On the first day of his new manufacturing, the abroad DoP (Director of Photographs) was amazed by the flowery puja organised. He was extra shocked by one different Bollywood customized — the first shot of each single day is of Lord Ganesha. An excellent part of his first day on shoot was spent in amusement as others outlined these traditions.
When Aamir Khan did an similar puja to inaugurate his office and a few pictures from it went viral, some from the Hindu Correct hailed it as a sign of their vitality that even a Muslim is pressured to level out his Hinduness. Consumed the garbage of lies cooked by info channels, they suppose Bollywood is a godless swamp.
The actual fact is the opposite. Few on the planet are additional non secular, additional superstitious than people who make Bollywood films. And after the annus horribilis that 2022 has been for Bollywood, this has solely reached a fever pitch.
Getting once more to Aamir’s puja, in case you dig deep ample, Muslims of Bollywood have on a regular basis carried out an unlimited place in celebrating Hindu gods and Indian mythology. In precise truth, a number of the best, most evocative odes and songs to Hindu gods have been commissioned, written, composed and sung by Muslims.
Let’s take India’s, possibly the world’s, largest epic — Mahabharata. The one who wrote the 1988 BR Chopra assortment for Television was Rahi Masoom Raza. Till targeted assaults disheartened him, Aamir Khan was most likely essentially the most passionate in all the world — and possibly most likely essentially the most succesful — about making a cinematic adaptation of the Mahabharata. The current, largest scholar of the Mahabharata in Bollywood, one who might neglect to breathe nevertheless at all times keep in mind to tell his screenwriting faculty college students to not merely be taught, nevertheless look at the good epic, is Anjum Rajabali.
It goes extra.
Let’s take Ganesha. Salman Khan has most likely essentially the most elaborate worship of the lord all through Ganeshotsav. I’ve heard tales of how he takes offence if his shut buddies — notably producers and directors of his current films irrespective of religion — do not pay his Ganesha a go to, and the best way it would not matter what he does all 12 months, these ten days he touches no flesh and stays as sober as a fish swimming in Arctic freshwaters.
Ganesha is the reigning deity, the guardian angel of Bollywood. Nothing happens with out detailed and expanded blessings of the elephant-headed Vakratunda. Go to any set in Mumbai, be it the far-flung new studios of Mira Road or the standard ones like Mehboob Studio in Bandra, be it for a attribute film, assortment, serial or maybe a short film, be it a set made and produced by a Hindu, Muslim or Christian — the first port of title every single day, with out fail, is Lord Ganesha.
That’s how the first few hours pan out on any given day in any of the tons of of models all through Mumbai.
If the time for the first shot is 9 am, most of the set design workforce will work by the night time time (theirs is definitely the toughest, most underappreciated job). Most of their most necessary workforce will start arriving spherical 6 am, along with the catering workforce. Spherical 2 hours sooner than the first shot, all people — the director, DoP, route and manufacturing teams, the lighting division, the spot boys and so forth. — start congregating, have breakfasts in between work breaks and spherical 8:45 am most points set, essential shot of the day — one which under no circumstances makes it to the film — begins manufacturing.
A chair, stool or a extreme plinth is positioned on the centre of the set. The DoP will delicate up the place artistically. A spot boy (yup, under no circumstances a girl), brings a framed {photograph} of Ganesha, places it over pink materials, lights a lamp, incense stick, and breaks a coconut whereas the workforce — Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Jains, Christians, Parsis, males, women, LGBTQI+ — all sing the aarti ‘Jai Ganesh, jai Ganesh, jai Ganesh deva – mata jaki Parvati, pita Mahadeva‘. In some models I have been on, this or one other Ganesh aarti is positioned on a Bluetooth speaker.
Then, the first ‘movement’ on the set is screamed to grab the serene image of Lord Ganesha on digicam. All the Heads of departments are sometimes there at this second and most of the work stops for these two minutes. If the actors are enthusiastic, they participate on this though typically, they’re of their self-importance vans or inexperienced rooms remembering their dialogues, hoping to not goof up because of following up on the heels of the elephant god is a troublesome act to watch.
Gods, notably Ganesha, shouldn’t practically religion. It is part of the rich cultural heritage of Bollywood. Every star or spot boy, disgruntled screenwriter or starlet, superstitious producer or atheist, Hindu or a foreigner of 1 different religion, follows it. One could also be a staunch follower of any religion off set, on set everybody appears to be united by the worship of Ekdanta. The two-minute prayer is an act of meditation, a reminder to do the simplest one can that day.
On two Shyam Benegal models that I’ve labored on, these entrusted with this most crucial obligation of the day i.e. taking excellent care of Ganesha, have been Muslims. Shyambabu’s most trusted spot boy is from Hyderabad and though he would not work as a spot anymore, he is on a regular basis often called every time the veteran dons the director’s hat. And he comes. Every time. And he is the one who lovingly brings and locations once more the puja paraphernalia, hugging the Ganesha image for the fear of tripping on the under-construction set whereas he carries the god.
People in Bollywood could also be crooked and cruel in several strategies (most importantly in undermining and underpaying screenwriters), nevertheless regarding the gods, there are no shortcuts or compromises. They think about in god. Interval. The religion of the god is irrelevant.
Like Ganesha, most Mumbai filmwallahs are huge followers of the boon granting Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti of Ajmer Sharif, Siddhi Vinayak of Mumbai, Saibaba of Shirdi, Tirupati’s Balaji and Amritsar’s Golden Temple, with a go to to each or all of them, normally turning into part of the manufacturing worth of a film. And one is sure to hog the limelight on set for a dozen minutes or so if she’s come once more from any of the lots of of pilgrimages accessible in India with some selections.
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Religiosity simply is not discouraged, it is actively impressed. No person objects to any non secular symbolism of any kind, be it rings, taveez or sacred threads, or the puja or namaz they supply throughout the nook of the set, or the blessed prasad launched from a temple or mosque: all of the issues non secular is welcome on a film set with out discrimination of any form. On one set, I observed half a dozen people battle for half an hour to untie a sacred thread from the wrist of an actor. The customarily impatient director waited – unusually affected individual.
Part of the reason they think about in god is that they actually really feel they have no choice. Enterprise filmmaking is such a skewed, not sure enterprise that success is never ever assured. No person wherever on the planet really is conscious of what an viewers really wishes though charlatans normally make a enterprise of claiming to know. At best we attain an approximation of what works based on what has been made beforehand and its reception. Making films is due to this fact an act of supreme will, it is an unnatural act the place you might want to push your full kainat – existence – to make the projection delicate penetrate the middle of the photographs you create.
It’s a lottery. A film casually entered into can resurrect careers (Sanjay Dutt with Munnabhai MBBS) and one made with dogged willpower and focus (Laal Singh Chadda) can fail to hunt out the meant viewers. Subsequently all people wishes divine delicate to shine on their corners, a bit luck and favour to go their method.
By the tip of the quite a few months-long shoot, the amused abroad DoP talked about to begin with grew to change into most likely essentially the most enthusiastic believer of the morning Ganesha ritual, lighting the small setup with the similar nimble dexterity with which he lit every thought of certainly one of his completely different frames. Some will title this the ability of the Gods, some will title it a observe. Television anchors will title it Bollywood hypocrisy. To those on every set, this debate is irrelevant for the presiding deities of Bollywood, not like haters or lovers –– do not discriminate. And just for that, if nothing else, they actually really feel really blessed.
Satyen Okay Bordoloi is an award-winning screenwriter, researcher weaving phrases for shifting pictures in Mumbai. His journalistic aspect is filled with tales of Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Computing and cinema.