Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 11, 2015)

Two years ago, Nitin Chandrakant Desai visited the Rajshri office for a detailed briefing from Sooraj Barjatya on his next film, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo. After learning that he would have to create several palaces for the royal family drama, the production designer toured Gujarat and Rajasthan, taking elements from Baroda's Laxmi Vilas to the Naulakha Palace in Gondal and a few others in Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udapiur to design some realistic sets at N D Studio in Karjat. Construction started in January last year and continued for six months. The film kicked off in April 2014 and wrapped up this year on September 22.

"I've built a 260 ft x 120 ft, 68-ft tall, one-roof mahal with a 1,500 ft garden in front and a 500 ft garden at the back. The main hall where the Raj Tilak sequence plays out has specially designed 40 ft x 20 ft chandeliers made of diamonds and crystal, stained glass and inlay panels made of real gold and flooring which took 150 women to lay out," informs Desai, adding that for the interiors, which are bigger than that in a Bond film, he has also built a dining room, a conference hall, a kitchen, a swimming pool, a visitors' section and the royal quarters which includes the living room, office and a lavishly appointed 240 ft x 60 ft bedroom in three sections.

If that wasn't challenging enough, he also had to build two smaller palaces for Prem's sisters with a large football ground in front and another three-sectioned Sheesh Mahal which was made by craftstamen from Jaipur and Udaipur and boasts of 1 crore mirrors. "They are all convex and conclave glass and not acrylic with a glass dome made of 33 lakh mirrors," says Desai, adding that when he was in the eighth standard, he saw the Sheesh Mahal in Mughal-e-Azam for the first time and then over the next 20 years dreamt of building his own some day. The opportunity presented itself a few times but then was dropped because of budget constraints. But finally, Sooraj allowed him to live out his dream.

It's an integral part of Salman, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Armaan Kohli's childhood and also important to the climax. Desai has built it in three sections with a main hall, a bhoolbhulaiya and a hamam section where Salman is kept. "I made a lot of graphs and models, even shut myself in a black box to ensure that the angles were right and the mirrors did not reflect light. Not a single minute's shoot has been disrupted," he beams proudly.

After the film opens and Prem returns to the screen, Desai and the makers are planning guided tours to the studio so people can see Prem's world which, besides the palaces, also include a bus depot, a market place, a main street where the title track was filmed and two tents, one for the day and one for the night, where the opening nautanki was shot. "Ever since the first trailer came out, people have been asking me where these palaces are located. We only had a 12-day outdoor schedule but 95 per cent of the film, which included 200 scenes, was shot on studio sets," says Desai. "It's my biggest and longest film so far and has brought in Diwali early for me with the song, "Jalte Diye" which was shot over five days and required batches of 10,000 lamps adding up to two lakh. This is my way of saying Happy Diwali."

Neil Nitin Mukesh on shooting a mammoth scene and sparring with Salman Khan in Prem Ratan...
Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; August 24, 2015)


The actor is excited as he has just finished filming the climax sequences for PRDP. “We have finished the climax. The action too is done with. I do my stunts on my own. Greg Powell is the action director and he trained us for the scenes.” Did he train like Salman? He adds, “Salman and I have a lot of sword fights and all of that. We had to make it look authentic because we both play princes in the film. So we underwent training for that.”

A source from the production told us, “The climax has been shot and it’s possibly the longest ever in any Bollywood film. It has been shot in the Sheesh Mahal especially created for the film.”

Ask Neil about it and he reveals, “It’s a mammoth climax. It’s a family drama. So it doesn’t matter whether the climax is action driven or not. It is the culmination of the story. It’s bound to be monumental. Any film which is on a scale so big and has so many important characters, it just sounds more logical to have a longer climax because you have to justify the entire scenario and how the story eventually culminates.”

Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 7, 2015)

When you recall the 1960 cult classic Mughal-E-Azam, the vision which instantly comes to mind is that of a bewitchingly beautiful Madhubala as Anarkali reflected in hundreds of fragmented mirrors, inviting Shahenshah Akbar's ire with her rebellious clarion call, Pyaar kiya to darna kya.

In a Mumbai studio, director K Asif had built a replica of the Sheesh Mahal in the Lahore Fort. Measuring 150 feet in length, 80 feet in breadth and 35 feet in height, this palace which took two years to build, was made of glass imported from Beligum and cost more than the budget of an entire film in those days.

The mirrors reflected the light of 500 trucks and around 100 reflectors. Consultants from Hollywood, including filmmaker David Lean, pronounced that it would be impossible to film there. But by covering the mirrors with a thin layer of wax and using strategically placed strips of cloth to bounce the lighting, Asif and cinematographer RD Mathur, not only filmed Naushad's memorable song there but did it in technicolour.

Fifty-five years later, Sooraj Barjatya has got his art director, Nitin Chandrakant Desai, to build him a Sheesh Mahal in his Karjat studio for his film, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, which explodes on screen this Diwali. It is a replica of the one Asif built and pays an ode to his Mughal dream.

Says Sooraj, "I have been inspired, awed and overwhelmed by Mughal-E-Azam, a film that has always fuelled my imagination as a writer-director. We tried to pay a homage to this cult classic, which has shaped the Indian film industry in many ways by constructing the Sheesh Mahal. It is intrinsic to the plot. How Salman's story and the Sheesh Mahal are connected will be revealed when the film opens on November 12."

DOP V Manikandan points out that the Palace of Mirrors has been a landmark in architecture and art direction for decades. "So when Sooraj sir told us he wanted to recreate one, the production designer Nitin Desai and I were really excited," he recalls.

Sooraj and the unit brought in Nitin Desai's birthday with a cake inside the Sheesh Mahal on August 5. "I feel honoured to celebrate my birthday inside a Sheesh Mahal created by me and my team. It's a dream come true," the art director beamed.

Interestingly, in 1960, Mughal-E-Azam had opened in the theatres on this day.