Dubai, Sunroof Drive & Friends!

It was my last day in UAE! I checked out from my hotel in the morning and had breakfast with the entire crew (which is actually a grand total of 4 other people, but more to join for actually shoot) who would be working on this film, from the studio. Breakfast was our regular fare of South Indian food at Aryabhavan. 

Post breakfast I bade goodbye to a couple of them while the rest of travelled to Dubai. I had spent most of my time in Abu Dhabi during this trip and they wanted to show me around Dubai before I take my flight at night. Enroute, we dropped by a cathedral which was pretty nice. Serene, peaceful.

Once in Dubai, we went straight on to Palm Jumeirah. We drove around the place a lot and I absolutely loved the outer ring of the Palm Jumeirah which was a long, pretty road, right next to ocean with the Atlantis the Palm on one side and the Burj Al Arab across the ocean on the other side. It was picturesque! 

Then something totally unexpected happened! A cousin of my editor friend arrived there in his car which happened to have a sun roof. So they got me to stand through the open roof and drove me around the same coastal road! I felt like one of those heroines in Bollywood movies, with the hair in the wind, a wide smile and looking completely out-of-this-world-happy (OK maybe that's not how Bollywood heroines feel but you get the point)! It was SOFREAKINGAWESOME!!!!

Lunch was at a food court within a mall, which was also my first visit to any mall in UAE  (so proud!). 

Post lunch we also visited the front side Burj Al Arab and also Burj Khalifa including the fountain all for photo opportunities. 

After much phototaking, we visited a friend of mine from school who now lives in Dubai. It's been 16 years since I last saw him and it was great to meet not just him but also his two brothers and mom who were living in the same place. We had a really nice time together! 

Dinner was at a Lebanese buffet place and there was simply too much delicious food to be eaten. After about the 15th dish on the plate, I was completely stuffed. But more than the food, it was my last meal with the team for this trip, so it was nice to have a long conversation over dinner. 

Soon it was time for my flight. I got back to the airport, was pleased to get checked in and cleared immigration without any que and then all that pleasure was lost when I had to walk through a rather crowded airport up and down in search of gates because they changed the gate numbers from one end to the other. Other than it was a pretty smooth journey. Oh...I must mention the darling little Australian boy who started talking to me out of the blue at the gate and wanted to know all about film making and Singapore. He was on his way back home after a school trip to Dubai and I thought he was such a smart, friendly kid! 

So yes, that's it. The wonderful trip, my first ever one to UAE, thus came to an end. Now the real work begins - we need to rehearse, I need to work the shot breakdowns, the storyboarding, the studio needs to get the permits to shoot, we need to get the visas, the tickets, the accomodation, the FUNDS! There is so much to do. Gulp. 

But for now, I am feeling good. Inspired and determined. 

Gardens, Farms, Oasis & A Lot Of Good Folks!

After the rather successful location recee yesterday at Al Gharbia, today we set out in another direction to Al Ain. If the former was supposed to be famous for its desert, the latter is supposed to be famous for its greenery. Apparently Al Ain is the "garden city" of UAE. 

After breakfast at a tiny restaurant called Spicy TamilNadu which served the best masala tea ever, we set off to explore locations at Al Ain. The drive to Al Ain was picturesque - my favourite thing about it being the small, soft, reddish brown dunes. They were a far cry from yesterday's humongous ones in terms of size, but there was something very charming about it. 

Al Ain was true to its equity and turned out to be rather green! The city was tastefully landscaped and we checked out the date farms which were as green as any place in Kerala, which pretty much means that it was really, really green! There were not just rows and rows of dates palms, but also unexpected fauna like mango trees in the farms! There was the constant chirping of birds in the air and a luxurious green grass carpeted the floor. It was all very, very beautiful! 

After spending some time on the farm, we set off to check out an oasis and that was yet another incredible experience. Sure, I have heard of an oasis before and have seen a few in movies before but nothing prepares you when you actually witness it! I fell in love with it immediately. I am not sure whether we will get permit to shoot there and even if we did, whether we can do justice to the place and bring its beauty fully on camera but whatever be it, it was breath taking and I loved standing there and taking in all that gorgeousness! Al Ain also presented some other interesting sights like a fort and a rocky mountain, which was the first mountain of any sorts that I have seen in UAE so far. 

