Mausams updates: We're alive! We're beyond alive!

Hello again. It’s the end of a glorious short week. To celebrate, lets get some updates on what’s going on with our home-made-full-length-movie.

So here are some of the crayon colored episodes from the lives and loves of the Mausams team that (I promise) will adorn these web pages in the coming months.

1. Our character artists- Navneet Jagannatan (for those who don’t know him, you have no idea how lucky we are to get him to talk) and K.Bala, on what it’s like to be talented and underappreciated.
2. Stalking our leading lady - a peek into Shweta Sharma’s vanity case
3. The romantic pair-Naren Kolary and Poorna Prasad on their new found international heart throb status
4. Shivanu Shukla (who’s multi tasking on this project as producer, guest artist and husband of director) on waking up one morning post shoot, to find all the framed photographs in his bedroom featuring another woman
5. The supporting cast Vineeth Kumar and Uthra Parameswaran talk about work-movie-life balance (or lack thereof)
6. Dead boring technical stuff by Shilpa for the movie making geeks.
7. And then some more.

Yes, it’s as trivial and entertaining as all that- this is a commercial venture after all. However, at the end of it all, perhaps you shall find that behind its shiny, plastic veneer, Mausams might actually be reflective of a deep seated urge within the squashed heart of our generation to tell their story.

Which is?

 A few years ago, the world waxed into a gigantic village, with globalization spreading like an infectious rash that turned everything into a shade of offensive steel-gray. Everybody found themselves doing the same thing, wearing the same clothes, feeling the same way and doing nothing about it. Since then however, things have improved- everyone now has a means to color their lives with a little bit of creativity and determination. So in effect, this is the story of Mausams and the story in it.

So anyway, feel free to totally disregard the last paragraph and just focus on the fun to come over the next few months- with two teasers, website launch, official music launch and trailer release, all leading up to the grand finale of the official movie premier in early 2011. So while the real movie makers put in those grimy, backbreaking hours in the film factory, we’ll continue keep you entertained with this idle chatter.

I’ll see you back here in a couple of weeks!

Five Life Lessons from the Mausams set - The Cinematographer's Note

Now that this madly ambitious project has wrapped up shoot, our cinematographer RamC, who is now doing his 4th year at the NUS School of Computing, shares his Mausams experience (voluntarily, no pressure from anyone to churn this one out!). At 21, RamC is the youngest of the team, yet he is the most indispensable, bringing his skills with his camera and his cultivated eye for detail to the table. Here's RamC, offering every film maker hopeful, a little bit of the gyan he has garnered at Mausams.

Looking through the Lens

By Ramchander Krishna



Mausams is no ordinary film. For the first time in the history of world cinema, a film has people from Singapore, India, Switzerland and UAE working together on the project for well over 6 months, that too within pretty much no budget.

As the cinematographer for a film of such magnitude, I must say it was pretty challenging. I say “challenging” mainly because it’s a Shilpa Krishnan film.I tell you, it’s not easy getting a “Nice!” or “Hmmm… I like that…” from her. There were several moments during the shoot, when at the end of a shot, I would exclaim, “Wow! Excellent acting!” but the director would calmly request, “Umm... Once more?”

And the actors would go ahead, praying inwardly that they hit the right expressions the next time around. I must say, I was overwhelmed by the dedication of the artists. I mean, the kind of ideas they came up with, for the spoof of Mausams, were completely ingenious. (For those of you interested, the spoof was shot simultaneously and is scheduled to be released as a separate film in competition with the original Mausams) But, shooting the spoof had to be done stealthily, like while the director’s back is turned away, we sneak in a couple of shots here and there. And I must say, the actors were really co-operative with that.

Usually, there are some responsibilities that come along with the job of a cinematographer – ensuring continuity, checking lighting, white balancing, adjusting the damn tripod etc. In Mausams, however, my foremost responsibility was to ensure that bulging tummies and fat faces do not appear anywhere in the film. Not that any of the actors had such tummies, just that the camera can sometimes twist the reality, you know. So someone needs to keep a check. In fact, I vividly remember holding up the tripod several feet above the ground in order to overcome the prominence of a particular actor’s posterior.

Such incidents teach you lessons in your craft that would be handy for the future. And honestly speaking, the shooting of Mausams has made me look at things in a completely different light. I’ve learnt several valuable life lessons.

Lesson One – it’s always good to be the youngest in a group. Why? You get pampered all the way and no one takes you seriously on anything.

Lesson Two – Do what the director says. If the director says, “Let’s have a close-up”, set the frame for the close-up, step back and put your finger on your lips. If the director says, “Go give him the camera”, give him only the camera and not the tripod.

Lesson Three – People stare at the camera and you can do absolutely nothing about it. I think this was the single biggest problem Mausams faced other than budget constraints, of course. In fact, there are certain passers-by, whom I suspect to have had more screen time than some of the main characters of Mausams.

Lesson Four – It’s good for women to have husbands. Seriously, some of the married men associated with this project, have phenomenal amounts of patience stored inside them. Hats off!

