Spaces for Rent: Of lost hopes; regained- Concluding Part
Next was Artifying:
The house was to be made into a character itself. We had to make the empty house look like a place where bed spaces are being provided for over a year. The whole house got a new dimension after we brought in the junked wooden bunker beds borrowed from Navodaya School. It was only possible because, Nagabhushan was a former student there. We are really thankful to them because those bunker beds gave the whole house a new appeal.
Later the whole art department was taken over by Badal and his assistants Manju and Praveen. They began giving the worn-out touches to the whole house. All of our team mates contributed the other cots and beds and bed sheets and other necessary items for building the spaces for characters.
I sat down with Badal and we discussed about the story and about each character with him and came to conclusion that each bed space had to be unique. We had to create a separate, temporary compartment beds for the two unmarried women characters living in the house amidst drunkards and gamblers. The point was to make it logical enough. Badal symbolically related the characters to his artwork and it stands tall in the movie.
The entrance hall had three bunker beds and they had to be placed in a way that we get maximum shooting space.
Another highlight of the set was the big mirror in the passageway between two halls. I wanted to make the best use of it and I used it amply enough to connect between two halls and between characters in the film.
Badal got the signboard of the film ready and made it look like the signboard is about 2 years old. Though it was newly built, the signboard looked really old.
A dummy also had to be made for the film for a shot of about two seconds. Though it is a laborious process to build a dummy, we went ahead with it because we did not want to compromise. Manju finally made the dummy and we used it for the shot we wanted.
The painter’s room was like a world of fantasy. It was always black and dark when the painters wife is alive but it comes to colour only after her death. I have so much to say about the room but I don’t want to reveal anything before you watch the film.
All in all, Badal did an excellent job and gave the house a new, I mean an old outlook.
Costumes:
Kuldeep did an excellent job with his costume designing. The characters look so real and comfortable in their attires. He worked laboriously to arrange the costumes and finalise them.
Make-up Ramanna Sir, also helped us by providing us the costumes for the police officers in our film. He is always obliging and has never said no whenever we have gone to get the costumes from him; despite the fact that we hardly pay him. But I am really thankful the way he helps struggling people.
He even introduced us to Make-up Narayan Sir, the Make-up Person for our film. It just needed him one session to get used to the style of make-up we were using for the film. Though a senior person he was very humble and went along well with us. We are really thankful to him.
Behind the Screens:
Apart from the actors, we had different departments for the whole film making process. It is as follows. I would definitely come up with another write-up focusing the working pattern of the non actors. As of now this is all I can present.
Direction Department: Vishal, Hariprasad , Nagabhushan, Sunil & Islahuddin
I have no words to thank my direction team. They stood like a backbone for me. They made me sit in front of the monitor and direct the film whereas they would endlessly work for making this film better. Vishal even managed to come from Delhi to help us in this project. To be honest I would have to write a full length article if I have to say how our direction team worked right from the scripting process to rehearsals and then from production to post production as well. I can really boast of their skills.
Production Department: Ashwin, Shashidhar, & Kuldeep
One of the most difficult departments to work in is the production department. Ashwin Shashi and Kuldeep managed the whole thing quite well. Though they the most important of things for the film, it is very easy for their kind of work to go un-noticed. But despite these difficulties, they did an excellent job. They fed us, they purchased for us, they ran around the corners and did every possible thing to make this production smooth.
As I said earlier, I will have to write another article to explain their kind of work which I will do soon.
Camera Department: Shivshankar, Jayram & Mahesh
Shivu, was like a saviour. He worked for the love of his work and not for money; which itself speaks about him. And he lifted the whole film to a new level. With the Sony DSR 400 camera he has done wonders. Alas, we could not provide him with more equipment which would help him showcase his skills even better. The framing and composition was very neat. I made his life miserable by blocking the actors in a complex pattern, but he never complained. He did a fine job.
His assistants just had to take his orders for the work to come out well. Again a separate article for this is required.
Lighting Department: James Mani, Roshan, Bhanu, Madhu and Sanjeeva
It was definitely not easy to do the lighting of the film as we were able to use only 2 KV lights maximum. If we dared to use more, the circuit would trip. It was hell to light the Master Shots.Mani made it for us. He ran around instructing and working along with the light men to give us beautifully lit scenes. Roshan and Bhanu also showed the same enthusiasm and did all they could. It was a very good learning experience for them.
Sound Department: Anand
Anand has also done a fine job. We could afford only three radio mikes. But he has done well with whatever resources he had.
Art Department : Badal, Manju & Praveen
Costume Department : Kuldeep
Editing Department : Habeebulla & Soma
Soma sat beside me for every shot and noted down all the Time code readings. If he would not be there we would take at least a year to finish the editing of 10 and half hours of rushes I guess.
Habeeb has grown immensely as an editor, not only skill-wise but also aesthetically. His work also demands a separate article.
Music Department: Dharmesh, Habeeb, Vishal, Haneef, Naga, Dhananjaya, Murali Sringeri
Dharmesh has composed the music of the recession song and also some themes and BGM for our film. He was supported by Habeeb, Vishal, Naga and Haneef. I have written the lyrics for the recession song and Dhananjaya has written another song called “O baduke”.
Murali Sir has played live music in the film and we are also planning to include his music in the BGM score of the film.
Transportation Department: Ravi Hunsur
He dropped in within two hours from Hunsur whenever we needed his help. Despite his heavy schedule he managed to help us.
All these people would regularly drop by and chip in with information and suggestions to promote our film. They were looking after all the promotional aspects, marketing and reach of the film.
Muddu would look-out for the reach, Rajesh would look after the marketing bit and Venkat would handle our affairs with the Media.
Despite having no financial gains; all the above-mentioned people have worked extensively well for the project given the limitations we had.
It is finally a dream come true. (for us at least J)
By N S Islahuddin
