The making of the film RHINO and its related jungle adventure.. Part 1

The Book Kaziranga Trail..

The year was around 1987. Mr Amol Palekar had taken over as the Chairman of Children's film Society, India (CFSI).  Mr Gulzar along with TS Narsimanh (of Malgudi Days fame) were the executive council members in Mr Paleker's team. The new chairman like his predecessors was in a hurry to ensure that some good children's film were produced  during his tenure.

Gulzar

Amol Palekar

                                                  As luck would have it, CFSI already had the rights of the book Kaziranga Trail, written by Aroop Kumar Datta & published by Children book Trust . The book was a work of fiction, a thrilling jungle adventure about the one horned Rhino, found in the Kaziranga National Park, Assam. Mr Palekar wanted to start work on the project at the earliest. He chose his Chief assistant Mr Shashank Shankar (son of famous choreographer Mr Sachin shankar) to direct the film. Accordingly Shashank and myself embarked on the location hunting work and left for Guwahati from Mumbai.

Shashank Shankar, Bhrigu Phukkan (Ex Home minister,Assam) & MukeshSharma

  At that time the ruling party  in Assam was  Assam Gana Parishad or AGP headed by Prafulla Kumar Mahanta ,as the CM. The home minister was  Bhrigu Phukkan , who  met us and assured us of all possible help, while we produce the film in Assam.

Manas Wild life sanctuary .......famous for Tigers

                   The film Rhino was to be shot in the Kaziranga  National Park. How ever Shashank was keen to visit Manas (famous for Tigers) wild life sanctuary too.  He felt that a combination of both the locales will do justice to the film. So early one morning we set out for the Manas sanctuary on elephant back.The mahout in front followed by Shshank and myself . The weather was pleasent and we could hear the sounds of peacock, monkeys and birds. We were now  a little deeper into the forest. Suddenly there was complete silence. It was a bit weired. Shashank asked the Mahout "Ye achanak janwaron ki awwazen kyun band ho gayin''? the mahout said "kuch ghabarane ki baat nahi   sahab, Sher Ver hoga."   I retorted "Sher hoga matlab? Ye to phansnewali baat  hai". The mahout was more then relaxed. He made us comfortable. He told us  we are safe, as we are perched high up on the elephant .

Perched safe on elephant's back

 Just as we were adjusting to the new environment, I felt a weight loss in my hip pocket. I had dropped my wallet. It had every thing , our air tickets, monies , Identity card etc. When I told Shashank about it , he was completely foxed. But again our mahout consoled us. "Koi baat nahi shaab, mil jayega. Idhar  kidhar hi gira hoga. Hum log haathi se utarkar dhoonege." Without batting an eyelid Shashank said, "Matlab haathi se utarkar seedhey, Sher ke mooh mein jaayen". But the reassuring approach of the mahout and the lure of finding the wallet, compelled us to get down from the elephant and search for the wallet.

Searching for the wallet

 As we were walking, we heard a sound of rumbling near the shrubs. We looked at the mahout ,"Darne ki koi baat nahi shaab, tiger hai, ye lijiye Sab ka saathi". and he gave a small bamboo stick in our hands. Shashank looked at me as if to ask, if we can shoo away the tiger with this stick. It was like akaash se gire aur khajoor mei atke. I was not sure whether to continue with our search or just abandon it.  And Suddenly all hell broke loose...

THIS IS A GOOD SITUATION TO  GIVE  THE STORY A BREAK
NEXT POST WILL REVEAL IT ALL
TILL THEN..   THE RHINO  SUSPENSE CONTINUES..

Ustad Bismillah khan Born March 21, 1916 – August 21, 2006

Bharat Ratna who came to DD studios at Mumbai

21st March happens to be the Birth Anniversary of  Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan, the Shahnai maestro, who hailed from Banaras. He was the third classical musician to be awarded the Bharat Ratna (In 2001) the higest civilian honour in India and gained world wide acclaim for playing the Shehnai for more than eight decades . Upon my invitation he had come to  DD (TV station) at Mumbai.   Khan Sahab was not keeping well, still he came to participate in the Phone in program HELLO DD. He was thrilled to talk to  his friends, fans  and well wishers via DD through the LIVE chat.

