before... 

It will be like an ‘Indiana Jones’, a ‘Star Wars’, a ‘Harry Potter’, a ‘Spideman’, an ‘X-men’…but more importantly : like a ‘Mr. India’. 

And if we are going to put screaming Pterodactyls in it or a boy catching a flying comet : How Do I Do it? Kaise? 

It has to be awesome. And even though Po the Kung Fu Panda may disagree, there IS a price to awesomeness!!

 

… I was going to write about how I wrote Aladin but more important things beckon. I have got comments in my blog… Lord be praised! … and I need to reply to them. 

Tejas – thanks man.. will keep it coming but its damn hard time wise.. so much post-production work is on.

Sam- will tell you soon,

Adios – just allow me a little time and the photos will flow.

Fan no 1  - ?? I thought I was. 24^th July Aladin is out. Please see.

Raman – Spot on Bro. The man is a superman.

Pratim – You give me dope on DADA ..I will give you on ‘Borivali’.

Fats and K – promos hit in May. We just cut a few. Looking fantatistic!!

Me – Thank you. Am I talking to myself here?

Prashant – High 5 bro ! We do what we believe in.

Thanks for reading. 

Rest, soon…

MR. BACHCHAN IN 'ALADIN' - FIRST LOOK!!!!!

Well, here it is...a first look at what Mr. Bachchan looks like in 'Aladin'. Taken from the shoot of one of the grooviest songs EVER. (Vishal-Shekhar are teh_roxxors!)



Yes, you're allowed to drool, genuflect, bow, pray, praise, swoon and jump with joy.
Ain't he THE coolest? Or, as the bigb group at Yahoo calls him lovingly, THE Boss! (apologies to Mr. Springsteen:p)

Bringing up the rear is the ultra-cool Ritiesh...or is it? That's something you'll have to figure out by seeing the film...you see, we love playing with perception, like we said...and this is just one of those little games :)

But that said, you HAVE to see how good Ritiesh is in 'Aladin'. You'll fall in love with him, want to take him home to mother - or just want to cuddle him and take care of him - 15 seconds into the film :) Got a hint now as to who is really standing behind Mr. Bachchan?
But, as the saying goes - this is just the tip of the iceberg.
With 'Aladin', you ain't seen nothing yet...keep watching this space. More goodies on the way.
Oh, and yes, there's a comments section.
Go wild ;) - NV

P.S - Sujoy has just sent in the next part of his posts on the genesis of 'Aladin'. It's awesome stuff. Give me a couple of hours to put it up - maybe with a few on-set pictures too :D Come back/refresh soon...NV

The Himani Navratna commercial with Mr. Bachchan

Here's what we've also been up to recently.
Sujoy and Mr. Amitabh Bachchan got together to make this ad for Himani Navratna Tel and the fun they had while doing so is visible in the product! Most of the crew of 'Aladin' was on board for this commercial and it was like a family affair. The atmosphere on set was like it was during 'Aladin' - extremely high enthusiasm levels and even more camaraderie and fun - mixed with a lot of song and dance ;) The comfort levels that the cast and crew share with each other is to be seen to be believed. Will try and post more behind-the-scene exclusive pictures soon...
It's the first time that Mr. Bachchan has actually sung for an ad jingle. Don't you think he should do this more often? :)
Enjoy!
- NV

The Himani Navratna commercial 'Making Of' video

And here's a 'behind-the-scenes' look at it - NV

Sujoy Ghosh on the genesis of 'Aladin' - Part 2

(Part 2 of the long (OK, very long) essay by Sujoy Ghosh on the making of 'Aladin', THE Kolkata effect, his days of being broke(which haven't really ended, BTW), meeting Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, Charles Darby, Kishore Lulla and, in the middle of it all, forgetting to listen to saari kaaynaat as he attempts to make 'Borivali'... so here he is folks, posting all the way from London - NV)

‘Agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaho toh saari kaynat tumhe usse milaane li koshish mein lag jaati hai’

- Om Prakash Makhija

Things were cool. Were going to get cooler as I was off to London(very bad joke, sorry) to meet Charles. I was running seriously low on money and had just got permission to use a small gym in Pali Hill, FREE, which was outfstanding. Very nervously I had sent a text to the owner of the gym if I may use it and pat came the reply “…of course Bro!”

 

And Sanjay Dutt had only met me once before. (If you look closely at that statue of Atlas holding the earth on his shoulder...you will see the face of Sanjay Dutt.)

I met Charles in London and he gave me the lowdown on making a futuristic film. In such films creating the world is very important. The world in which the audience is going to reside for two-odd hours. The world they will see for the first time and hopefully won’t want to leave.

In ‘Borivali’, as in ‘Aladin’, I was trying to create a new world … and that meant WORK. Everything needed to be worked out in precise detail. The look, the feel, and every single ingredient of that Mumbai of the future. It’s this work which would allow the audience to believe that a Mumbai of the future could exist. Just like we believed in ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Jurassic Park’ and in a watch that made Arun Bhaiyya invisible in ‘Mr. India’. It meant more than a year of pre-production, shoot and an equal amount of time in post-production. 

