The Uniform Days
Year 2003; it was just another boring Sunday spent in the
boarding school at a desert like area in Punjab.Most of the inmates had gone home by then. All those who didn’t were either
busy sleeping in the dorms or were happily cracking stupid nonsensical jokes in
Punjabi. Since it was hard for me to comprehend the local language and had no
one to talk to at that time, I chose to be alone. It was almost two in the
afternoon, I tried really hard to sleep, but couldn’t (as it is everyone around
me were snoring loud enough to kill anyone in the battle of noises). After an hour
of restlessness, I got up and walked to the TV room. I picked up the remote
control and got busy watching ridiculous shows and videos. After sometime, I
saw Paanch’s footage and the name of
the director of that film, Anurag Kashyap for the very first time. Those 10
seconds footage completely blew my senses away. It felt so different watching
it and I felt happy that finally our Bollywood is ready to experiment and Paanch could one of the films entering
into the loop.
Unfortunately, the film underwent a lot of troubles and
controversies. The Censor Board of India never approved of its release.
Thereafter, Paanch never made it to
the cinema halls. Movie buffs like us moved on too. We had to compromise with
our taste in cinema by fulfilling our basic requirement of entertainment sans
intelligence with anything that came by.
Class Bunk
After Paanch’s
hullabaloo, Kashyap vowed never to come back. But on February 9th,
2007, his second film, Black Friday (based
on the 1993 Mumbai bombings), finally
released. It was to be released in the year
2004, but couldn’t due to legal hassles. But, when things cooled down and the
film managed to release, I watched it and was left astounded. The movie was
well appreciated by the critics and the public. With the theatrical debut of Black Friday, Anurag Kashyap was finally
noticed for his exceptional work as a filmmaker.
Within that year, No
Smoking released too. Unfortunately, unlike Black Friday’s success, No
Smoking turned out to be a disaster. As opposed to this, a handful of
people, including me, worshipped the film. The film boasted of an exceptionally
well written script and incredible narration.
Days later, I read about an internet site called ‘Passion
for Cinema’, where Kashyap regularly blogged. Since I was an avid blogger, I
started to comment on his posts as well, hoping that some day he would post his
opinion on my articles.
Getting the Degree
It was a cold and exhausting November night, while I was
busy preparing for the semesters (M.A Philosophy). Suddenly, I received a mail
alert on my computer. I checked my inbox. There was a mail from the man
himself. I was wonderstruck and then stared blankly at the PC for long. I was
also shit scared to read the damn mail. Some strange rambling went on in my
head almost driving me nuts–
Should I?
Should I Not?
What could he have written?
Did I write something wrong on his blog?
What if he is extremely offended by it?
I was clueless and decided to delete the mail without even reading
it. Somehow, I did manage to read the mail after assembling my guts and this is
what he had written (to some extent though…I can’t remember the exact message).
“Hey Anjalika, thank you for the comment…..I’m glad that we
share a similar understanding….I visited your blog and read your stuff…..I
would really like it if you could mail your CV to me…
Regards,
Anurag Kashyap”
Immediately, I mailed my résumé, after making numerous
changes to my CV and rehearsed it after each and every changes made to it. I
went berserk and ignored my books. Suddenly, my phone rang.
“Bloody Hell! Who could this be?” I exclaimed after seeing
an unknown number flashing on my cell phone.
I answered,
“Hello”
“Anjalika, this is Anurag Kashyap.”
“Yeah right!”
I disconnected the call after saying that.
I was really pissed off. I thought it was my friend fooling
around me (as they always do). In
another few minutes, the phone rang again. It was the same goddamn unknown
number. Annoyed, I answered the call and told him,
“Listen man….enough with this fooling around. I would really
appreciate it if you could put a halt to this bullshit right now.”
“Anjalika, this is Anurag Kashyap. You had just sent me your
résumé minutes ago.”
“Shit”…Embarrassed, I muttered that to myself and instantly
apologized giving out my reasons for being crude. Nonetheless, things chilled
out between us and we talked for sometime.
“So Anjalika what are you doing these days?”
“Sir, I’m preparing for my Masters.”
“Don’t call me sir.”
“Is Kashyap fine?”
“Yup! What else have you done?”
“I’ve done my Bachelor’s in Journalism and after that I did
internships with a news paper and AIR. I have also worked as a production
assistant in a production house.”
“Alright. Anjalika how long have you been writing?”
“Not long enough and I don’t think of myself as a great one
either.”
“Your favorite film?”
“Cinema Paradiso”
“Hmmmm…”
“Anj, would you be interested in working on my new film?
It’s called Dev.D. We have a long shooting schedule in Delhi and we need people.”
“Of course. It will be an honor to work with you.”
“That’s great. You are hired then.”
“Thank you so much, Kashyap.”
“No issues. I’ll tell someone from my team to mail you the
script and other requirements like auditions and location set up.”
“Sure.”
“Good Luck Anjalika and good night. Also, all the best for
your papers.”
“Thank you and good night to you too.”
“Bye”
“Bye”
Assignment
In another week, I received the film script and, subsequently,
kick started with the recce with location hunting, putting up ads for new casts
in various theatre schools and intuitions and lots of running around. After a
month, Kashyap’s team, along with the casting director, arrived in Delhi, instantly starting
off with the pre-production. Actors who auditioned were mostly from National
School of Drama and a lot of them were really good. Everything was in progress;
it all went smoothly and without much delay. I even met Kashyap (twice infact)
during pre-production in Delhi
when the winter was harsh. The so called “jinxed” or “the controversial
director”, as portrayed by media, is actually a very sweet guy in person. Though
I didn’t get to spend quality time with him (Honestly, I barely had few minutes
with him), but I still had a great time. He talked mostly about Delhi and how much he
loves the city and misses its winters after moving to Mumbai.
He went through the recorded disc of those auditioned. Most
of the actors were rejected for faking it. He told us to spend another week and
audition more people. As far as the location was concerned, especially
Paharganj (as required for the script), I showed him this Café cum restaurant that
had a terrace overlooking the narrow and crowded street; all of which was
recorded on my video cam. This Café was located in the main market, but the
place and the street definitely had a great cinematic impact. He was really
happy with this spot and approved it instantly. By late evening, he left for
Mumbai and wished me good luck.
The second time he visited Delhi was when the team was ready to leave
for Mumbai. Kashyap had come for a press conference. His first animation, Hanuman Returns (dedicated to his
daughter), was releasing in that week. He even informed the media about his new
film, Dev D. After the conference was over, he took all of us out for lunch at Kake
da Dhaba, Connaught Place
(incidentally, this dinning place also happens to be his favorite). While he
ordered for a Kashmiri mutton dish, I gorged myself with makki di roti and sarson ka
saag.
Soon, everything got over. I was really happy with the way
things turned out while I was with Anurag Kashyap’s team. I learn a lot during
these days. All this was not only challenging but exciting as well. It was
surely worth the experience. When the shooting began, I even had a chance to be
on the set of Dev.D in Chandni Chowk and meet its star cast (Abhay Deol and the
other two female actors who were newcomers). I’m really glad that I had the
opportunity to work with Anurag Kashyap. It had always been a dream, and now I
shall always cherish this.
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