Back in Abu Dhabi, we went straight to my editor-cinematographer's house were I had  been invited for lunch. His two brothers, their wives and children are all living in the same place and I had the most amazing time with them. Everyone of them had an insane sense of humour that I loved, the kids were adorable and the food served was super delicious. What more can one ask for! 

Post lunch we set off again for more location recee - this time mainly within the city. We covered parks, Corniche area (yes, again... but it is that vast and there is much to be seen!), the backdrop with the Emirates Palace and the Presidential Palace (love them both - both are expansive, sit right beside each other and look similar in their overall structures  - one in a rich brown and the other in a serene white), a few hotels where we could potentially shoot and the Heritage Village. 

Dinner was at a Pakistani place called Fujairah which served some delicious grills at ridiculously cheap prices! It was awesome! Post dinner, we paid a quick visit to one more family - the editor's uncle and aunt, a very jovial, cool couple. I learnt that the aunt is an incredibly talented artist and the house was packed with her artworks! She's had no formal training but the variety of works she had done is mind boggling - she has used anything and everything as her tools - paint, foil, paper, cloth, metal and what not! It was truly inspiring. 

Another very productive day thus came to an end. I hit the bed completely exhausted but feeling thrilled at discovering a few more good sites for shoot and feeling grateful for having met such an amazing set of people! 

Discovering the Dunes!

What a fantastic day it was! It was almost like I was in a dream through most of it! 

Alright, let's start right from the beginning. I got ready for the day's exploration at about 9:30 and first we stopped to have breakfast at Arab Udupi. Their Rava Dosa and coffee were pretty good and after having my fill, we set off to our main destination of the day - Al Gharbia. Al Gharbia, as per the Abu Dhabi tourism board website, is "where the sea meets the desert" and has "the biggest dunes this side of the Sahara". All well and good except that the folks here seemed to have no clue about it. But we set off on our exploration trip anyway, keeping faith that the tourism board could do no wrong. 

So we drove and drove and drove. The city and the following arid barren lands soon started to give way to small dunes and I had my first chance meetings with camels in the desert! I have seen camels in the zoo, but that's hardly authentic. At one point, the traffic on the expressway was stopped because an entire herd of black camels had to cross the road! I, like a really annoying tourist, got out and took pictures left, right and centre until the Arab who was guiding the herd asked us to stay put in one place so that we don't get stomped over but that we could carry on taking pictures. It was all very exciting! 

After driving for a couple of hours, we finally got to the township of Al Gharbia and then we had no clue as to where to go next. So my friend went into the municipal corporation office and asked them about the best places in the area for a shoot. As luck would have it, he could get hold of the "Head of City Appearance" for Al Gharbia who gave directions for the best desert - it was another 80kms away! He also clarified that there is no literal "desert meeting sea" and that the sea is in a totally different direction - so we figured that the usage was probably for the area as a whole (apparently Al Gharbia constitutes 51% of total UAE's mass)... that on one side of the region there is sea and the other end has a desert. But now that we were here, we wanted to check out the desert. 

So we determinedly drove ahead. And then it happened. 

The landscape suddenly changed and gave way for desert - not the little sand dunes that we had been seeing the whole while but humongous ones that kept hitting at us at every turn on the road. All around it was just sand and sand and dunes and dunes and I was mesmerized. In fact, all of us were mesmerized - even the two guys who were with me and who had spent about decade in the area. They said this is the biggest desert they have seen! 

Just when we were staring with open mouthed amazement at what surrounded us, we saw a camel farm on the side with several camels in it. So we stopped over for some photo opportunity. And what greeted us? The sight of an hour old baby camel! Yes, it was lying at its mother's feet and getting licked by her. The mother had the smug expression of a job well done and it was such a beautiful visual! One of the caretakers (from Baluchistan), got us to move close to the mom and baby. He then helped the baby to stand up and suckle on its mother. I couldn't stop being amazed at the wonderment of it all! 

Afterwards, we took a LOT of pictures with all the camels and ten caretakers offered us the freshest camel milk possible! He brought it in a huge bowl, right from a camel's udders (not the one who just had the baby, by the way) - it was frothy, warm and thick and I helped myself to a glass of it together with some dates. It felt so perfect. 