It meant embracing a long forgotten word - DISCIPLINE.

I was one stop short of fainting. It was a Charlie Brown moment of GOOD GRIEF! How do we make this? Suddenly a simple thriller became a very expensive simple thriller! And a lot of green cloth appeared out of nowhere in the budget... The lighting budget tripled. An 8 hour shift suddenly became just 2 hours of productive work and my number of shooting days got multiplied by 4. I was not allowed to move my camera. Moving the camera would be directly proportional to increasing the budget. HUH!!?? ... 

It was a wake up call. A resounding slap in the face. Even Rana didn’t slap Dr. Dang so hard in ‘Karma’! Uss thappad ki gunj still echoes in my ear! 

With that budget-breaking news from Charles I headed towards a distribution house. My friend Shabbir had asked me to visit a company called Eros and meet a person called Kishore Lulla. I had no clue who he was... and at that point of time I didn’t care... I was too messed up trying to figure out how to make ‘Borivali’ work. Because I was almost there... just a stop short of getting to work with Amitabh Bachchan. 

And now this whole funda of creating a world required me to rob a bank. Time was nigh to dig out copies of ‘Kaante’ and ‘Rififi’. 

But I had to. Nothing was going to stop me from working with Mr. Bachchan. 

EPILOGUE

When you are a Bengali, born in THE( pronounced THEE ) Kolkata...a few things are your birthright … Satyajit Ray, Rahul Dev Burman, Kishore Kumar and, of course, Amitabh Bachchan. 

No matter what you say, they are ours. No matter who tries to stop us... we will always love them. To prove a point in case.. let me narrate an incident which Mr. Bachchan told me. 

Kolkata. Inside a cinema hall. ‘Main Azaad Hoon’. Last scene. 

Azaad, as he promised, plunges to his death. Suddenly there is a cry up in the balcony… “GURU TUMI EKLA JAABE NA“( you will not go alone) and proclaiming this… the fan along with Azaad jumps from the balcony. 

PHWEEEEEE and THUD! (Thank god it wasn’t a SPLAT!).  

Q.E.D. 

I could see Sir’s concern when he told me this... he felt responsible but had no idea how to stop something like that. God forbid anything happened to that fan he would have never forgiven himself. I have never seen anyone who loves his fans as much as he does and have also realized: it’s great to be a star, but not easy. As Aunt May said to Peter “… with great power comes great responsibility”.

But somehow I like that incident. It is funny, it is scary, it is madness - but it is Kolkata. Love, king size. 

And in 1978 I saw a film called ‘Muqadder Ka Sikander’ – the best DEVDAS ever -  with the audience of Kolkata, and was converted. I just wanted to do 2 things. See every film of this actor called Amitabh Bachchan and get a middle parting in my hair. (Apart from Moses I think Sir is the only person who can claim to have parted anything on such a large scale.)

CUT TO:

ICICI bank building in Prabhadevi, Mumbai. Sets of ‘Baghbaan’. 

I met Sir for the first time and underwent what was... one of the most nerve-wracking experiences of my life. I was in complete awe and shit-scared … should I say something out of place... 

But he was very kind. He took my concept and promised to read it on the flight as he was leaving for Europe that night. 

And after I came out of that meeting I realised I had just spoken to Amitabh Bachchan. 

That feeling, unfortunately, I cannot describe in words.

Since then I have met Sir on the sets of  ‘Khakhee’, ‘Lakshya’, ‘Black’, ‘Babul’, ‘Cheeni Kum’… and finally, on the sets of ‘Aladin’... 

I never gave up. And Sir never left my side. 

Every time I met him he encouraged me. 

‘Home Delivery’ flopped miserably,.. He encouraged me more. 

The trick is to.. ‘rise again’.. he had told me. 

And thank you for that Sir.. because.. rise we will. 

BACK TO: 

I sat in front of a man called Kishore Lulla. A complete bundle of energy. Watching him jump from one task to another was like watching a tennis match…

He painted the true commercial picture to me. ‘Borivali’ was going to cost a lot of money and did not seem a viable project at that point. I was mentally working out the time and cost to make Borivali and realised …it was going to take a bit of time… so I had to do a smaller film in between... 

My friend Suresh Nair and I had written a story called ‘Home Delivery’... 

“What other films are you thinking of?” Kishore had asked me.. I casually mentioned ‘Aladin’ to him. 

“...I will do it” Kishore said.. “Right now you have my commitment”... 

But I wasn’t listening. 

It came through one ear and straight out of the other. 

What ‘Aladin’? If I can’t make ‘Borivali’... how will I make ‘Aladin’? ‘Aladin’ was 20 times bigger in scale than ‘Borivali’…

I wasn’t listening.

… and I didn’t even hear the wheels of saari kaaynaat as they began to hum and grind that day...my mind was on other things...and stayed there a while…

(To be continued…)

Sujoy Ghosh talks about the genesis of 'Aladin'

(Part 1 of a long essay by Sujoy, the director, on the making of 'Aladin', how he got the idea, 'Jhankaar Beats', Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, doing what you believe in, Mr. Pritish Nandy (the man who has balls of steel) and other things of cinematic importance...so without further ado, here is Sujoy himself, posting from London - NV)

I have just realised that it’s far, far easier to write a screenplay than a blog! For the last 6 hours or so I have been trying to find THAT perfect start to my first ever blog, but like hell that’s going to happen in this lifetime.. so let’s just start..

