It is often said that a director's job is simply to call the cut, but his responsibility is not limited to that. The director has to work in different departments from the production of the film till the release of the film.
It is very important for a director to have knowledge of everything including writing, editing, photography. So to the director 'Captain of the Ship' It is not wrong to say.
'Reel to Real'In this episode we will understand the role of director in film making. For this we spoke to director Tusshar Hiranandani and Mehul Kumar, who hails from Jamnagar, Gujarat. Tusshar has directed Rajkumar Rao's latest film 'Shrikanth'. Mehul Kumar is known for films like 'Tiranga', 'Krantiveer', 'Mrityudata'.
Choosing the right script is important for a director to make a film The production of a film can start only when the director has a very good story (script). There should be a lot of novelty in the subject of the story. A director should not be hasty in choosing a story.
It takes 2-3 years to make a film. In such a situation, the makers should keep in mind that the story of the film should be new and different for the people in the next 2-3 years or even beyond.
While the director selects the lead actors for the film, the casting director is responsible for selecting the supporting actors Directors are also involved in the casting of actors for films. Tushar says about this, I have full participation in the casting of actors. The main casting of a film or any web series is done by me in collaboration with the casting director, but the casting of side actors or background actors is entirely the responsibility of the casting director.
As in the film 'Shrikanth', apart from the main lead, the entire casting was done by Abhimanyu. He had better casting. There are many new faces in the film, but all have done a good job.
A director cannot cast all the people for a film alone, he has to focus on other things as well. In such a situation we have to trust the casting director.
The director also decides on which day, when and where the shooting will take place If the shooting of a film starts without proper planning, there are always losses. For a film to break records and earn at the box office, pre-production work should be done optimally.
Suppose, if a film is to be shot on an outdoor location, first of all the director along with others makes a complete outdoor location chart. How many shots are there in an outdoor shoot, how many songs are there, all these things are written in the chart. In this chart, the clothes are also detailed according to each scene. The rest of the account of every minor matter related to shooting is kept in the chart.
Tushar said about this, the shooting of the film cannot start without proper preparation. For example, a month before shooting starts, I sit down with my entire team and completely revise the script, so that everyone knows which shot is to be shot on which day or what will be the first and last shot.
The director must work closely with the producers Mehul Kumar said that an agreement is reached between the director and the producers before the shooting of the film starts. All matters related to fees are written in this agreement. After this the director and producer work like a family.
He further said that producer and director should work together in film production.
The director gets the fee as per the schedule of the film Mehul also talked about fee distribution. Explaining with an example, he said, suppose the shooting of a film is being completed in 6 schedules, then the producers pay the director's fee bit by bit in these 6 schedules. The remaining payment is then given to the director before the release of the film. However, the way money is exchanged between the producer and the director varies from project to project.
Often the producer pays a fee to the director initially. At the same time, sometimes the director gets a fee after the shooting of the film is over.
When Govinda refused to shoot, director Mehul saved the film from closing Govinda acted in the film 'Aasmaan Se Uncha'. The last action sequence of the film was to be shot in Kashmir. It was very cold and the shooting dates were also extended, so Govinda was not ready to stay in Kashmir. Mehul, the director of the film, requested her a lot, but she refused.
If Mehul had left the film unfinished, he would have suffered a lot. In such a situation he got an idea. He shot that action sequence with Govinda's body double. A close-up shot of this scene with Govinda was shot in Filmcity, Mumbai. Director Mehul saved the film from ruin.
Mehul continued – We shot that scene in such a way that even today people don't realize that a part of this scene was shot in Filmcity.
This scene was shot in Kashmir and Filmcity.
Nana Patekar did not want to work with Raj Kumar The film 'Tiranga' proved to be an important film in Nana's career. Which was released in 1993. In this he played the role of Inspector Wagle. On his casting, the film's director Mehul Kumar said, 'My first choice for the role of Inspector Vagle was Rajinikanth. Rajinikanth also liked the story, but refused to do the film.
He said – The subject is good, my character is also powerful, but I am not in the mood to work with Rajkumar. After this Naseeruddin Shah was approached, he refused and said – Mehul ji, I will not jam with Raj Sahib.
After this Nana was offered, he agreed to the film after hearing the story, but he said that if Raj ji interfered in the film, he would leave the shoot. I called Raj ji and told him about Nana's casting. On that he said- He misbehaves, swears on the sets. It will be messed with. Okay, if that's okay, let's film.
On this casting, a famous producer-director associated with the industry expressed concern on the auspicious day itself and said, God bless your tricolor. I am concerned that you have decided to make a film in six months by casting one from the East and the other from the West.
Initially, Rajkumar and Nana Patekar used to sit apart after giving shots, but the two became friends after the song 'Pi Le Pi Le O Mere Raja…' was filmed. After this, the two became good friends till the shooting of the climax. This film also became a superhit after its release.
Nana Patekar and Raj Kumar in a scene from the movie 'Tiranga'.
In the film, the director dressed Nana in old clothes Nana Patekar also acted in Mehul's film 'Krantiveer'. While narrating the story of this film, the director said- In today's time, actors choose their own clothes, this was not the case earlier. Nana's look was a bit like a fakir in the movie 'Krantiveer'. In such a situation, I told Nana to wear all your old clothes in the film. He happily accepted my request.
Shatrughan Sinha, who was always late on the sets, reached the shoot on time on Mehul's insistence. The story was very famous in the industry that Shatrughan Sinha never came on time for the shoot. Mehul said about this – He worked with me in the film 'Naisafi'. One day the director of the film said that if everyone comes on time then why Shatrughan sir doesn't come. I did not reply to this.
One day, as soon as I got a chance, I went to see Shatrughan Sahib. I told him things happen on set that you don't come on time. It is not good if people say this. For this reason, your shoot tomorrow will be at 11 am, so please come. He accepted what I said.
When I told this to the production team, they were all surprised. Everyone said that he would not be on time, but when Shatrughan Sahib reached the set at 10:30 am the next day, everyone was shocked. However, later Shatrughan sahib told me that one day is fine, but don't keep shooting like this every day.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
