My Role: Big Idea + Film Concept & Story + Fleshing Out the Whole Film + Handling Shoot, Edit, Music, Post. Also, figured out the rather crucial element of how to get this film made in a rather tight (and pushed) budget of 25 lakh.

I got Colour Palette Films on board. It helped that I knew the producer, Sayan Banerjee, & the director, Arunima Sharma. But they were selected on the basis of their excellent PPM presentation and had to compete with a couple of other PHs. We decided to curry favour for production design as well, borrowing certain things which we couldn't afford. The Director, Producer and Production Designer worked tirelessly to convert the location into a proper set. Sourcing certain wooden things even from Chor Bazaar. Even I designed and created certain production-design elements from things in my house to enhance the film's realism. Also, I went with a very trained, natural-looking cast from two National Schools of Drama, and did not give in the insistence on having more glamorous faces. The Director took a big cut on her fee so that we could afford an exceptional DP from FTII, who had trained under some of the best cinematographers in the Hindi Cinema industry. He pulled off a stunning lighting scheme in which nothing looked out of place, or unreal. Every shadow was chiselled. Every highlight carefully muted. We shot handheld with wide lenses to capture the actors in a really 3-dimensional way. Nuances were introduced & elevated. And we shot it not on Alexa, but Sony Venice 2 with Cooke lenses to achieve the unique balance of colour latitude & clean shadows that only the Venice 2 Sensor could deliver.

With total colab spirit, we got it right. A 25 lakh film to look, sound and feel like a One Crore film. The Sarangi you heard was recorded live, by an artist from one of India's traditional Sarangi Wadak gharanas. Sadly, there aren't many such Gharanas left, I got to know.

The Concept
& Campaign Plan

Main Film