After saying goodbye to them, we set off further into the desert and saw more sand, more dunes, no people. One of the things I loved was that even though we were out there in the afternoon sun, it was still so cool and breezy! The weather this time of the time is so perfect! Another thing I loved was how you can see the sand fly over the roads in little golden clouds with each gush of the wind. It was so beautiful to look at! I was also amazed at how they cut such perfect roads in the middle of such stark, virgin desert!  

We spent a considerable amount of time on the dunes before we set back to Abu Dhabi. We realized that one of us had had lunch, so we stopped at one of the petrol stations and grabbed a bite. 

The drive back was long and quiet. I guess we were all rather taken about by the raw majestic beauty of the desert that we had the good fortune of seeing and we mulled over them over and over again. As we drove, the sun set on one side and the moon rose on the other. In a short while, it was pitch dark all around, except of the illumination from the full moon. There were no street lights and hardly any cars on the road. It was wonderful, peaceful. 

Once we got back to Abu Dhabi, we went straight to the Fish Market. Yup. Total change in scenery, that. They have this routine of buying fresh fish, getting it cleaned and grilled right there and it is supposed to be amazing. I wanted to try that out and sure enough, it was amazing! We got chargrilled prawns and oven baked fish (a grouper i think) and they tasted royal! 

Needless to say, we were pretty dead tired post the adventures of the day. We had driven close to 700kms, but it was truly a day well spent! I feel so inspired to make the film now! 

Finding My First Proper Location!

Another day of things going not exactly to plan, but by late evening it really picked up and made up for an otherwise unproductive day! 

So we started off thinking we will do the location exploration in the city for the day, and the morning started with a lovely breakfast at Sangeeta Restaurant where I ordered myself a "mini set meal" (which came with a small masala dosa, a humongous vada, some pongal, kesari, sambhar and a couple of different chutneys) and a cup of filter coffee. 

Then things went downhill as everyone else had to rush off for some of their studio work which could not be put away. So I went back to the hotel and decided to spend some time garnishing the script with some of the things I saw over the trip so far. I modified the script and also worked some production scheduling, after which I started to get really bored. So then I ended up watching a hopeless Malayalam film which got my spirits further down. By 5:30pm or so I was so bored that I decided to get out of the room and roam around the city, while kicking myself for not having thought of this option any earlier! Seriously, why didn't I get out any earlier?! 

Anyway, so I stepped out, walked about the city (which is, by the way, supposed to be super safe especially for women!), shopped a few things for the Little One (things are so much cheaper than in Singapore) and just generally enjoyed the lovely, chilly weather. 

Soon my editor called, apologized profusely for having disappeared for most of the day, and said that we could quickly see a few locations right then, even though it is already dusk. I was all up for the idea, so he drove me to the swanky part of Abu Dhabi - the upcoming, developing Al Reem island, the magnificent Grand Mosque with its lights on (hoping to actually visit its inside before I leave!), and my most favourite part of it, a narrow stone path that went into the sea from where you could see the entire skyline of Abu Dhabi, both new and old. I absolutely fell in love with that place! 

I think I might have just found my first proper location so far, which is super duper exciting! 

We had dinner at a typical Arabian place where I was treated to khubus (their bread), some extraordinary hummus and garlic dip and "flattened", grilled chicken. It was all pretty awesome! 

On the way back, we met some of his friends - a couple with the cutest little one year old girl! I picked her up and played with her for about 15-20 minutes, during which she kept staring and laughing at me. It was so adorable!

So yes, a day that didn't go too well up until the evening but am very thankful for a beautiful evening. And tomorrow, we are going to hit the desert! Now that's gonna be exciting and hoping we would be able to lock a few more locations on that trip!  

From Police Stations to Pre-production Meetings!

Today was the first day of film work here in Abu Dhabi and it was a combination of things going well according to plan, and also things going exactly not according to plan, but that turned out to be fascinating nevertheless. 

Let us start with what went by according to the plan. 

I was driven around the city and the outskirts and I got to see the magnificent Grand Mosque (I love its domes... so exquisite!), the skyline, the corniche - the coastal area lined with parks and fountains, the mangroves (yes, there are MANGROVES in Abu Dhabi!) and the canopies of trees lining the roads making the place seem anything but an arid desert! I had to admit that this desert city looked nothing like what I had expected it to. 

