Assam Diary: Location Scouting for ‘Rangoon’ With Vishal Bhardwaj

Bhardwaj wanted to travel on the 114-year-old metre gauge railway tracks running through the Borail Hill Range.

“I have a meeting with Vishal Bhardwaj. Would you like to meet him?”

“You don’t just meet the man who directed Haider.”

That was the first exchange I had with my father on the topic of meeting Vishal Bhardwaj, seven-time National Film Award winning director. It was January 2016. We were in Lumding, a small town in Assam, a few hours away from Guwahati. My father was posted there as an officer of the Indian Railways.

He continued: “He’s recceing around here for his next movie Rangoon. It’s set in Burma during World War II. He’ll be travelling there eventually, but he wants to have a look around here for some scenes as well.” 

It was too intriguing to pass up. A whole day’s itinerary was formed of his recce route, which was to be supervised by my father. He was to arrive the next night.

First Impressions

A dinner was arranged to welcome him and his assistants; his Director of Photography for Rangoon Pankaj Mehta and his assistants; and his Production Head. He walked in with his team, hands folded, muttering warm “Namastes” to all who wanted to meet him.

Later, as my father, he and I sat on the table, I still had nothing to say. I was taken aback by how down-to-earth he was. He didn’t seem like someone who had made an award-winning Bollywood trilogy of Shakespeare’s tragedies. If you saw him in a crowd, you wouldn’t be able to tell he earned in crores.

He reached out first and asked me what I was doing in life. He spoke softly in Hindi and made the effort to make me comfortable. Once he learned I was a literature student, the rest of the evening was spent exchanging thoughts on Shakespeare.

Through The Eyes of a Director

At 7:30 am sharp the next morning, we met Bhardwaj and his team. From there, we went to Lumding station to visit the old loco shed where old British-era engines and coaches were maintained. Bhardwaj had a few scenes in mind on a train and was on the lookout for a historically-appropriate steam engine. As soon as we reached, his team dispersed. Some were pacing inside the hundred-year old coaches, others were brainstorming camera angles from outside, sideways and above.

Next, he wanted to spend the rest of the day travelling on the 114-year-old historic meter gauge railway tracks running through the Borail Hill Range in the Dima Hasao district of Assam, laid down by the British.

But how would we ever do that, I thought. That line was decommissioned in 2014 by the government. I found out soon enough. We were to sit in a small open-air motor trolley, with its wheels wedged onto the sides of the track, and go through the one of the most scenic and dangerous hill routes in India.

A section of the abandoned historic meter gauge Lumding-Silchar line, passing through gorgeous hill forests and over gorges and valleys. Halflong, Assam, India #ig_masterpiece #igmasters #igers #mytravelgram #vscocamphotos #assam #instagoodmyphoto #passionpassport #voyagediaries #photojournalism #dailylifeindia #ig_worldshot #worldingram #natgeotravelpic #india_gram #igersoftheday #incredibleindia #bbctravel #magnumphotos #instapassport #travel #wanderlust #passionpassport #photography #travelphotography #exploringindia #pixelpanda #500px #storiesofindia #streets_of_assam

A post shared by Pallavi Prasad (@pallaviprsd) on Feb 6, 2016 at 9:45am PST

Whenever a clearing or a bridge would catch Bhardwaj’s eye, the trolley would be stopped and his team would scatter with cameras and phones.

Bhardwaj, in particular, wanted to see the Dayang bridge at Halflong. Built by the British, the bridge is 114 years old and stunning in architecture, manoeuvring a steep turn at several meters height over the Dayang river below. One minute you’re in a stone-cobbled tunnel, cold and misty, the next an opening clears up and you’re on a bridge so scenic, it was made for... well, the movies.

We got off from the trolley on the now defunct bridge, and Bhardwaj’s team, especially his DOP, spent close to 45 minutes there, walking over the tracks, climbing down the steep hills to the river to see what the shot would look like from below.(!)

I think he was imagining a steam engine coming out of a tunnel in a hill, onto a rusty curve in the sky with the valley gushing below, and into another tunnel. They started talking logistics. How much would it cost to get the entire cast and crew here to shoot? How would they get anyone there, with rusted tracks and missing sleepers? How much would it cost them to pay the Railways to repair the tracks enough? The scale of it was baffling. 

From the old bridge, you can see the new 54-metre tall Dayang bridge with broad gauge track. Soon enough we were on top of it.

Why did we go to that bridge? Because his team wanted to see what the steam engine would like like from this angle, for that one shot that would probably last only a few seconds.

That was dedication. Right there.

I don’t know if any of the places we went to made it to the movie. I don’t know if he remembers the day as I do. But what I do know is that I have him to thank for an unexpectedly refreshing, cinematic day which will always be a great story to tell.