(If you missed part one click here How We Made Talvar: A Producer’s Note (Part 1))
“Anacondas! Where are the anacondas?”, is all I heard.
What an irony. They are called anacondas, and they are the lifelines on a film set. If you are not aware, the big cylindrical silver coloured ducts which transfer the cooling air from AC to whatever distance or height you want, are called anacondas. So if you are on a film set and someone shouts out for anacondas, don’t get scared.
One of the most difficult days on shoot was when Khempal (Sonam Stobgais) was to be murdered on the rooftop. Who knew killing a person on screen was such a difficult task. It looks so easy when you watch it. As Preeti and Clover (prosthetics) built a new layer of neck for him, pumped up the fake blood, and tried to make it ooze out at the right moment, something or other always went wrong. Abhilasha (costume) was panicking as to how many T-shirts will get wasted if this shot didn’t come out right. Imagine, a person is being killed and someone is worrying about the T-shirts. Aha, the beauty and irony of filmmaking.
Though the actors on board were all terrific, Meghna had the difficult task of treading a fine line. It’s difficult to find that balance between drama and realism, because the subject demanded it, and she did a smooth job of it. Remember the scene where Shruti’s body is taken away for the last rites? Nutan Tandon (Konkona) is standing near the gate, looking at her husband as he takes Shruti’s body with him. Will she break down completely? Will she cry her heart out? Or will she remain stoic as if nothing matters now? A slight overdose of emotions here or there, and it changes the complete dynamics of the scene. And these things are not written on the paper.
By the time we would reach the guest house in the evening after the shoot, Sreekar Prasad (editor) would have sent the previous day’s scenes that he had edited. We would gather in Meghna’s room and watch it unfold. Scene by scene, it looked superb, and we seemed to be going in right direction. But will the big picture hold? As Mister Goldman said, nobody knows anything.
Fast Forward:
INT. Vishal Bhardwaj’s Studio – Evening/Night
After we saw a rough timeline of the scenes of the first and second schedule, VB excitedly said, lagta hai is baar kuch accha haath laga hai. And he was bang on.
But a big problem was still looming over us. We hadn’t found our Paul (the second investigating officer). We knew that when Irrfan was playing the first investigating office, we would be accused of having a bias because he is the lead. So the idea was to have an equally powerful actor/star as the second officer. Many names were discussed but the budget was a constraint, as I mentioned in the first part. Honey then came with the idea of Atul Kumar. I had seen him on stage but didn’t remember seeing him on film. But on the first day of shoot itself, we knew that Honey had got it right again. If you’ve seen the film, you will realise that Atul holds of his own even in front of a powerhouse talent like Irrfan Khan. And that’s why the 13 -minute-long sequence works so well.
Coming to that 13-minute-long scene, I think it’s one of the best scenes that VB has written. The idea was to shoot it like a play. So everyone was asked to mug up their lines. As the dialogues bounced from one team to other, it seemed like a good tennis match between two equally talented people on both sides. With the kind of talent we had in that scene, it was actually completed before schedule. And when we saw that scene, it was like, Woah! Holy F***! This was pure magic. If you still haven’t seen the film, do watch it, if for nothing else, just for this 13-minute-long scene. You laugh out loud in that scene but when you think about it later, you feel so guilty about it.
Fast Forward:
When we saw the first edit of the film, we knew we had a strong film in hand. Nobody had doubts about it. A few minor changes here and there and we were ready to fly. And then it got selected for the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) for its world premiere. BFI London Film Festival and Busan followed soon. Silk Route, Cairo, Philadelphia, now it’s a long list of worldwide fests and the requests haven’t stopped yet.
As Talvar opens to more screens in week 2 than what we got in week 1, I wonder if it’s possible to do the fests round, get rave reviews from both international and desi critics, and still do well at the box office? Well, we seem to have done the impossible. All thanks to Vishal Bhardwaj’s sharp writing, Meghna Gulzar’s deft direction, the terrific cast and crew that came together, and Junglee Pictures backing it whole heartedly. Lead by Vishal Bhardwaj and Meghna Gulzar, this was a dream team to work with. And I guess it reflects in the film, the pitch perfect work done by every department. Hopefully we will get together again for another strong and content driven film.
Till then, see you at the movies.
Read: How We Made Talvar: A Producer’s Note (Part 1)
(Somen Mishra works with Junglee Pictures. He was the supervising producer on Talvar.)
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