waiting to be shot

The women waited impatiently for the camera. Finally, we didn't even use the shot. Where I was puffing and panting with my own weight, going up and down the hills, these women collect hay, wood and water all day long. A hard, hard life.

aiman and monty

When we reached Kanakchauri for the first time, two large dogs greeted our jeep. Monty and Kallu belong to the village, and hang around the road near the entrance leading up to the steep climb up to the temple.

They were a frightening sight, but they greeted Aiman as if they were long-lost friends. Aiman bought them lots and lots of Glucose biscuits, and of course after that, they hung around Aiman all day.

In a few hours, the village kids got jealous at this desertion and ran away, calling out again and again "Kallu, Monty, Kallu, Monty." Reluctantly, the dogs followed their real owners, but were back the next day and the next, to meet Aiman.

Here, Aiman talks to Monty between shots.

Amit

Amit smiles in Garhwal. Amit is Makar's naughty 8-year old. He acts as one of Lilkee's friends, playing hide-and-seek at the beginning of the film.

The last day of "Lilkee"

For the last couple of months I've been finishing off work on "Lilkee" very reluctantly.

How often I have thought, what is this madness that prompts you to make a film? I'm never going to even want to make a film again.

It's hard, when you are working with very little money, because you have to do most of everything on your own, even all the not-so-fun stuff, like couriering letters, filling up forms, photo-copying scripts and more tedious stuff like that.

But yesterday, when I went to the lab, to make my final payment, waiting outside near the car, for the negatives of the film to be delivered, I felt a rush of nostalgia already for the fun we'd had for the last year.

The truth was it was hardly ever any fun, while we were doing it, we were all working so hard, and exhausted most of the time. But, but... already the stories came back to my mind, and I started saying to Vivek, remember when .. remember when...

And when I came back home, the Mac had behaved impeccably well, and encoded a good DVD (it's harder than it sounds) and so, I felt finally, all's well that ends well.

And by evening, Vivek and I were sitting down and pontificating about how we'd do better the next time we are making a film. And already I'm thinking, what next, what next?

Space Bar said...

congrats! and i'm so glad you're already planning the next one. waiting to watch lilkee.

9:09 AM

Parul Gahlot said...

hey congratulations! so glad that it's done, you must be like phew!
All the best for the next one. would love to see Lilkee...

2:51 PM

surabhi said...

CONGRATULATIONS BATUL! waiting to see the film-please let me know when you screen the film...

9:53 PM

My football match

While the football fever is on, I remember the day we had to shoot the football match for "Lilkee". For days, I'd been trying to pass on the responsibility to someone else, Vivek maybe, an assistant director, the kids, and hoping they'd bite. I'd also tried wistful sighing, reminding everyone that on a commercial film set, the match would be looked after by an action choreographer, and I may not even have landed up on the location. We would also have had at least two days to shoot the match, more raw stock, and professional child artistes, who knew how to play football.

But this is a low-budget film, and I have no choice but to land up on location, and face the unit, all men, who look at me knowing I know nothing of football, nor anything about shooting the game. Twenty or more children, from the apartment block we are shooting, are at their morning best, creating a din, which makes it even harder for me to assume or pretend control. They kick around the ball, and go from one end of the garden to the other, and behave as if they've never played football before. The pathetic attempts I've made at a shot breakdown, curl up limply in my sweaty, terrified hands.

We have two hours to finish the shoot. Vivek's getting impatient, we are all yelling at each other to no effect, my assistant director goes off into silence nursing a cold. I go off to the loo, and have a secret cry, sure that everyone finds me ridiculous. I come back on location to find Aiman crying as well, for no real reason except she can feel my desperation.

I wonder why I ever wrote that football match into the script. We bung through the two hours, in a sort of stoic frenzied way. And trust to the editor to cover up the "absence" of the director.

I watch Germany and Argentina play for the World Cup, look at the tight circle of cameras around them, and keep thinking of how I could have handled my own football match better. I'm looking at the TV, but don't see Argentina make a goal.

Sometimes, you are so busy scratching your own backside, you miss the moment.

Indeterminacy said...

From a complete layman's point of view, film and sportswise, I think the best you can hope to do is film some random footage and hope you get something you can edit together later. The probable advantage on television is there are many cameras going at the same time, so they can always show the best view at all times. Maybe one camera should follow the ball and the second camera should be one step ahead of the ball in the direction it is going, or trained on the goal in that direction.

I saw the Germany-Argentina match myself, and think it was an especially dramatic and tense game. Probably a good game to use as an example / source of inspiration.

I probably sound like a complete amateur?

5:42 PM

Interview

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Upperstall has uploaded an interview with me, about my film Lilkee.

posted by Batul @ 1:24:00 PM

Rough cut

Vivek and Noorbhai at Rudraprayag, Garhwal.

*****************************************
The crew at Korlai beach, near Alibagh.














Hemanti has finished the rough cut. It's bliss to edit at home. After ages, my MAC behaved perfectly. Found out that all the trouble had been caused by a corrupt hard disc. And so many people had been going around in circles, trying to find the problem, loading and reloading again. Anyway.

After having given the DVDs to CFSI, there is a lull. Oh, these lulls. I hate not working, I really don't enjoy the emptiness of waking up, with nothing to do, the way Vivek seems to. I'd love more than anything else to be tearing around, stressed out, trying to manage a hundred things, and failing miserably. Instead, I have the calm of a not too busy director around me.

Satish has uploaded some photos from our shoot on Yahoo.

posted by Batul at 10:45 PM on Feb 14 2006

Jyothi Kapur Das said...

Batul, all the very best to you and hope your film generates another and another and another !!!! :)

It's great to hear of the experiences of a sister-filmmaker, a sister-mother, a sister-social animal.

Cheers.

1:01 PM

david raphael israel said...

Batul,

ah things like harddrive problems can be too unnerving: happy when solved. You mention photos on Yahoo but I don't see a link.
So the edit is completed now? Ah, "rough cut." (So more editing ahead...) Shot e.g. in film, DVCAM or what, btw?

Thanks for note. Will be interested to see what-all-more you write here.
cheers, d.i.

1:28 PM