So the 3Ms (Matte, Manav & Me) got enough money to pay all the cast and crew though it got extended by another week or so. We’re thankful that nobody made a hue and cry over a week’s delay and finally everything seemed fine. We thought we needed some more money for post-production work and we would be ready to rock in Bollywood. Well, you’ve all played video games, you cross a tough level and think you’ve reached it, but then another much more tougher level pops-up and in your mind get enveloped with this filmy dialogue – Bhagwan, aisa mere saath hi kyun!

Anyways, to cut short the entire story, as we did not check during shooting, we maintained it even during editing and did no interfering till the 1st rough cut of the film was prepared by a few people in the direction and editing team. When Manav and I watched the movie, we went dumb – no, not because the film was not good, the storyline did not come well or any other glitch but because the film lacked so many, hundreds to keep it less, “necessary” shots to have the flow inevitably required in viewing. Apart from these shots, there were few scenes which needed more dynamism through whatever way possible. I’m not against shooting an entire scene without any camera movement, but I’m also not against lots of camera movement – I’m against shutting your mind and creativity and blindly and conveniently following one rule whether it works or not. What works is correct – no camera movement or heavy dose of camera movements! I always say this to people and I believe it to the core – “Rules are made for a reason, always focus on the reasons and not on the rules”. Simply put, there can’t be any rule in art or human nature or subjective things like that, which works every time and in every condition, just not possible!

In spite of having the best editor on board Namrata Rao (won Best Editor Award at Filmfare Awards 2011 for Love, Sex Aur Dhokha and at Star Screen Awards 2011 for Band Baaja Baraat), we could not manage the lack of hundreds of inevitable shots and few important scenes lacking the required punch. Hence, with extreme financial and mental pressure, we decided to go for the 2nd phase of shoot. It was simply 2nd phase of shoot and by no means should be called a patch-work (patch work is said when you just need few shots here and there to cover few errors which might have crept in during shooting).

It is very important to understand that as 1st time middle class Producers and arranging money living on the edge all the time, we were the last persons to decide on a 2nd phase of shoot. Moreover, since art is primarily subjective, you can convince yourself giving logics that this is fine, it’s ok, it will work and what not. However, Producers just have to crush their ego, by that I mean, if I’m a Director, to satisfy my ego I might (not will) find reasons and justifications why the way I shot will work, if I’m an actor, to satisfy my ego I might (not will) rationalize why my acting in a debatable scene is fine but when I’m a Producer, I do not have the liberty to rationalize because my life is at stake with so much financial pressure, I have to be completely objective and sometimes also take very harsh decisions because nobody suffers even a bit compared to the producers after a flop film! With a deep breath and ready to make the film the best possible, we decided to go for the struggle again! Mind you, directly due to shoot and indirectly due the delay imposed because of the errors in 1st phase, the budget shot up by major portion of a crore! Do you think someone or a group of people came and said – “I understand due to our mistakes you guys have to go through such a terrible financial situation once again, I’m sorry to let you down for the opportunity you gave and the trust you bestowed, let me know how I can be of any help”. Hell No, I read somewhere which meant something like this – human mind has the greatest power to rationalize mistakes, even the most horrific ones, as a defense mechanism and this is good, otherwise one would lose face and self esteem and sometimes even the will to live! Instead of admitting mistakes, we definitely got bad vibes, dis-respectable behavior, childish tantrums, immoral conduct when needed help and what not, from more than one. Let’s not get into that, I know I’ve already forgotten and forgiven almost all of these and few months down the line, won’t even remember any of these too busy in my work day in and day out. Deep inside, I strongly believe, I really do, that everyone is really a good person but this bloody defense mechanism spoils the sportsmanship spirit of any team.

Forgot to mention that meanwhile we got a very talented music director on board, Sanjoy Chowdhury, son of the great musician Salil Chowdhury. If you check Sanjoy’s degrees in music from across the globe, you would be surprised. He has given music, especially background for over 60 films including Sarfarosh, Jab We Met, Golmaal1-2-3, Zinda, A Wednesday to name a few.

