The Silver Effect

(Publicity poster for film, Raja Harishchandra (1913) show at 'Coronation Hall', Girgaum, Mumbai.)

Creating a second life on the silver screen is not a matter of joke, on the other hand portraying the story and taking it through the minds of the viewers is another hectic job.

People who are considered good in this business are simply the stars of film making industry. Making a film is just like raising your kid. The director acts as both the mother & also as a father, who guides the film & helps it to become independent. The director makes his film as if he is raising his kid, and then one day the kid becomes young, and goes free to prove himself worthy of what he has learn from his parents. Similarly a film under production is just like a kid, later on as it releases it has to prove that it is worthy of your time to buy a ticket and watch it.

Film making is a great work of art, and when it comes in directing a film it becomes another big task. To become a successful film director, the director has to know all the parts of film making. From acting to direction, from lights to cameras, from make-ups to voice over.

Some amazing facts regarding the 'history of Indian cinema' ~

The first movie was released in India around 103 years ago, i.e. on 7th July 1897 at Watson Hotel, Mumbai. This film was produced by Leiumour Bros., it had only 6 scenes! All it had was an arrival of a train, a sea bath, demolition of a building, workers leaving the mill and ladies and soldiers on wheels. It was a silent movie for 10 minutes.

The first Indian to produce a film was H.S. Bhatwdekar. All he had with him was a projector, but he didn't have a camera, so he got one from London and shot only 2 scenes of 3 minutes each, which were titled Do Pahalwanon Ki Kushti and Bandar Ko Nachata Hua Madaari. It was released in December 1889, more than a century ago!

On the first day of the last century, i.e. on 1st January 1900, another silent movie was released at Novelty Cinema, Mumbai. It had Faatima, an Indian Dancer, a Britisher, Mr. Taivello, had imported some raw material of film reels from U.K. and by adding and editing them he managed to convert these pieces into a short film.

The first ever mythological film produced in India was Pundalik, based on the actual life of a saint from Maharashtra. Mr. N.G. Chitre, of Bombay & a cinematographer Mr. Stevenson had jointly produced this film, which was released on 18th May 1912 at Coronation Theatre, Sandhurst Road.

The trend of silent era continued from 1897 to 1930 and during this period of 34 years, around 1200 films were released, of which very few films print are available now. It's a shame that even Govt. Departments like National Archives or Film and Television Institute don't posses these silent flms.

The second talkie film released in India was Shirin Farhaad, on 30th May 1931. It was produced by Madan Theatres, Calcutta and directed by its owner Mr. J.J. Madan. It had 18 songs. Indra Sabha which was released in 1932 had as much as 69 songs in it. Can you believe it! It was produced by Madan Theatre, Calcutta and directed by J.J. Madan. The film starred Master Nissar, Jahan Aara, Kazzam, Miss Silvasia and others.

At the beginning of the 4th decade, the film viewers were bestowed with a surprising gift, the silent era had ended, films now had sound, so we could hear actors and actresses talking. The first film, which had both these qualities, was Alam Ara, produced by Imperial Movie tone, Bombay. The film was released on 14th March 1931 at Majestic Cinema, Girgaon, Bombay. The film starred Prithviraj Kapoor (father of late Raj Kapoor), Zubeida, Master Vithal, Zillo and Wazir Mohd. Khan. The film had 7 songs and the music director was Firozeshah M. Mistri.

The dialogues for the first Hindustani film was written by Joseph David. The first ever color film made in India was Kissan Kanhaiya produced by Imperial Film Co. This film was released in 1937. Moti B. Gidwani directed it, and its music was composed by Ram Gopal Pandey. The film had 10 songs, which were released by Gramophone Records.

The first ever female role depicted by a male artiste was played by Salunke for the film Raja Harishchandra released in 1913. D.D. Dhabke played the title role.

My 3rd short film : Demented Love

Demented Love (June, 2009)

(Youtube link of the film)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HkkE-njmvc

~ Overview ~

Director: Sourav Dutta
Story & Idea: Arijit Mukherjee
Camera: Avisek Raha
Editing: Sourav Dutta
Still Photography:GM Jha & J Basu
Production Managed by:Vivek A Kapoor

Genre: Murder/Thriller/Crime
Film Type: Short Film
Run Time: 00:08:01
Country: India/Kolkata
Language: English
Colour: Colour

Plot:
The story revolves around a psycho killer who has gone mad after his beloved brother died, to be specific killed mercilessly. Ripon the protagonist is now a killer himself, who kills people with a false hope.