Bharat Ratna Late Ustad Bismllah Khan with Mukesh sharma at DD Mumbai

The duration of the program was one hour. As soon as the Live chat was over I handed him his professional fee for participating in the TV show. "You have already connected me to my fans through your network, thats enough for me" said  Bismillah Khan.

Feeling at home

 Since he had come all the way  from Banaras  to take part in the program , I made sure that his cheque was encashed and the monies were given to him before he leaves the TV station. My concern to ensure that he was comfortable and the Live TV show made him happy like a child.

On his death, as an honour, his shehnai was also buried along with him. 

 Ustad sahab died after a couple of months .On his death, as an honour, his shehnai was also buried along with him. He was known for his vision of spreading peace and love through music.  I remember re telecasting the entire recording of Hello DD for the benefit of viewers, his fans and well wishers and paid tributes in my own humble way . 

Destiny played a major role in this reconnect...............

 Its nearly a month since my  last post on this blog. I was away to Delhi  to attend Radio Asia 2011 on behalf of All India Radio.The surprise package of the visit was my meeting with the former Minister of Art and Culture, of Mauritius Mr Parsuramen.  He is now the Director and Head of UNESCO in the Indian Sub continent. I was meeting him and his wife after a decade.  Thanks to my Chip of The Old Blog that I got reconnected with him.

Mrs & Mr Parsuraman 

  He had come back from Sri Lanka after his tour. From the Indira Gandhi  International  Airport -Terminal 3 (truly a world class airport), he drove straight to India International Center,  where we had a quite dinner.  It was an  emotional reunion. In fact destiny had played a major role in this reconnect.

Terminal 3.. ..Truly World class

 Look at the turn of events. I write a blog. This time I pick up  the topic, " First Indo-Mauritius Film Co -production". I had to write about Mr Parsuramen, because he was instrumental in ensuring that the Co Production takes off. I needed his picture. I look for the same on the Internet. I found him with UNESCO in India.  I send him a mail. Within a couple of hours I receive  a call from him from Delhi. After exchanging pleasantries, he asks  my plan to visit Delhi. I was not sure, since I have not been to Delhi for the last 18 months. Still, I promise to meet him at the earliest.

Mr A Parsuramen

                      Within a week I receive a letter from AIR Delhi.  I have been nominated  as a speaker to attend  Radio Asia 2011 conference  from 21st Feb. I call Mr Parsuramen Tell him about about the new development. And the next thing I was boarding a flight for Delhi. Our meeting was fixed for the 23rd Feb 2011 the day Mr Parsuramen returns from Sri Lanka.  

At the UNESCO HOUSE New Delhi

                                                                                            
 I had to share this with you all, since you have been following the Blog very carefully and there has been a long gap since the last post.
But the next post is ready and in the pipeline .
The topic is -  The making of the film RHINO and its related jungle adventures ..


Meanwhile do visit  http://radioasia2011.blogspot.com/ a blog that was created during my visit to Delhi.
It will give you an insight into  the future of Radio world wide.

The First Indo Mauritius Film Co -production..Part 2

"...revive the project" !
The year was 1988.  Jaya Bachchan was now heading CFSI . As mentioned in my earlier post she was a Chairperson in a hurry. When I presented the Indo-Mauritius  project  to her, the first reaction was "Mukesh , take the first flight to Mauritius along with A K Bir ( National Awardee Camera man) and Madan Bawaria (the late director of the Jaya Bhaduri's  FTII diploma film "Suman") and revive the project".

A K Bir

Crew Members

 .....dream was taking shape:
After 4 years my idea, my dream was taking shape. As advised by Mrs Bachchan I was back  in Mauritius (and now with a bang), along with A K Bir and Madan Bawaria. We  finalised the locales for shooting. Local talent was also tapped and all preproduction arrangements were taken care of.

...........entire unit along with ...boarded the Air Mauritius flight:
 The entire unit along with Artiste viz. Paintal, M K Raina, Savita Bajaj, technical crew with Director Madan Bavaria, Cinematographer A K Bir,  Sound Recordist  Arunodaya Sharma, all equipment, raw stock boarded the Air Mauritius flight  in April 1989.  The Mauritians could not believe that an idea of co production from their Art and and Culture minister Mr Parsuramen  is finally taking shape.

