I could never have imagined that my office friends will come up with something like this. All right, they are all super talented…and super crazy…but making a short film?!?!? This was not on the cards!!! However, it happened…
It all started
with the funny man from Thane whom everybody loves (could never figure out why :P) – Mehul Shetty. One fine day he woke up and found out that he had nothing to do. So he decided that he will make a short film that can be uploaded on YouTube, sent for festivals, etc. He knew that he would have the backing of his editor friend Ankit Halai (who is a professional editor for Prime focus by the way) and his actor friend Dilip Merala (who is always up for anything where he gets to act!!). So he decided to take it further and before we knew, we found ourselves on location with the script, shooting for this ambitious and lovable project!
The good thing about this project is – there are no expectations from anyone. It is a group of friends coming together to do something that they are excited about! When we started, we knew that we had talented singers, dynamic dancers, and generally enthusiastic souls who could bring life to a project like this. However, what we did not know was that each one of them would turn out to be such good actors!! 😀 Anyway, that’s for later!! So we figured out the cast and crew of the film depending upon the characters and the volume of work to be done. Aanchal who is an excellent singer was to play Sutradhar (the narrator) and also sing the only song in the film. Swapna, Daya, Srimoyee, Akshara were made in charge of costumes, props, and any other Production work. Rohit and Saalim were in charge of sets and location (good for nothing these two…not one location was found by them!!)Rakesh and Nikhil were to handle cinematography because of their excellent expertise, skill, and experience with the camera. Mehul of course wore the director’s hat! And Rohit, Saalim, Daya, John, Ankit, Mehul, and I were to take centre stage as actors. Now, the important question was – what camera would we use?? After some discussion, our dear friend Chaitanya (who had decided to stay out of this project) agreed to lend us his point-and-shoot Fujifilm camera which had an HD video shooting option. This was very kind of him as it was a new camera and he was quite attached to it as it had become his source of some extra income (he sold nature pics clicked from this cam).
So, we now had a camera, a director, some actors and a rough storyline and script. We needed a location – a place where we could shoot slums, rag-pickers… poverty in short. I remembered how Mehul and the others always joked about my home town Sanpada as a gareeb, secluded gaav. So I thought – why not Sanpada?!? The best thing about shooting in Sanpada is that its population is hardly a few thousand (actually just 1000 I guess :P) So the shooting could be hassle-free. I knew a few places where we could shoot in Sanpada so I asked Mehul if it would work and Bingo!!! Sanpada it was!
The call time was 7.30 am on a Sunday morning!! For a bunch of amateurs starting a project which is not going to pay them anything, this was very ambitious and a bit difficult!! Well, impossible actually 😀 Mehul turned up at 8ish. The two of us checked out the location. Srimoyee arrived with Saalim, Ankit, and most importantly, the CAMERA by 8.45ish. It was not bad considering that Srimoyee was coming from Borivili (another world altogether), Ankit from Andheri and Saalim from Malad. Hats off to these guys for agreeing to travel all the way to Sanpada just for the love and enthusiasm towards this film!! J Alright, so Nikhil and Rohit were there soon after that and we had enough people now to get started. I was supposed to have written lines and been ready with them by 7.30 that morning. I wasn’t ready. I did not know what to write! So I just made something up on the spot and gave it to Rohit to memorize.
We decided to begin with a scene where I am supposed to running happily (cliche bollywood :P). And there I was – ready to face the camera for the first time!! None of my friends knew that it was the first time I was facing the camera for a professional (we can call it that, right?!?) shoot. Yes, I have been doing theatre but I had never shot for anything before (except for my friend Ajay’s film promo where I was sitting in the background). I was nervous, very very nervous! To be honest, I was the only one bearing the burden of expectations here. I thought that I would make a fool of myself if I did not do well because all my friends have always known me as someone who wants to become an actor. I had been telling them about my theatre activities and my dreams of becoming a superstar! If I did not do well here, what would they think of me?!? Anyway…I decided to put this thought aside and concentrate on the scene..