~ Cast ~
(In order of appearance)

Mayur Kapoor
Jit Basu
Nilanjan
Soumyabrata

~ Special Thanks ~

Sayan Achariya

To the family of
Mr. & Mrs. Raha
&
Mr. & Mrs. Kapoor

---------------------------------------------------------------

The story behind the making of 'Demented Love'
By Sourav Dutta

Written by one of my old school friend, the story of my third short film revolves around a psycho killer who has gone mad after his beloved brother died, to be specific killed mercilessly. Ripon the protagonist is now a killer himself, who kills people with a false hope.


Being a little complex story, the screenplay is quite tougher this time as compared to my last two short films. It's still my learning steps, and believe me I am learning a lot of things every day I come in touch with these shootings, acting & all those stuffs.


The name of the film is 'Demented Love'. The shooting for this film started as early as in the beginning of 2009. But before that, as usual, with a low budget film the casting became the most challenging task for us.
We need a very typical face for this particular role of the protagonist. From the very first I knew that I have to look for a face which must have a very little difference of expression between kindness and cruelty, love & hate. It was tough for the first few days, but then we came across Mayur Kapoor, the elder brother of Vivek Kapoor, who worked in this film as Production Manager. Mayur Kapoor's face was perfect for this role. But unfortunately he is a working man.
So we had lots of problem with dates, both free for me as well as for him, and also for other people of my team. So we decided to shoot only on the Sundays and other holidays, if any.
Our main idea was to go slow but perfect. Before every take we carried our rehearsals, which made it easier both for me and for my actors to act.


The Story

The story in itself is a very good one. The toughest challenge was to execute it. I knew that to bring the real effect of the story I have to put many things together in right proportion. The story has five characters in total but only four of them are in the act. And the most interesting thing is that out of these five characters all four are dead. So I was dealing with lifeless acting. Which I think is quite challenging but also very interesting too. Other then the main character, Ripon, all other characters in the film are among my friend circle. Thanks to all of them , they were very good in doing a lifeless yet lively acting.

The story has six scenes in total, as the main character engage himself with his victims and his brother in alternating scenes, the audience get the feeling of what exactly is going on. This process of revealing what exactly is happening is really a very old style of silver screen play. Needless to say that the genre of the film falls under the category of suspense, crime and thriller.

The film also has a wide scope of acting. Mayur Kapoor as Ripon gave his hundred percent. Needless to say, he really speaks good English. I must thank him too. Other then him, the dead bodies were also superb. People may think that acting like a dead being is really very easy, but hold on. It may look easy but its not. Rather its quite challenging, specially when its a long shot for more than a minute or two. You need lots of practice for that.


The Shooting

As already mentioned the shooting started as early as in the month of January 2009. It took a long time, cause, we had date problems. But I was in no hurry. I knew that if I want a good end product I must not do things in hurry.

We divided the shooting locations into three different places. All are indoor, so we choose two locations among my friend's house, and one is in my place. Can't really help it out for studios cause its a very low budget film, almost a zero budget film. We had lots of rehearsals, lots of talks among ourselves & also with the characters, specially with Ripon, as he is all over the film. Through out the entire film we see many sides of Ripon. Once he is calm, once he is very angry. His character in the film reveals the real truth about him, which is, that he is not a normal being. Killing some one is just like a daily work for him, its no sin rather just like a life saving work.


The toughest challenge for us was to prepare a dead body which must look like an old and rotten piece of a flesh. This thing will play the role of Ripon's dead brother. It was only possible with proper make up & camera tricks. As a result I started my research work, to find out how to make such a thing. I also went across details that how will a body look as if its a rotten one. Believe me it was not a easy work. But I had to. There was no other way.
As a result we came up with a perfect idea that we wont show the entire figure or body. So I requested my friend to lend his shoulder for make up & for some very close shots.
But that was not enough, I also carried out the colour tests, to find the perfect mixing of colours which on applying on my friend's
shoulder must look like an old flesh.
We also decided to use a plastic covering which will make it more realistic, as if Ripon had put his brother in plastic coverings. The make up took an hour or so,
but the real problem came up when we decided to shoot all the three scenes at a stretch. It was winter at that time, and lying
on the floor for hours was really challenging. So we put bed sheets underneath the person which gave him some protection against the cold. His work was just to lie straight, no movements and to be very still. We took breaks in between to have hot tea, specially for him to fight cold.

The shooting went on for hours, we also had rehearsals in between. So I hope you can just imagine how tough it was for him to do so. So just one word for him. Superb...!!


The Music

I used two tracks of music in this film. One has been mixed when Ripon was with his dead brother, the other one was when he was interacting with his victims. The two tracks are as follows..

1. abandoned
Composed by:Robert Davidson, BMI, Scott P. Schreer, BMI
Published by: Freeplaymusic, BMI, Freeplaymusic, BMI

2. personal Demons
Composed by:Robert Davidson, BMI, Scott P. Schreer, BMI
Published by: Freeplaymusic, BMI, Freeplaymusic, BMI

to be continued...