Talaash’s drive for perfection

Getting the perfect shot is every filmmaker’s dream and director Reema Kagti is driven by the same urge. Which is why, for her film Talaash, she went so far as to ship a vehicle all the way to London, just for a single scene.

Getting the perfect shot is every filmmaker’s dream and director Reema Kagti is driven by the same urge. Which is why, for her film Talaash, she went so far as to ship a vehicle all the way to London, just for a single scene.

The vehicle, a Qualis with a logo of the Mumbai Police, was required for an elaborate underwater scene that had to be shot at Pinewood Studios in London. Aamir Khan plays a senior police officer in the suspense thriller, and in this particular scene, which is a crucial part of the film, the vehicle he is driving falls into the water.

Since the Qualis is the vehicle he drives throughout the film, it had to be shipped to London to maintain continuity. To get the car there, the production team had to get the permission of the Mumbai Police. The scene had to be shot in London because, apparently, the water in the area that was originally selected for the shoot in India was too fuzzy to allow for a clear shot.

“We have two underwater sequences in the film and initially we had planned to shoot this scene in a diving academy in Khopoli,” says Reema. “But unfortunately, we had certain issues with the filtration of the water. After we finished the first sequence, we realised that we didn’t have the clarity we needed. Then we decided to shoot in a studio in London, as we didn’t want to go ahead with something that we were not 100 per cent sure of.”

Though Aamir is always credited for such perfectionism, Reema says the idea to re-shoot abroad was hers. “All the three producers, Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar and Aamir Khan were supportive,” she says. “Yes, it was an unexpected addition to the budget, but they understood that we shouldn’t compromise on this important scene.”