 A. Parsuramen Director UNESCO India

( Incidentally Mr Parsuramen, who is now heading the UNESCO in the Indian Sub continent, read the blog and got reconnected with me. I am reproducing his comments" Mukesh....Once again many thanks for reconnecting. I visited the Blog with my wife and we were so happy and impressed to see our photo lighting of lamp in 1984! You did a great job! I look forward to meeting you in the near future. Let us keep in touch.....Parsuramen )

Pink Pigeon

......never felt that we were away from home:

 Coming back to Mauritius, we stayed on the island for nearly 50 days. The  hospitality of the Mauritian people was world class. We never felt that we were away from home. In fact Paintal invited his entire family to show them the beauty -that Mauritius was.  For M K Raina ( from National School of Drama) it was a memorable trip. He played the role of a scientist who came from India  and helped the locals to breed the Pink Pigeon in captivity with the help of African dove. Incidentally the pink pigeon is one of the rarest and once one of the most threatened birds in the world.

A K Bir, Arunodaya Sharma & M K Raina

Later on Sharang Dev also joined the unit. He came to Mauritius to  understand more about the local folk music. He was the Music director of the film .

Sharang Dev & Arunodaya Sharma

............the shooting was over:
Finally the shooting was over and the crew returned to India to start the post  production work.
The film was titled "Ankur Maina aur Kabootar".

  ...........won the  National award:
It was censored in the year 1989  and won the  National Award for the Best children's film. The award was received by Mr Bijoy Madhou (co producer Mauritius)  and myself (co producer India)  from late President of India Dr Venkatraman.

    MY IDEA .... passed through three periods:-                                                      
  Today when I look back, I realize that MY IDEA to do a  co production with the Govt of  Mauritius  passed through three periods:
1.It cant be done!
2. It probably can be done, but its not worth doing.!!
3. I knew it was a good idea all along!!!

.
Moral of the story: An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exits only as an idea...

The First Indo Mauritius Film Co -production of India..... Part 1

Mrs Parsuramen lights the lamp, with Parsuramen (in Safari) , Indian High Commissioner alongside Mukesh Sharma (1984)

The year was 1984 . Children Film Society, India (CFSI), received  the directive from Min Of I&B to organise a children film festival in Mauritius. I was deputed for the job. This was my maiden trip abroad. At that time Air India was operating some flights to Mauritius. I reached  Port Louis, the capital, with a set of 5 Children  films and set the ball rolling for the first ever Ocean film festival at Mauritius. At the airport I found an interesting slogan coined by the Ministry of Tourism " Why is it difficult to find Mauritius on the world map?... Simply because its out of this world."  Yes that was absolutely true, the beautiful island of Mauritius, was just out of this world .

........Mauritius is out of this world

 After a formal inauguration by Mr Parsuramen  the Hon'ble Min.of Art and Culture -Mauritius, I was invited for an official dinner, hosted by the Minister. During the course of the discussion, the minister came up with the idea of a co-production of a Children's film with CFSI.

Hon'ble Mr A Parsuramen

                                                      

Min. Parsuramen & Mukesh Sharma

                                          
The proposal was good but Mauritius had no film industry, what will be their contribution? Moreover Mr Parsuramen the minister (now, Director of UNESCO In India) ) was keen to finalize the project and announce the same to the press and media , prior to my return to India. I had very little time and very few options.
But somehow I was determined to do something, to prepare a blue print, before I leave the shores of  Mauritius. I am at my best when I am racing against time.

Shores of Mauritius

Knowing that the island nation had no infrastructure vis a vis film production, I divided the areas of co-production  on the basis of strength & weakness of each party. Mauritius Film development corporation would take care of the boarding, lodging, air travel of the film crew from India and back. These were their strong points. In addition, the story idea of the film would be taken  from Mauritius. In order to have the local flavor, I decided to cast some theater artistes from Mauritius.
                                                                                

A Multi ethnic Society- Mauritius

    CFSI on its part would take care of the equipments, technicians,  lead actors, raw stock, post production etc. The film would be shot at one stretch in Mauritius.
The total cost of the project worked out to a tune of Rupees 20 lakhs ( two million Indian Rupees)  As per my planning both the parties were sharing more or less equal budget burden.
The toughest part of the entire exercise was to select a local story idea for the film. I remember staying awake the whole night and going through various story books, written by some of the famous authors of Indian origin. Finally before dawn I zeroed down on the story OPERATION PINK PIGEON, written by Ramesh Ramdoyal.  The plot was about saving the Pink Pigeon and  breeding them in captivity (which the birds don't do) as they  were on the verge of extinction like the Dodo.

