Banker in a Junkyard

(This post won the best blog award at the Delhi 48 hour Film Festival 2012)

Life has a few rules.  Rules that preserve the plinth of society, dissuade everyone from trying to do everything and sticking to what they are best at. For example – bricks don’t fly, Yogis stick to spiritual matters, and bankers don’t make movies.

But sometimes an exception must come to prove the rule. Howard Hughes made the flying fortress – the equivalent of not a single brick, but a brick mansion with wings. Baba Ramdev gave up anulom-vilom to go on a crusade against something as material as money – black at that. And Aniket Sengupta, Corporate Banker, decided to join a talented bunch to make a movie.

It all started one Saturday night with my friend Arnab. Over the course of one (too many?) drinks, he started telling me about the 48 hour film festival. Last year he and Rashmi grouped up with a couple of loonies, mostly from the advertising fraternity as themselves, and made a group called Junkyard Productions to participate. Their movie “A Touching Story”, (one of the most brilliant short films I’ve watched) ended up winning 5 awards at the festival. They were planning to have a go again this year, same team with a few changes. “Do you have a vacancy?” I asked, too drunk to care (TDTC). “Yeah, but what are you going to do?” replied Arnab, TDTC. “Well, I’ve acted on stage before, I can sing, I have a good idea of music….(falling short of lies at this point)…heck, I can keep your accounts!”. Arnab, TDTC, looked like he was giving it a good thought. “Ok, you’re in. We’re meeting on the 3rd. Come along.” I agreed, had a couple more, then went home and slept.

3rd evening found me suitably sober and at the agreed meeting point. I had come straight from office, so had everyone else. But while everyone else sported t-shirts/kurtis, jeans, sneakers/chappals and a stubble (ok, not Rashmi) I was the only one in a chequered formal shirt, trousers and leather shoes. Ding! Round one against the outsider.

Everyone knew everyone, or knew something the other had done. I was merely “Arnab’s friend” and no one knew what I do. Round two.

Then they started talking. “I’m Ankur Suman, I head the creative team at XXX, I also directed the touching story”.” I’m Abhishek, I do theatre, currently I’m in a Premchand play which is being staged this weekend”. “I’m Munishwer, I direct, edit and write scripts”. “I’m Rohit, I’m an amateur photographer. I also own a Canon EOS 5D and professional lights”. And so on and so forth. Illustrious, passionate art people. I was last to introduce myself, by which time I was feeling like a leper among knights. Everyone had something worthy to talk about, something pertaining to movies. I had the USD 6M Import Credit deal from the afternoon’s meeting which I was trying best to forget.

“I’m Aniket Sengupta, I’m a Corporate Banker. I err, love cars. I also do long drives and write travelogues on XXX site.  I’m just here to enjoy the ride”.

Pin drop silence. Everyone looking at Arnab to figure out what I was doing there. Arnab and Rashmi tried their best to save round three. “Aniket is also a very good singer with a good knowledge of music. And he can keep accounts.”

Another moment of uncomfortable silence, then the discussion resumed. Teams were made, people were allotted their duties. I was asked to be part of production, which meant I’d be running around arranging stuff so the creative people could do their bit. Obviously, I was also in charge of accounts.

I went home miserable that day. I was in the company of people to achieve a common objective, and everyone else understood that objective much better than I did. I felt like a rookie. I had half a mind to call up the team and cook up a lie to opt out of 48 hours. But I didn’t. I also hoped the other Junkyard members would see the futility of including me and throw me out in common consensus. But they didn’t either. And so, hoping against hope, 10^th August arrived.

We met early in the day. Photography and lighting equipment was being arranged, the editing studio set up, people briefed about their roles and little incidents shared to keep the mood up. I spent most of the day driving around Delhi to get stuff (production team, remember?). In the evening Rashmi and I headed out to Sri Aurobindo Centre for the 48 hours meeting.

From this point onwards, the tables started turning. The meet itself was refreshingly un-corporate, with a bunch of producers eager to explain the process, and a couple of films being screened for the first timers. There seemed to be an air of camaraderie around the place. The guy sitting next to me struck up a conversation, “Which team are you?” Gave me a lot of pride when I said “Junkyard Productions” and saw appreciation in his eyes.

All hell had broken loose by the time we returned. 4 groups were formed, who sat around to think up independent stories. Crazy ideas were floating around the place. Every idea was encouraged, every story worked upon. Exhilarating. I cooked up 3 good stories myself, amazed at how creative a mind tuned to balance sheets and exchange rates could get. None of them got selected in the final run, but I guess baking the cake is more fun than eating it.

The efficiency of the group amazed me. A story was finalized by midnight, and by Saturday morning the script was ready. Our basic plot was to take place inside a school, and within a few hours that was organized to.

Ah, the school. Mann Public School is a pretty neat residential institution on the outskirts of Delhi. Huge campus with all possible facilities for students, with a neat manicured garden, an outdoor amphitheatre et all. We arrived at very short notice, and stayed almost 25 hours out of 48. But the school authorities extended all possible cooperation to us, and made our stay memorable.

Sunday morning I left early with the 2 editors. Majority of the footage was ready, and it was time to head back to the studio to finish the editing. After dropping them I went home and slept for 4 hours, much needed sleep. By the time I was back the final touches were being put. At exactly 5 minutes to deadline, we submitted the film.

When I look back, what amazes me is the camaraderie and professionalism shown by the members of junkyard. In those 48 hours, the maximum someone slept in the entire team was 8 hours. Most made good with less than 2. But even on the final day, the enthusiasm showed no signs of waning.

I remember a scene we were shooting in the school corridor at 4 AM on Sunday morning. The crew and cast, sleep deprived, could barely trudge to the scene. Yet when the camera came on, everyone seemed to come alive. The scene took 6 takes to perfect. Yet not a word of protest, not an expression of disgust. I remember repeatedly requesting the canteen staff for cups of tea, which they provided throughout the night.

I remember another scene depicting a car crash, where the girl driving it is flung out of the door into the mud. The actress actually lay on wet mud for 15 minutes (with a dead expression) while we got the lighting right!

What I most enjoyed, was definitely the attitude. Everyone, with every skill set they possessed, was welcome. No person was too trivial; everyone was part of one big team. If you didn’t possess a certain skill, you were taught that. I learnt a lot of sound recording and even helped in some of the scenes myself. Like the humans in the Matrix, time was always against us those 48 hours. But we did a great job together.

Will I go back? Of course I will. Being a movie buff and critic is one thing; making one is an altogether different experience. And with a team like Junkyard, it’s all one big laugh. There’s no biz like showbiz, so don’t blame me!