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Curtain Call: The day a toddler called the shots, and stole the show!
Once we were satisfied with one angle, our cameraman immediately lifted the camera and ran to another spot, the camera attendants scrambling after him. Again, we just rolled the camera and let the two actors be! The whole exercise must have lasted for hardly fifteen minutes, but the shots that we got were better than the ones we had spent many hours on previously
Last week, I had fun while re-living the experiences of working with children in my first film. While I was re-reading the article, I realised that I have worked with them in almost all my projects henceforth! And they include children of all ages – from newborns to toddlers to pre-teens to children who feel they are old enough to understand everything! Working with them was not by design, but I am glad this happened. In all these I was left scratching my head and (eventually) with a smile on my face.
I starkly remember working with two-year-old Raghav Joshi on the set of a film of mine – “Baapjanma”. I was fresh on the heels of directing “Dhappa”, after directing as many as 19 kids in a few scenes and I thought I would be able to pull it off, even though Raghav was remarkably younger. I had met him at a party just a month back and was pleasantly surprised with how easily he was socialising with the fifty people present there. When we had begun casting for that part, a friend of mine reminded me of him and he was finalised immediately.
So, while Raghav’s character was in many scenes, there were two scenes where we needed specific reactions from him. Most of his scenes were lined up at the beginning of the schedule. When he came on set, his attitude was exactly how I remembered from the party. He got along with everyone and shooting with him was a breeze. Thankfully, he was supposed to be cheerful and happy in all of his scenes. Sharvari Lohakare, who was playing his onscreen mother, also got along with him behind the camera and that helped me get an amazing moment on camera. There was one more reaction left, but I was not worried about it now.
Our lead actor – Sachin Khedekar – joined the set a few days after the shoot started. Raghav’s next important scene was with him. I was eagerly waiting to see the warm scene between a man and his grandson translate from paper to screen! The performers were a veteran actor and a young charmer. But the charmer had other plans! He just wouldn’t let Sachin dada near him. Maybe it was because we were shooting in a dimly-lit basement and he was not used to it.
We tried many things, from playing games with him, to asking his mother to be in front of him, to offering chocolates to taking him out for some fresh air. But nothing seemed to be working for him. We thought it was just not our day and thankfully found something else to shoot.
The next day though was no different! We started the shoot with that shot, but his mood was no different. So, we postponed it to later in the day and made sure that Sachin dada and Raghav interacted between shots and in breaks. He used to be ok then. But when we tried shooting that particular shot, his mood would change drastically. We tried till we had nothing left to shoot for the day, but were nowhere close to canning this shot!
I guess the pressure of losing time was evident on my face, as I was being suggested various solutions by all team members – which ranged from taking their shots separately to using a large doll! But I wanted their combined shot because I believed that would create the desired impact. I racked my brain and tried to find any theatre exercise, any moment while watching the making of any other film, any book excerpt which will prove to be my “eureka” moment, but I was left witless.
Sachin dada’s friend, a doctor, was visiting the set that day. He came up to me and said that if you want him in a good mood, feed him some sugar. I told him that we had offered him chocolates and it hadn’t worked. The doctor just told me to use it a preventive measure, not a curative one. He said that the sugar rush will open up a small window, but it will most likely work for the shot! With that in mind we kept everything else ready and rehearsed the shot before. We cleared the room and kept a minimal crew.
We fed him some chocolate before the shot and got him in the basement immediately, where Sachin dada was waiting. Raghav seemed to be in a better mood. Without any formal calls of “action” we just started shooting whatever we could get. And it was good!
Once we were satisfied with one angle, our cameraman immediately lifted the camera and ran to another spot, the camera attendants scrambling after him. Again, we just rolled the camera and let the two actors be! The whole exercise must have lasted for hardly fifteen minutes, but the shots that we got were better than the ones we had spent many hours on previously.
I came outside and thanked the doctor. It was such a simple, but effective suggestion. Something that helped me in my next film too. The bar of chocolate that helped us through this also made the cut of the film and is visible in the scene!