As dead as a DODO....

   The next morning I handed over my project report along with the Story Operation Pink pigeon  to the Minister, Mr Parsuramen. He was thrilled and complimented me for my efforts, on such a short notice.

A poster of Souten

Hurriedly a press conference was organised and lo and behold I was the cynosure of the entire press.  It was a miracle for the local people. Bollywood coming to  Mauritius, as they were going to be a part of the history.

 The only film which was shot  prior to the planning of this co production was  Sawan Kumar Tak's Souten, starring Rajesh Khanna, Tina Munim (now Tina Ambani)  and Padmini Kolahapuri. But the local Artistes were not involved.
I remember Mr Parsuramen organising a grand farewell party upon my return. He presented to me a coffee table book (about 5 kg in weight) on Mauritius. I was lucky to get one as it was presented to the heads of states only.
Back in India, I was keen to start the work on co production. But the whole thing got entangled in Red tape.  Moreover  CFSI was a headless organisation without any Chairman after Dr V Shantaram. So nothing moved. The people of Mauritius were waiting for the film unit to arrive.
The Indo Mauritius  co- production file was gathering dust.....There was dead silence on the project.................and then..
Meanwhile can you guess how much time it took, before the project Operation Pink Pigeon finally took off??
One year , Two years.. Three years..or more..

Let's keep the suspense intact.
In my next post I will reveal all.

Remembering Satyen Bose on his 95th Birth Anniversary......

I was very fortunate to have worked with some of the Masters of Bollywood. Dr V Shantaram, Kidar Sharma (Rajkapoor's Guru) , and Satyen Bose ('Dosti' fame)..

With Dr V Shantaram , I worked in Children's Film Society (CFSI) for nearly 3 years(1980-83). I have some interesting anecdotes to share.. may be in the future posts.

With Kidar sharma I acted in his telly film "Aise Llog bhee hotey Hain".Sharmaji was quite caring .

  

Dr V Shantaram

    Satyen Bose or Dada (I called him affectionately) who laid a solid foundation for Rajshree Films, by directing their Super Hit , Platinum jubliee film DOSTI , released in 1964. 

I met dada in 1982 when he was directing the children's film Kaya Palat for CFSI. Though he was a bit temperamental, but developed an instant liking for me.

Satyen Bose was an intelligent director, who would appreciate people with I.Q. Some of his successful films were Aasara, Raat aur Din, Mere Lal , Aansoo Ban Gaye Phool, Chalti ka Naam Gaadi , Jaagrati and Jeevan Mrityu , Dosti.

Mukesh Sharma with Satyen Bose and Kidar Sharma

Dada lived & died a loner . Alas it was my fate to do his last rites , since that was his wish. I remember it was 9th June 1993 , the day of his funeral. It was attended by only two people from the film industry viz. Tarachand Barjatya and actor Anoop Kumar(brother of Kishor Kumar). Satyen Bose died unwept and unsung.

Dada deserved a better ending like his films. But reel life and real life are the two realities which never meet.

I found the above vintage photographs in my archives. Thought why not share it with you....More over 22nd January is Satyen Bose's 95th birth anniversary.....

HOW NOT TO MAKE A FILM....PART 3

Tom Alter's absence reversed roles & Mukesh Sharma dons the grease with Ajay Chadda

              In my last post I had mentioned how I managed to complete the shooting of the film Anokha  Aspatall at Kanpur in 35 days. I was very much within the time schedule, thanks to my backward planning.

The rough cut was viewed by the Chairperson CFSI and her team.

