|
By Our Correspondent Š2003 Bollyvista.com |
The One-Man Army And His Army
Everyone who worked on this film agrees that it felt like working on 5 movies at the same time. The number of people in the Unit is quite phenomenal, reading almost like a small army. 32 stars, of course. 11 cameras, including the Jimmy Jip and the Steadicam. 55 camera crew. 1000 Army men at any given point of time. At least 150 crew flown in from Mumbai. And around 200 locals to help carry heavy loads, as they are used to the high altitudes (e.g., while the Still Photographer had his regular Assistant, this Assistant had a 'Local' Assistant to help with heavy items!). 12 hotels to accommodate everyone. The equipment itself took a week to be transported from Chandigarh to Leh.
The numbers can continue to roll (like the 1500000 feet of exposed film) and continue to astound, but what is truly surprising is that the numbers are so small!!! As a Production Manager puts it, "For a War Film of this size, if you look at the End Credits of a Hollywood production, you will find double the numbers. And if you check out an Indian production, you will find Foreign Crew and Imported Equipment. We managed without all that, and yet managed to create the Biggest Film in India. May not be the costliest, but certainly the Biggest."
Thanks to the indefatigable energies of Producer-Director J.P. Dutta who is "a one-man army," continues the Production Manager. "He is everywhere, looking into everything so that all is perfect. His instructions are precise, his research is intense, and his detailing is immaculate."
Creating That Authentic Look
So, there are around 200 notebooks with JP's handwritten notes on the background of the War. He has had at least twenty-six meetings with dead soldiers' families. There have been rounds of in-depth meetings with the Army to get every detail right. "So, whereas in most other films on the Army, you will find complaints that the badges are not correct or that the Regiment colours have been wrongly represented, JP insisted that we have an advisor from the Army present at all times, so that we do not get a single uniform wrong," says Mrs. Bindiya Dutta. In his quest for authenticity, he did not allow the stars' uniforms to be tailored by the stars' regular costumiers. "If the regular film guys had stitched them, they would have been tailored to highlight every bulge of the stars' biceps and other muscles. Instead, JP insisted that we get the uniforms made elsewhere, so that we would get the authentic, 'ill-fitting' look," says Mrs. Dutta. A week before the Shoot, he got his stars to get Army crew-cuts. He even conducted a 'boot camp' - all the stars were given their boots way in advance, and asked to wear them constantly, so that the boots were "broken in". 'Live' ammunition was used always. And the guns were authentic Army issue: The AK 47, INSAK rifles, SLR's, Medium Machine Guns, Light Machine Guns, Bofors, Multi Barrel Rocket Launchers, 105 mm ... They were all there. And any blast or explosion that had to be "manufactured" sprung from the ingenuity of J.P. Dutta and Action Director Bhiku Varma. Bhiku-da says, "JP-saab is always thinking. I know how to make a stunt look awesome. But he takes me one step further. He is great at making stunts look more awesome than they are by bringing elements close to the camera and by using different kinds of focus. He is the master at creating more 'dhamaka' than there really is. If he has to, he can create a whole Tank Regiment by using just one Tank. But we didn't have to; because we had everything we needed - 'real' and 'live'. It's a challenge working with him. It's a challenge working with 'live' arms. It's probably the best work I have done."
Acting Or 'Live'?
The 'authentic' feel was further accentuated by the actors. Abhishek Bachchan says, "I once asked, 'What exactly am I supposed to do?' JP-sir answered, 'You know what, you are in a war, you don't know exactly what you are supposed to do. Do you think the soldiers at Kargil had someone to tell them what to do during the surprise attack?' And believe me, when they started firing guns and blowing up bombs around us, we reacted perfectly to the explosions." And the 9-camera set-up was designed to heighten the 'real' feel. Cinematographer Kareem says, "We kept the cameras at ground level. This kept the camera at head-to-shoulder level. So, when the actor was running, you got the feeling that you were running with him. We designed the explosions so that the Steadicam could run among the stuntmen. Once the 'attack' started, you could go from camera to camera; the movement would create a frenetic feeling."
|
SEARCH