Rolling… Scene 1, Take 1, action!!! I ran…and ran…and ran…as if I just got legs!! Cut… Some technical issue…Take 2! Cut…Take 3! Take 4… Take 5… We did close to 15 takes capturing different angles with me, running at varying speeds! It was fun!! By the time we were done, I was sweating but not tired at all.. After all, it was the first scene of my life!! I was charged and ready for a 100 more takes if required! I have no idea what my friends thought of the scene. If they liked it, good for me. If they did not, I don’t think they will ever tell me. But for me, it was a very happy moment…something that I will never forget 😀
The next scene to be shot was between Rohit and me so we did a line-run and a quick rehearsal. Once again, several retakes for several reasons, the biggest one being – actors are laughing!! It was weird acting with Rohit because I had never thought I will be shooting with him. We were saying lines which we don’t usually say….wearing clothes which we don’t usually wear… but Rohit was still a bit of his usual self. I mean…He is supposed to be a rag-picker for God’s sake.. but he was still saying ‘wallet’ instead of ‘batwa’ or ‘purse’!! He insisted that all rag-pickers know the word “wallet”!! However, by the time the scene was done, we realized what a fantastic job this guy had done!! He had acted surprisingly well and pulled off the scene just like a professional, experienced actor! We decided to end the day with this scene as many team members had other commitments. And that was pack-up for the first day of shooting for Ek Choti si Aasha!!
We met again after a couple of weeks to continue shooting to be surprised even further! Mehul and Rohit shot a scene on the railway tracks of Sanpada. In my opinion, this is going to be the best scene of the film! Extremely well performed and brilliantly shot by Nikhil!
We then shot a chase sequence between Mehul and me on the same railway tracks..Once again, the camera work here was fantastic!! Rakesh joined us for a while here just to say “Hello”, check if the shoot was coming along well, and in the meanwhile click pictures of a few butterflies near the railway track! We also very quickly shot a scene while having lunch (yes, while we were eating at a restaurant!!)… Considering that we shot at a restaurant with people entering every now and then, I think we did a good job! Effective use of time and space I would say (my idea!!). That was pack-up for day 2!
The next day was a Sunday and the team came over to my place for breakfast where they all met my family – My Dad, Mom, Sister and lovely Daadi!! After a round of dosas, wadas, chutney, sambhar and coffee we were ready to go. First scene was the one with Daya and me which was to be shot inside the slums in one of the jhopdis! Daya changed into an old sari at my place and we took her to the location in my car. Daya did this scene so brilliantly that this scene was wrapped up in no time. She was full of energy, loud and clear and as natural as an actor could get! Yes, I bore the brunt of it in every take (she is supposed to be hitting me!) but that’s OK! 
This was followed by Saalim’s scene where he is supposed to give a small speech about life, the opportunities it provides, and the path we should choose. All I can say is that, it was not SMALL at all! He wrote his own lines and made sure that he gets more footage than anybody else in the film! But the guy did a good job!! He used his excellent Hindi and Urdu speaking skills to come up with some good, filmi, philosophical lines and ended up saying them pretty well.
It was 3.30 on a Sunday afternoon and everyone wanted to leave – I had rehearsals in the evening (as usual :(), Srimoyee had to get back to her country Borivili where Chaitanya was awaiting his camera, Ankit had to report at work by 5 pm(sad that he had to work on a Sunday) and everyone else had something or the other to do. So that called for pack-up on day 3 of the shoot!
By the end of this schedule, there was a lot that each one of us had learnt. Rohit learnt that he has a star in him (what with all the tantrums during the eating scene – main aise nahi khaunga…waise nahi khaunga). Daya learnt that she was a good actor and should do it more often. Mehul learnt that when you truly feel you want to do something, you should go ahead and do it..it works out some way or the other. Ankit learnt that travelling by train from Andheri to Sanpada is not as difficult and horrific as he thought it was. Saalim learnt that the more lines you write, the more difficult it is to learn them and deliver!! And I… I learnt that there will always be a lot of expectations and a lot of competition around. There are talented actors everywhere.. Some I that I am aware of, some that I’m not! But they are not always competition!! They are catalysts that help me perform better, try harder and get closer to my goal. The key is to never get intimidated and keep going on the path that I have chosen…. with the hope that someday, I will surpass everyone else and get to my target!!
Until the next one… Loads of love… Be good.. and stay around! 🙂
P.S.:
Ek Choti is Aasha is the first project by our team 9-tanki entertainment. Check it out:
http://9tanki-entertainment.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/9tanki-Entertainment/130335967026585
Some more pics of the shoot:
https://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=1768507855202&id=1314370817&aid=101960&ref=mf