Jaya Bachchan ..... committed chairperson of CFSI 

After viewing the rough cut, Mrs Jaya Bachchan and others  looked at each other. There was a silence. And then madam spoke. ''Your rough was different from the story line..But there is  a vast  improvement in the overall  presentation of the script. However you need to re-edit  the film so that flash forward becomes flash back. Also with some more outdoor shooting, you can do away with the claustrophobia that film suffers from. Some portions of the film only require new voice dubbing, since the characters are in long shot. In a nutshell if your graph was A to Z, you may now open the film with Z  i.e flash back. Accordingly you can re arrange the  story line as per the new suggested script". Thus spake the chairman of CFSI.  On my face was the simple expression of being CLULESS and the voice of Mrs Bachchan "So you understood Mukesh . Please ensure the dead line of 31st March is adhered to, as the film has to be censored on or before that date".  "Yes ma'm It will be done".was my instant reply. She left and I regrouped my  team members. We had only a month left to complete the film.

Naresh Upadhaya.......  Mr Reliable...

Like my school friend Mr Naresh Upadhaya who helped me in my production work, another  team member Mr Rajesh Aggarwal, (who was from the 1965 Editor batch of FTII Pune) was instrumental in bailing me out, with his editing skills and creative inputs.

Rajesh Aggarwal friend ,philosopher & guide...

Here I would like to mention another CFSI colleague of mine Rudolf Samson or Eddie. Besides me he was also a full time staff of CFSI and worked as an assistant cameraman. Though technically his boss, I learned quite a lot about film making from Eddie. His father  Samson was an old time Bollywood leading man and worked in B grade movies. I write this with a very heavy heart that Eddie who is now 70 plus is in his last stage of Cancer. But  he is fighting the disease. I pray for his long life.

  The revised rough was ready in two days as we worked day and night to complete it. Once we knew, what we need to shoot or re shoot we were back at Kanpur.

Veteran Shammiji with Padmini the Elephant...

 As usual the first hurdle was the non availability of  the elephant, as she was transferred to Dudhwa  National Park, which is about 80 kms from the place of shoot. Since the elephant could not be transported, she started her grand elephant walk from the wild life sanctuary and reached Kanpur in 3 to 4 days. The second shock was the green cover or foliage which was missing due to the onset of Spring in Northern India. This would upset the continuity of the film. We started searching for some green patch to finish our work and I found one. The patch was like a Mirage in the desert.Somehow we completed our shooting and were back in Mumbai in the first week of March 1989.

Sound Studio....working backwards

By the 2nd week of March 89 we were ready with the revised rough cut and were all set for BG music, effects recording, voice dubbing and mixing or re recording. It is at this juncture that  I asked Rajesh Aggarwal (the Editor Colleague), to visit Sunny Sound Studio and organize the post production work. As written in my earlier post, we had booked the Sunny Studio and paid the advance for the Rerecording etc without even having shot a single frame.

The Gentleman...

 When Mr Rajesh Aggarwal reached the studio, he saw  Dharmendra (the He man of Bollywood)  holding the Studio diary and finalizing  the dates for the dubbing of his film. Unfortunately he was looking for the same chunk of last 10 days of March 89, which we had booked and paid for. Some how Rajesh Aggrawal  managed to gather courage and spoke to Dharam Paji. "Sir we had booked the studio 3 months ago prior to the commencement of shooting. We had already applied for censor certificate.  Some how, in spites of the odds, we have managed to keep our date with destiny. Now if you take the studio, Mrs Jaya Bachchan will not be able to keep her promise to the nation. We are supposed to complete it before 31st March 1989. " Though it was Dharmaji's studio he could have overlooked our commitment and gone ahead, yet he was more then a gentleman. He shifted his base to Madras(Chennai) for his post production work and saved the day for us.

Anokha Aspatal was premiered in cinema at Mauritius 

The pearl in Indian ocean

Need less to mention the film Anokha Aspatal was censored on 31st March1989. As promised, Mrs Jaya  Bachchan brought the final print with her as her personal baggage to Port Louis.  I could not see the final print in India as  I was sent on duty to Mauritius, to start shooting of the Indo Mauritius co production "Operation Pink Pigeon" (or Ankur maina aur Kabootar). This film too won the National Award. But thats another story..

Hope you  enjoyed reading... the making of Anokha Aspatal....
Wishing you all a very happy 2011....