Sanjoy made 2 beautiful Hindi songs. One is an extremely peppy dance number sung by the so very talented, humble and famous Shaan and Sarika. It was such a pleasure being with Shaan whom I have heard and seen since childhood, singing in the recording studio for our film, what a feeling :)!

To get on with the main track, majority of the funds in this phase was generated by Matte through friends, relatives and bank loans, hence, I’m not getting into details of from whom we removed that huge burden of another major amount. It can be imagined by even a layman that it was stressful, painful and extremely tedious for 3 of us once again.

A senior member suggested that we should have, as Producers, only who have to bear the financial brunt, been checking the footages on a daily basis and it would have taken at max 3 days to understand the glitch. We could have taken precautionary measures then and there. During shooting, we thought it was interfering with the direction team and showing distrust but see what happened later – we had to keep at bay many people in the team and ourselves completely take charge of each and everything from the word go in the 2nd phase of shoot. Seriously, now I realize that interfering at that time would have been better though might have put off a few people, but now because we were forced to take few harsh steps due to grave mistakes leading to serious financial issues, it left a bad taste in our mouth because as I said most do not admit their mistake, most seem to be asking only about what he should be given (rights) and forget what he should give (duties) – in the professional world the philosophy, which I believe in, is when you do not do your ‘duties’ as expected from you, you do not get ‘rights’ as expected by you.

Matte single handedly directed the entire 2nd phase of the shoot (which obviously also includes the couple of days shoot just after the supposedly final day pack-up about which I’ve mentioned). In fact, Matte directed almost one-third of WITH LOVE, DELHI! We’re obliged to him because he always wanted to direct a complete film and never directing only a part but you know what I said before – Producers have to crush their ego and just give completely objective answer to the question – what can you do to make the film the best possible? No hangups, no baggages, no ego, no childish selfishness, just doing what needs to be done whether you hate it or like it. Now for this 2nd phase, we never imagined that getting a couple of dates from the actors would be such a humongous task since each one of them had moved on to other projects. We’re thankful to Tom Sir, Kiran Sir, Pariva and all other actors who took out time from their hectic schedules and helped in our endeavor to make the project reach its maximum potential! I hope they also realize that it was no fun to invest so much money and time in shooting again as we were the only ones who had to bear the brunt of it for months, whereas others were already working on other projects.

In December, we completed the shoot of the film with only a song shoot remaining. We decided to shoot it asap but because of pouring all the money into the 2nd phase of shoot, we had nothing left to invest. I flew from Mumbai to get prepared for the shoot. I remember Matte, Manav and me sitting in my bedroom in Delhi and having this 1st time super-hot discussion on whether we should go ahead with arranging money for editing the entire film, doing background score, sound etc. first or shoot the song first. I was adamant about the latter and they both were about the former. I finally gave in to keep the team spirit intact although I still believe in the latter. That was a terrible discussion, a terrible low night, depressing to the core, the financial pressure was taking its toll. I remember brooding lying down in my bed, not even going to attend some important function I had to attend that day. It felt so low I can’t explain, though it objectively seemed that song has just got delayed by a couple of months till post-production got completed. Well, as always, I believe every problem has a solution and I can’t sit crying over an issue for more than a few hours or at max a couple of days. I decided not to let financial pressure play on my mind and let’s go with the decision. Matte gave a comment on the last blog (imported to Facebook) about that night’s discussion which sums it all up – “…yaad hai Lal ke ghar main ek meeting thi (Promo song se related – thoda hot ho gaya tha environment, :P), us din lal ne bola tha ki ‘ Hum ye sab dubaara nahin kar paayenge ‘ : I donno why but I can’t forget that instance…. it actually scared me. But guys, in the end I want to salute you both for the plunge you have taken ( I’m proud of myself too, :P), and I also adore you for maintaining “the rocking smile” under such circumstances….the smile which says “Sab chill hai be, ye bhi guzar jayega.” Love you Matte, muaaaaaahhhhhh!

Many people think that you shoot your film and it’s ready for release. Sorry guys, but I’ve heard that Don2’s shooting is over but it’ll release in December, hello! Post-production takes a lot of time, if you want to do it properly. How we went on to our post-production and the story forward will be in my next part after which the blogs will go [LIVE]!