8 April, 2015
This is unusual for this blog - the fact that I am writing about something that took place two months ago. Usually, I jot down things as they happen. Usually, it is about the beautiful day that is today.
But then some things simple have to be documented, irrespective of the delay. And the "some thing" in this case is the shoot of what I call my "Destination Film". In other words, my feature film that was shot in Abu Dhabi in April this year.
As I write this, my editor friend (who is also the director of photography for this film) is in my house, here in Singapore, editing the film. He is based in Abu Dhabi but is spending a week here to lock the edit. He arrived a couple of days ago and immediately both of us jumped into a full blown reminiscence of the shooting experience. And there were so many stories of ups and downs, so many stories of events that were no less than miracles, so much to be grateful for. At the end of our conversation, I felt that as years pass by, I shouldn't be forgetting any little bit of this experience. Every beautiful bit simply had to be documented.
So here I am.
But first, a bit of background on this film and how it came into being.
One day, my good friend and my lead actor from several of my previous works, mentioned that given his strength in performing comedy, he doubts that he will ever be taken as a "serious actor". I was like, "Sorry, but that is absolute rubbish". And I thought of a "serious" storyline for the serious actor in him.
One of my wishes was to shoot a film outside of Singapore. You know, just for the fun of it. So I placed this story first in Rajasthan in India (for no good reason) and then later shifted it to Abu Dhabi, for a very good reason - my editor had just started working at a production house in Abu Dhabi and they were happy to support the production of this film (bless them!)
Thus, I had my script. I had my lead actor. I had my crew.
Initially I planned to act in the film. It was a conversation based film with just two protagonists throughout and I really wanted to act in it myself, for... well, the serious actor in me. But then I realized that would be the stupidest thing I could possibly do, given that I also have to direct the film in a brand new location, with some team members I haven't worked with before, and on a bigger scale than what I have ever done before.
So then I found my actress, another good friend who was also part of some of my previous works.
My actors and I spent the first quarter of the year in intense rehearsals and in March, right after I quit P&G, I set off for a week of location recee in Abu Dhabi. After which, I locked the script - matching scenes to the various locations and my editor got help from a location licencor to work on the permits for shoot in the various public locations I had picked.
Thus my actors were ready. My crew in Abu Dhabi were ready. I was ready.
On April 8th, we - the actors and I - were ready to take off for Abu Dhabi.
The morning we were to fly, my editor, who is also now the DOP cum producer cum production manager cum what not, called me and gave me an interesting piece of news.
The location permit for the shoot isn't available yet, even though we had submitted all the documents in time.
Me: "How come?"
Editor: "Because tea fell on the licencor's laptop."
I was immediately taken back to that day when I was told that a dog took my Mausams master DVD. But it was not a time to reminisce, so I asked him whether he would like to elaborate.
He did. Apparently the government body that grants these permits had written to the licencor on some clarifications several days ago, but the licencor missed that email because it was the same day tea fell on his laptop, causing it to die. And in the confusion and heart pain that followed, some things were missed, this email being one of them.
So I said the only thing anyone can say under these circumstances. "Wow".
We had two options - postpone the shoot completely until the licence comes in or start shooting on the private properties that were part of our locations list as we wait for the licence, and once it does come in, complete the shoot on the public locations.
Obviously, I chose option two.
So my cast and I took off for Abu Dhabi, as planned, on April 8th, 2015.
The Actor, The Director, The Actress - on the way to Abu Dhabi.
We had a fun journey on Srilankan Airways, a fun transit in Colombo and some good rehearsal on the flight. Yup, I am a taskmaster who made them rehearse even on the flight.
Once we reached Abu Dhabi, we were picked up by my editor's cousin brother, who was supposed to be assistant director for the film but who couldn't be because of a recent accident that took off some of his toe, which in turn messed up his office work schedule and which in turn, meant that he couldn't take any of the previously planned off-days to join us for shoots. But today, he came to pick us up as he was free.
He took us to a restaurant because all of us were hungry even though it was past midnight and in spite of the two meals we had on Srilankan Airways, and there we met the rest of the gang - the editor, the cameraman - a young, super dedicated chap who was specially flown in from India and the editor's boss from the production house, all of whom had just returned from another shoot in Dubai.
As dinners such as these go, we talked a lot about the project and what's in store, such as praying for the licence to come as soon as possible and for the days to be less hot than what they are expected to be and generally had a rather merry time.
Then came the surprise.
We were taken to check into our hotel. Which happened to be the very grand Novotel instead of a much smaller, more economical option that we were expecting.
I rolled my eyes at the editor and asked him what on earth he was thinking, being this extravagant and he told me that the rooms are courtesy of a friend of his. This friend who works in the tourism industry had just enough points to get us three rooms in this hotel for our duration of stay, and he wanted my editor to use those. In the friend's own words to the editor, "It is the only way I can help you make your film." He spent his very last point on us. I still haven't gotten over that.
So we checked in. And all I remember was crashing on the bed and dozing off, wishing for a few blessings to be sent this friend's way (the one from the tourism industry) and praying that we would be able to complete this currently licence-less shoot.
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