I met up with key team members of the crew which included the owner and other members of the production studio and the person who will be helping us get all the required permits and licenses for the shoot. When I met up the owner of the studio, for the first time ever, I had to narrate the script like how regular directors or scriptwriters do. Usually I just give the script and expect people to read it, but this time I narrated it exactly the way they would do it out there in "real" film world. That was an interesting experience. Expecting people to read the script is indeed a lot easier than having to summarize and bring the essence of the whole film in a narration! 

My editor-cinematographer and I also had a good long pre-production meeting where we dissected the script, went through the logistical requirements for each scene, and worked out the location needs, before we start on extensive site recee tomorrow. 

Now for the stuff that didn't happen according to plan. 

The studio guys had a few documents to be picked from their local Arab sponsor, a policeman, and for this purpose, I accompanied them in to the police station. Yup, that's right. I have now been inside an Arabian Police Station. Of course, I didn't anything there except for sitting in the area designated for the ladies, but it was pretty exciting. Now, the local sponsor had already left the station for his home, and so we drove to his house - which was in a residential area far from the city and the drive to which presented more of the dry, sparse landscape that you would expect from the region. 

The sponsor was a really nice gentleman, who tried to teach me a bit of Arabic (I now know "Kaif Halat? - how are you?" and "Tamam - Am fine"), let me see their house's patio and garden (which was lush green with a ton of beautiful roses in various colours!) as well as the guest rooms (huge living areas to receive guests) designated for men and women separately, and also introduced me to his beautiful daughter (even as the guys with me respectfully turned their faces away from her, a custom I understand is quite prevalent here). Overall it was a pretty nice experience. 

And there was the highlight! The studio guys asked me whether I wanted "Pazhampori" a snack from Kerala made of bananas. I said sure, why not. So they took me to the Kerala Social Centre, a community centre for Malayalis, and man I was totally bowled over ! They had a really big building with a huge central courtyard and performance stage for themselves and there were different types of music and dance classes going on in the various rooms around the centre. There was also a little tea stall selling snacks in one corner and they served chukkukaapi (spiced black coffee, in true Kerala style!) and I helped myself to the pazhampori as well. The ambience of the place was just like what you would expect of some centre in Kerala, and I simply loved this piece of Mallu heart in the centre of Abu Dhabi! 

Thus came to an end a long and tiring day, but am looking forward to the "proper" location recee that is starting tomorrow! So far I have loved every bit of what I have seen and experienced - the mangroves, the police station, learning Arabic, and the Mallu-ness of the "Gulf"! 

Long Flight, Movies, Meet Ups, Dubai, Abu Dhabi!

First Monday of the sabbatical and I was on my way to Dubai, for the pre-production meeting and location recee for my next feature film! How awesome is that! 

But there are a couple of people I need to thank first for this awesomeness - the hubby and our helper, both of whom happily volunteered to take care of the Little One in my absence. I can't thank them enough for the support! 

Sure, I have travelled on work before, leaving her with them for a few days at a stretch, but I am yet to think of film making as "work". This, to me, is very much a super fun trip and I tend to feel guilty about not focusing on that humongous thing called Motherhood but instead have "fun". But then I tell myself that I love her to bits and she seems to love me to bits for the time being and we are both gonna work this out.

Now that that's out the way, let's get back to what's happening on my Dubai trip! 

Firstly, I loved my long 7 hour flight! It is the first time I am taking such a long flight all by myself after the Little One came into our lives, and I have to say I had really missed this "me" time. We have travelled extensively as a family - including really long flights to Amsterdam and New Zealand, and I, who otherwise is a lover of long flights, totally don't look forward to those. Travelling with a child is not the same and while I enjoy holidaying with her once we get to the destination, the journey itself usually is pretty tiresome. 

So now that I had a 7 hour flight all by myself, I made the most of it! 

I watched two awesome films - "The 100 Foot Journey" which was a really sweet movie and "Whiplash" which was nothing but sheer brilliance and am still astounded by it. I mean, sheer-F.R.E.A.K.I.N.G-brilliance! Phew! I also had tea and juice and wine and worked on my script and listened to music and tried to take a nap and did all those things that I so love doing on flights. So, in a nutshell - I had an amazing time!

