Making of Doosra Kinara...

Well, as expected we too decided to be come up with making of Doosra Kinara. In this video:

You can expect to see Ghazal composition by Apurva Shrivastava and Bhupinder Ji recording that ghazal, (someone in Bangalore and N.J would be too happy to hear it). In addition our jebroni writer discusses the philosophical side of Doosra Kinara (as if he knows it!)

Etc etc…

It is 9 minute long so be on your best behavior and have some patience. It will be rewarded. Sweet!

ps: Folks, If you notice, I have deleted the opening paragraph. Mullah Luis offered me a different take on it. And you know if you do not agree with Mullah life can be real tough. Apun ko wiase bhi shahr main rehnaa hai...

And the Oscar goes to....

Good People!

What you are about to see is very special - very personal. What you are about to see is straight from the heart - my heart!

While you are watching it, I want you to think of those people who made this film a possibility.

I want you to think of my music director Apurva Shrivastava, who worked day and night to compose the music. I want you to think of his wife Nita, who let him work with me even till wee hours of their wedding anniversary night.... I want you to think of Sandeep Savla, the sound engineer who supported us in our efforts.

I want you to think of Kristi Hutchinson who did an excellent job of playing Amber Anderson and Vikas who did his best as Sameer Azaad. I want you to think of three school going kids Rohan, Rabia and Pranjal who are born and raised here, but did a good job acting in pretty much a foreign language film! I want you to think of Ahamd Khwaja, Anurag Misraraj and Anurag Gaur, GiriMohan Coneti, Sandhya Bhagat, Gandharv, Mullah Luis, Jeff Shipman and Rafiq Batcha....It would require another post to enumerate thier contributions.

I want you to think of those friends that want to remain anonymous, and have requested me not to thank them publicly (yes, Mam these kinds of folks still exists!). I respect thier wishes.

Most importantly I want you to think of YOURSELF, your dreams and your ambitions. I want you to think of your Doosra Kinara, to see if the search of that unknown destination is depriving you of things that matter most in life. I want you to think of your self-inflicted blind spots that are stopping you from re-connecting to your self, your past, from listening to your heart -where your first love lives....

....And finally I want you to think of the writer/director, who made this film with the hope that it will help new generation of dreamers, in realizing that when they fly away they leave behind a loving father who wants them to stay, a mother who does not know what to say, and friends who are proud and yet sad at the same time. This writer thinks that if he can help one teenageer in realizing what is important in life, "to apun ka pasie wasool ho jayega!" (you can never take Mumbai out of someone!). It is a naive thinking but the world sure can afford a few jebronis like him!

Enjoy!

Ps: Rafiqi emailed me yesterday, reminding me of a quality that He "thinks" I have: Determination, he said. (I do not know what else they teach at Gozuieta Business School, coz he was very up-to-date on me!). Well, this one is for that Determination...!

Camera - Sound and action !

Some interesting details about the opening sequence trailer:

The Beamer that you see has manual transmission. An hour before the shoot Vikas told me that he couldn’t drive stick shift. I told him “kuch nahi yaar bada asaan hai, ek aadh chakar laga le andar subdivision ke and you will be just fine”. He not only drove stick shift but he drove with those numbered glasses on I-85 near downtown Atlanta. Kristi had no clue of what’s going on. I wonder if she had acted the way she did had she known that Vikas was a rookie stick shift driver. I made them drive so many times in and out of interstates that I lost count and they got tired of me....

What you do not see is that Giri is driving behind these guys to give them the “cover” and Gandharv and I are on the vehicle in front of these guys. We did not have the luxury to afford two way radios so we were using cell phones to pass instructions. There was no possibility of a “re-take” so it was either get it or forget it!! Kristi was all cooperating and reading my mind and my nervous shouts….

Right before this shoot we had dinner at Atlanta Diner at Clairmont. It is hard to believe that it were same Kristi and Vikas who were having fun just a few minuets ago…

I am going to let the film do the talking….

That’s all….

Life is tough....

I am a big John Wayne fan. He acted in about 200 movies from 1930s to the 70s. In most of his films, he stood up for the oppressed and downtrodden of the society, notably native Indian Americans. He rebelled against the establishment for them, took bullets for them, got them justice and then moved on.

These words of John Wayne pop up in my head form time-to-time, and today was such a day.

I reckon, they do leave out the impact of ones stupidity on relatives and friends.

Oh well…