Ismat Tahseen and Prathamesh Bandekar (BOMBAY TIMES; September 17, 2019)

It was manic movie Monday for Hollywood fans in Mumbai. Hollywood’s Twilight star and the latest Batman of the series, Robert Pattinson, along with filmmaker Christopher Nolan, who are in Mumbai to shoot their film Tenet, were spotted with their cast and crew at the iconic Gateway of India. They commenced shooting for their thriller early on Monday morning at the location. While the director and his cast are staying at a plush five-star hotel right opposite the Gateway of India, the crew headed to three key locations, a stone’s throw away from the hotel. A restaurant set (named Chaand) has been erected on the sea-facing promenade for some of the shots. Bombay Times exclusively captured them in between the shots on day one of the shoot.


PATTINSON DONS A SUIT, WHILE REST OF THE CAST IS DRESSED IN DESI OUTFITS
The shoot apparently started around 4 am near the Regal circle where they shot at Mumbai’s landmark eatery, Cafe Mondegar. The shops lined along the street leading up to the café were open at the wee hours of the morning to facilitate the shoot. Says a resident of a nearby building, “The shops in that lane opened very early today. Maybe, they wanted to depict a daytime scene. We saw the cast enter the café and leave only after 7.30 am. Later in the morning, the cast was spotted at the nearby Royal Bombay Yacht Club where Pattinson had a suited look — he was seen dressed in a pale suit with a green tie and glares. The rest of the cast wore Nehru jackets, topis and some women were seen in Indian outfits.”

The next leg of the shoot took place at the Gateway of India, where the cast boarded the boat stationed there. Nolan emerged from the hotel around 2 pm and headed to the boat with his bodyguards. Actress Dimple Kapadia, who is also part of the cast, arrived in her car soon and headed to the boat. The light drizzle didn’t seem to deter the shoot and it went on as planned.

Nolan and his team arrived in Mumbai on Friday morning from Denmark. They are said to be here for a 15-day schedule.




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Director kicks off Mumbai schedule of film with Robert Pattinson, Dimple Kapadia and John David Washington
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 17, 2019)

Mirror was the first to report (September 14) that Hollywood filmmaker Christopher Nolan arrived in Mumbai on Friday to shoot for his next directorial, Tenet, which is set in the world of international espionage. Soon after, pictures of his lead actors—John David Washington and Twilight star Robert Pattinson—arriving in the Maximum City started doing the rounds.

After three days of prep, the auteur started shooting at around 4 am on Monday at a popular cafe in Colaba with Robert dressed in a crumpled linen suit and dark sunglasses. The team would later move on to a spot near an art-deco theatre in the area. At 9 am, they landed up at a nearby club to film another sequence featuring a restaurant. “A lot of the scenes were shot on the streets. Nolan is shooting on 65 mm Imax cameras and even filmed near the Gateway of India. The makeshift hotel created outside a SoBo five-star will also be used in a day or two. Three luxury SUVs were parked in the vicinity for the actors to use for commute,” adds a source present at the location.

Later in the day, Dimple Kapadia, who plays a 60-plus lady with a crucial role in the narrative, joined the cast, after which they hopped on to a ferry for another sequence. “She was joined by John, while Robert wasn’t a part of that sequence. Some Indian junior artists dressed in traditional Rajasthani attire also accompanied the team. They returned around 6.30 pm,” adds the source.

Nolan is aiming to wrap up the film’s Mumbai schedule, which was preceded by several others, including one in Estonia, by the end of this week. “The team will shoot an important sequence, in which one of the actors is expected to jump from a skyrise, in the coming days. From Wednesday, they will be shooting mostly at night with a lot of the portions set inside a room that has been rented for the film,” the source informs.

Tenet also features Michael Caine, Kenneth Branagh, Elizabeth Debicki, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Clemence Poesy.
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A fly-on-the-wall account from deep inside the sets of Christopher Nolan's film Tenet starring Dimple Kapadia outside Mumbai's iconic Cafe Mondegar in Colaba
Mohar Basu, Sonil Dedhia (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 17, 2019)

For the suburban Bollywoodwallahs, a trip to Colaba is not a particularly pleasing thought. It's even less appealing when the shoot's call time is 5.30 am. A stylist friend asked if it was an Akshay Kumar shoot since he is infamous for his early morning call time. "Even better," was the reply as we dashed off to see filmmaker Christopher Nolan open his week-long schedule of Tenet in the city.

Sitting a lane away from Regal cinema, iconic pub Café Mondegar, known as much for its vintage jukebox as for its Bifteck Alla Supremo, was cordoned off with barricades, and manned by brawny security guards. A few inquiries among the 150-odd extras present at the scene helped us learn that the film's on-ground production unit had been in discussion with the café for permissions to function out of their premises. A well-informed hanger-on told us the café's partners were clear they wouldn't mess with their weekend loyalist crowd, and in turn, the unit agreed to shoot in the wee hours of Monday.

The action started at 4.30 am when an over 80-member crew, donning fluorescent green jackets, started setting up the market area of Colaba Causeway characterised by cheek-by-jowl stalls, to make it look like another busy morning in SoBo. The heavy equipment was stationed in the adjacent lane where kebab king Bademiya operates from. The place was packed with young extras fighting their sleep, waiting for filming to begin. Prodded on how much they were being paid for the day, one of them said, "Jitna har film ka milta hai!"

It was 7 am when Nolan appeared on the set. Dressed in a crisp blue shirt, wearing a marigold garland and a teeka, the filmmaker sipped on his coffee while giving instructions to cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema and leading man John David Washington. The shot was fairly simple — Washington attends a call on his basic cellphone, dumps the box of the phone in a bin as he walks through the market place.

Two days in the city and it was evident that he had picked up a few words of Hindi as Nolan hollered, "Chaliye," marking the commencement of shoot. Well-known for being a rare filmmaker to still shoot on celluloid, he called for five takes of the scene before being satisfied. Amusingly, during one of the shots, an old lady unknowingly walked into the frame. The director graciously offered her directions before bidding her goodbye with a "Namaste".

As the hours passed by, the lane outside got incredibly busy. Passersby curiously looked on, wondering which Khan is shooting amidst such razzmatazz. A police van showed up at the venue to ensure the shoot was not disrupted. One of the crew members told us, "The producers have procured permissions from the BMC. They will be shooting with Robert Pattinson at the Gateway Of India later during the day. Over the next few days, they will also be filming at the Royal Bombay Yacht Club and the backlane leading up to CST." The unit's next stop, we were told, is Ahmedabad.

The shoot was over by 8.30 am, three hours before the said closing time. We asked the hawker selling earrings if he had been paid anything for being part of the shoot; he smiled, suggesting that he was not. We returned with a pair of big hoops and memories of what a Nolan film set is all about. If we are lucky, we might just make to the film's final cut.


Christopher Nolan and John David Washington shoot a scene outside Cafe Mondegar in the wee hours of Monday. Pic/ Suresh Karkera




Colaba Causeway comes alive at 4.30 am for the shoot