Dubai airport experience was good too - there were no forms to fill, there was no rush at immigration, the baggage came fast enough and everything was pretty much smooth and fast.  

I was picked up from the airport by my friend cum editor cum cinematographer and we headed straight to try out what is supposedly one of the best restaurants in Dubai serving Malayali food - Calicut Notebook. The fancy named place didn't disappoint at all! I enjoyed their Pandan Leaf Chicken, Fish Fillet Elayil Tawa (came wrapped in banana leaves) with chappathi and kerala parotta. It was all very awesome! 

After that we went to meet my cousin brother who had recently moved to Dubai. We met him near his workplace at Burjuman centre and had a cup of coffee together. I haven't seen him in years, so it was really nice to meet him all the way in Dubai even if for a short while.  

After that we set out on the 2-hour long drive to Abu Dhabi - and I was given a running commentary on the sites around me. Burj Khalifa, Burj Arabia, the ocean, the beautiful rows of trees lined between the two vast roads on either sides, the arid parts, dates shops, nurseries, Iranian markets, the luxury cars that keep whizzing by non stop, I saw them all. 

We also stopped for a bit to give a lift to another member of the team, who also happens to be the one who cooks the dishes for Athazham food photography. It was nice to meet him as well. 

I checked into a hotel in Abu Dhabi and grabbed a quick dinner. By then, I was really exhausted and probably jet lagged. All I wanted to do was just sleep! So I did just that and vowed to wake up refreshed and energized because tomorrow, the real pre-production work and location recee start! Can't wait!   

Day 1 of Sabbatical!

Today is the official start of my sabbatical; last Friday was my last working day at Procter & Gamble, and as of March 1st, am officially "on a break"!

Over the last few days, I had a really good time catching up with all the good friends I had made at P&G over the years and that last day was special too - it was our Chinese New Year celebration which I, as the "Culture" head of the team, organized. The team turned it into a lovely farewell and it was all pretty nice. I ended the decade long P&G chapter with a big smile and lot of excitement for the next phase!

Given that sabbaticals are not always easy to come by, I have decided to make the most of this one. I plan to get back to my daily blogging just like the before-30 times. Something tells me that there are going to be a lot of memories to cherish over the next few months and I want to make sure I capture all of them for posterity. Also, my Type A personality demands that while "taking rest" during a sabbatical is all well and good, I should also make sure that I am not "wasting time". Needless to say, that's a delicate balance to strike. And writing about one awesome thing a day the way I used to, might just help achieve the balance.

So. Today is Day 1.

And, what did I do?

I spent the whole morning rehearsing with my actors for my next full length feature film!

Yup, that's right! I am going to make another independent, low budget feature film - it would be my second one, after Mausams, and am crazy excited about it! This would pretty much be the first film that I am not producing on my own (I will be the writer - director), and even more excitingly, if things go according to the plan, I will be making this film in UAE! Yup, my very first film outside of Singapore! (EXCITEMENT OVERLOAD!)

But I have to admit that it is still too early to say that it's all locked and loaded. There are too many loose ends and open issues to sort right now to say that it is 100% going to happen. 

But what is exciting is that I will be travelling to Dubai tomorrow to meet the team there! The team is headed by my dear friend and co-film maker (he was the editor for Mausams and Inganeyum Oru Katha, cinematographer-editor for Aravindum Aarumughamum and is currently doing the food photography for Athazham all the way from UAE!). Once I get there, we will discuss all the pre production matters after which we will be able to lock the details for this film. I have all my fingers and toes crossed for this one and am really hoping that this goes on the floors very soon! If you have a prayer to spare, do send one across my way!

Separately, I am not sure whether I fit the bill yet, but I like to think that I am a temporary "stay at home" mom. In this new role, I was all over the Little One today, who, by the way, is currently sporting a Halle Berry look with closely cropped hair. I miss her curls but have decided that she looks equally (or maybe even more) adorable in the "Boy Cut". I spent the whole afternoon and evening playing with her, singing our current favourite song "Prabhuji, daya karo" together (a devotional one originally taught by her grandmom, my mom in law), doing "Ogga" (yoga) together, talking a walk and buying groceries together and generally enjoying each other's company. 

So far, the sabbatical is going super awesome!