Showing posts with label Subrata Chakraborthy interview. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Subrata Chakraborthy interview. Show all posts
It gave us goosebbumps to create Shruti Tandon's room-Subrata Chakraborthy and Amit Ray
7:47 AM
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 16, 2015)
When Production Designers Subrata Chakraborthy and Amit Ray presented their first model of a court to Talvar director Meghna Gulzar, before she rolled with her thriller based on the reallife double-murder of Aarushi Talwar and Hemraj Banjade, she gave it the thumbs down, saying, "Dada, exact banao... real banao." And without any signs of disappointment, the creative duo headed off to Delhi for a recce. "We did not get permission to enter the CBI Court, so we pretended to be students on a research project and walked into the Delhi Court. We even managed to sneak in a few pictures with a hidden camera." Twenty-five days later, when Meghna walked onto the set in Kamalistan Studio, she felt she had walked right into the CBI Court.
They also went on a recce to Ghaziabad to study the Dasna Jail and and recreated it brick by brick in Mumbai. But the biggest challenge during the 60-day pre-production was creating Shruti's room. "It gave us goosebumps," admits Subrata. Aarushi Talwar has metamorphosed into Shruti Tandon in this fictitious narrative.
"We studied graphics of the house published in newspapers for days and even referred to police reports and legal drawings. We had paid special attention to the doors and the design of the house, but when we began constructing our model of the apartment, we couldn't get it right, something was missing," reminisces Amit.
They then visited the real building in Noida and measured the doors from the outside and the distance from the street and ground to ace the dimensions. "We then built a model of the two-bedroom apartment, with an adjacent servant room with a double door. The DOP, Pankaj Kumar, wanted space for movement of his miniature camera model inside our house so we built a bigger model and added lights," says Amit.
Since, they were denied access to the Talwar's Noida house, they studied another apartment in the same building with the same layout. "We measured the distances between the rooms, the walls, ceilings and windows," Subrata recalls.
Two months later, they replicated the house in a Mumbai studio. "But when Irrfan Khan, who plays an investigative officer, walked in, the focus shifted from the set to his performance. He is such a jabardast actor," laughs Subrata.
Like Akira Kurusava's 1950 Japanese film, Rashomon, Talvar presents contradictory accounts of the case, including the parents' version. It was Aarushi's aunt, Vandana Talwar, who launched a campaign to prove the innocence of the Talwars in the murder of their 14-year-old daughter.
Subrata and Amit recall the day Meghna announced 'pack-up' and how heart-wrenching it was to dismantle the entire house and the other smaller sets they had taken weeks to construct. "It reminded us of Haider and Vishal telling us that our work in Kashmir was done. We left our sets in the mountains and headed back to the city with a heavy heart. It was the same feeling all over again," sighs Amit, pointing out Haider released on October 2, exactly a year before Talvar.
Salman Khan Nikhil Advani that art department has done a great job-Amit Ray & Subrata Chakraborthy
7:54 AM
Creating movie magic in the Manali snow
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 2, 2015)
Production designers, Amit Ray and Subrata Chakraborthy, hadn't worked with Nikhil Advani before. In fact, Amit and Subrata were busy with Haider when Hero was offered to them. "I met Nikhil sir to refuse the film but when he saw my portfolio, he was adamant that I do the film," reminisces Amit, admitting that the set in Manali was his biggest challenge.
In the film Sooraj Pancholi and Athiya Shetty flee from Mumbai to hole up in an abandoned house in Manali. The temperature was minus 12 degrees and the location was in a secluded spot in a gorge, 350 feet down the motorway. The designers had taken 12 days to build the one-bedroom-hall-kitchen apartment with a veranda and garage.
Amit remembers that at one point, Nikhil lost his cool because they wouldn't stop working, even during heavy snowfall. "We had to deliver the set on time so we turned a deaf ear to Nikhil sir's orders. He was angry then, but later appreciated that we stuck to our stringent deadline," he smiles. Amit and Subrata who designed the 'Aaj ki party meri taraf se...' set in Bajrangi Bhaijaan impressed Salman Khan who has produced Hero. "We haven't spoken to Bhai but he's told Nikhil sir that the art department has done a great job," beams Subrata.
They built a 'desi daaru bhatti' for a fight sequence as the action director, Ravi Varma wanted to set a fight sequence between Sooraj and Chetan Hansraj in a local brewery. "Ravi was amazed by the final output," exults Amit. And for two songs, sets were created at Filmalaya Studio. One, a Gothicstyle pub and the second, with a theatrefeel. "Most of the film has been shot on the sets and it looks beautiful," asserts Subrata, pointing out that they've been associated with Hero for over a year. They'll be a part of Nikhil's next film as well. "He is completely sorted and knows his job well. We hardly had to make any last minute changes."
Production designers, Amit Ray and Subrata Chakraborthy, hadn't worked with Nikhil Advani before. In fact, Amit and Subrata were busy with Haider when Hero was offered to them. "I met Nikhil sir to refuse the film but when he saw my portfolio, he was adamant that I do the film," reminisces Amit, admitting that the set in Manali was his biggest challenge.
In the film Sooraj Pancholi and Athiya Shetty flee from Mumbai to hole up in an abandoned house in Manali. The temperature was minus 12 degrees and the location was in a secluded spot in a gorge, 350 feet down the motorway. The designers had taken 12 days to build the one-bedroom-hall-kitchen apartment with a veranda and garage.
Amit remembers that at one point, Nikhil lost his cool because they wouldn't stop working, even during heavy snowfall. "We had to deliver the set on time so we turned a deaf ear to Nikhil sir's orders. He was angry then, but later appreciated that we stuck to our stringent deadline," he smiles. Amit and Subrata who designed the 'Aaj ki party meri taraf se...' set in Bajrangi Bhaijaan impressed Salman Khan who has produced Hero. "We haven't spoken to Bhai but he's told Nikhil sir that the art department has done a great job," beams Subrata.
They built a 'desi daaru bhatti' for a fight sequence as the action director, Ravi Varma wanted to set a fight sequence between Sooraj and Chetan Hansraj in a local brewery. "Ravi was amazed by the final output," exults Amit. And for two songs, sets were created at Filmalaya Studio. One, a Gothicstyle pub and the second, with a theatrefeel. "Most of the film has been shot on the sets and it looks beautiful," asserts Subrata, pointing out that they've been associated with Hero for over a year. They'll be a part of Nikhil's next film as well. "He is completely sorted and knows his job well. We hardly had to make any last minute changes."
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