I am here to share my experience in film-making and in making ‘Aladin’ and hope it helps someone in their pursuing of an impossible dream, for that is exactly what ‘Aladin’ was – an impossible dream. Charles had told me that it takes time to make a movie like ‘Aladin’. The first rule of the game is … ‘ S    L    O    W         D    O    W    N !!!’  

There is no rush. And if you are in a hurry… make some other movie. It’s a little more than fours years now... a year or so to script, year and a half of pre-production, 149 days of shoot, a year of post-production and finally it’s ‘SATYAKALPADROOM!’ The tree of imagination has come alive! 

There are many reasons for me joining this industry… namely(in no particular order) Rahul Dev Burman, Kishore Kumar, Balraj Sahni, Anand Bakshi, Satyajit Ray, Naseeruddin Shah and Amitabh Bachchan. And of course the man who gave me admission… Mr. Pritish Nandy… the dude with balls of steel who took a gamble on a newcomer and a film called ‘Jhankaar Beats’. 

I cannot write anything about myself without writing about Pritish Nandy first and, in particular, one incident which taught me about believing in what you do. To stand by what you believe in.  

Because in this life, we can only do what we believe in.

FLASHBACK TO:

The Censor Board had just seen ‘Jhankaar Beats’ and it was that awful moment of truth. What cert are we going to get.. we were desperately hoping for a universal certificate, however, deep in our hearts lurked a small fear. JB was the first film to have a blow-job in the movie and it was something which was required. In the movie, that is... to establish the normal healthy sex life of a married couple. A couple who loved each other very much and did not shy away from showing it physically. And since they didn’t ... they were, well, ‘caught’ under the radar of the Censor Board. 

The Board loved the movie and wanted to give an universal certificate barring that one scene. We tried to reason... here Mr. Nandy was definitely an Oscar candidate when he tried to convince the board that Nicky (the wife) went down to look for a tiffin carrier she had dropped on the floor of the car !!!!! it was a priceless moment... we all sat there trying to look serious and nodding our heads in agreement... but the Board was far too experienced and responsible to let such matters through. 

So the choice was simple: remove 48 frames and get an ‘U’ cert or keep and get an ‘A’(48 frames is exactly 2 seconds, by the way). Mr. Nandy chose the latter because he believed that was needed for the film. For 2 seconds he gave up what could be half of the possible revenue. Because he believed that the character of the film will not have the edge without that 2 seconds. He was in the game to make films. To make dreams happen exactly how they are dreamt. And he was right... 

‘Jhankaar...’ went on to create its own destiny. It is coined the ‘father of multiplex cinema’. Would that have happened if we deleted the 2 seconds? I don’t know and I don’t care because I love my film how it is. I am absolutely, totally and fully in love with ‘Jhankaar..’ and ‘Home Delivery’ and ‘Aladin’. These are my children and I will never stop loving them. Good or bad, they are mine. 

And I have no qualms in bowing to Pritish Nandy every time he passes me because not only did he give me my film, he taught me to believe.

END OF FLASHBACK.

And that’s how ‘Aladin’ happened. 

Two people sat in the coffee shop of Mariott and believed that they will make a film which has never been seen before on the Indian screen. 

A visual delight. It will be like eating ice-cream with your eyes. 

They had met for the first time and they knew that between them they brought jackshit to the table. But they believed they could do it. 

I had just come out from watching the premiere of ‘Masti’ and I knew I wanted to work with an actor called Ritesh Deshmukh. His comic timing was immaculate. I got his number and met him that night at the BBC in Mariott. And we decided we will make ‘Aladin’. 

It will cost a lot of money but some how we will raise it. It would be as good as a ‘Harry Potter’ or ‘The Lord of the Rings’. I think we paused for a bit and laughed our guts out thinking what an insane path to embark upon but we wanted to and we did. Both of us had other dreams to pursue at that point... Ritesh had some 3 films he was committed to and I was pursuing my biggest ever dream... 

To work with Amitabh Bachchan. 

That was the reason for me being in the industry. No point being a director if I don’t get to work with Amitabh Bachchan.  I was hoping to make a film called ‘Borivali’ with Sir. The film was set in the future and I was going off to London to meet this man called Charles Darby and see if he would consider working as an FX  consultant on ‘Borivali’. 

Just the day before I met a mad action director called Wiliam Ong from Malaysia who agreed to do the stunts for ‘Borivali’... 

Ritesh and I left the coffee shop at Mariott thinking about what we had just agreed upon. At least I did... for all I know Ritesh could have been thinking about the huge bill he just footed. But I jest.. he never gave up on ‘Aladin’ and neither did I. We may have paused in between but we never stopped till ‘Aladin’ happened and I promise you.. you have never seen anything like this before…

(To be continued …)