Lesson Five – the most important lesson – If camerawork does not help in the long run, turn to acting. In fact, the director was so pleased with the cameraman’s acting prowess that he’s the only one playing a dual role in the film. (Now that should get the fans to start their guessing-game on the plotline!)

Anyways, the shooting of Mausams is officially wrapped up now. And it can be said with confidence that there are portions of Mausams that would blow your breath away. Be it the charisma of the stars, their phenomenal acting in emotionally-charged scenes, the beauty of the landscape or the brilliance of the cameraman in bringing it all out on celluloid - Mausams would be an engaging, visual treat!

The Making of Mausams: And Action!

Its Saturday again and we're back at Shilpa's house. Its a meal-time scene, Shweta and Naren are already at take number I-dunno-what, when I walk in. Ikea lamps are glowing benignly all over the dining table and Shilpa is framing the shot from a corner of her kitchen.

The inner room has kind of become a makeshift trailer and the make up artist Shahana is busy at work. Shivanu's mom is on her annual visit and is enjoying the whole fuss in a corner. Mascara wands, brushes and tiny plastic pots full of glittery colorful stuff lie littered on the bed, while Shahana nimbly works her magic on Poorna's face. This interests me, so I ignore the actual shoot for a while and focus on the beautification.

The make up department is not to be taken lightly. Cameras are not kind. They do not care about your darling, effusive personality or your strong spirit or the beauty of your heart. If you are in the germinating stages of sprouting a double chin, then camera will obligingly reveal this to you and also to the rest of the world.

'I love making people up. I could do this all day,' Says Shahana as she sketches a sharp black line under Poorna's eye. ' There, that'll make your eyes really pop.'

'Shahana are you sure this eye shadow isnt too much?' Poorna looks lovely but she's obviously quite alarmed at her transformation, 'God I don't know anything about make up, I feel so gawar! God, how am I going to manage to do this for every shoot? '

After some more backbreaking work Shahana looks back at her work of art with satisfaction. She has successfully feigned a look of fresh, natural, non-chalant beauty, under a few layers of make up. Its truly marvellous.

Shooting is tedious business. Naren's whipping up dinner in this one and hundreds of takes later, all the vegetables aunty needs for lunch have been diced to perfection. Shilpa, perfectionist as usual, takes and retakes shots until every single line, tone and frame comes together in one shot and satisfies her. I get exhausted just watching.

Meanwhile, Shivanu in his capacity as co-producer seems to have decided against hiring a spot boy, choosing instead to double up as one himself. By the end of the day, all the girls agree that in the universal husband contest (or co-producer contest, if you will), Shivanu wouldn't rate so badly.

Thanks to aunty and Naren's cut vegetables, everyone has a hearty lunch. Once the morning shoot is successfully wrapped, everybody loosens up a little. Naren gets all trigger happy with his DSLR upsetting Shweta at one point,

'Delete that. DELETE! I look fat in that photo.'

Allow me to stress here that it would be in fact quite a challenge to make Shwetha look fat, even if someone wanted to.

'Ha!' goes Shahana,' See she's a real actress now. Actresses, they always think they are fat. Put that on your blog!'

I guess Shilpa Inc. are really making a movie now and everyone seems to be growing into their new found careers :D

The Making of Mausams: A Weekend Rehearsal

Its 9.30am on a Saturday morning. An unusual scene is unfolding in Shilpa’s living room. 6 or 7 young adults have willingly dredged themselves out of bed, awaking at the crack of dawn at 7.45 am, to catch a quick cab, or a not so quick train ride, to Bishan Loft. Family duties and weekend indulgences are exchanged voluntarily for pulpy orange juice served so hospitably by Shivanu. It is all for the sake of Art. There is a moderate amount of chatter but in their heart of hearts, everyone’s just asking one question.

Where the hell is Vineet Kumar?

‘Seriously, I’m gonna slap this guy, once this whole shoot is done,’ our director quietly fumes, ‘for all the pain he’s caused me, over the years.’

At 9.45, a telephone call confirms that the man in question is indeed, on his way over and in fact, he has been approaching Bishan Loft for the longest time. However, he complains that it was the insipid cab driver who was just lolloping around the area, unable to zero in on the front lobby for some strange reason.

About 20 minutes later, Vineet bursts through and blusters a more detailed version of the same explanation involving the cabbie, who had graduated from being merely an idiot, to entirely evil and vindictive. The whole drama is, however, original enough to melt away any resentment the rest of the cast might have felt, drumming their fingers for an interminably long hour waiting Vineet, alias Suresh to show up.

‘Isse koi gussa bhi nahi ho sakta,’ Uthra complains as Vineet beams like a happy little boy.

All at once, everyone’s occupied themselves with frantically mugging up their lines.

Shweta carries her script around and chants the lines over and over, as if studying for a Sanksrit exam. Uthra seems to absorb her lines straight off the page by staring at it. Shivanu potters around looking at everything with interest. Though Poorna is confident enough, she seems to be meditating on her lines. Naren is obviously the good kid who has studied his pages many times over the past few weeks, so he just watches everyone else, possibly practicing the dreamboat look his role demands with considerable success.

Shilpa meanwhile, sits calmly on a table facing the pandemonium, legs crossed and back straight. Much like the Buddha himself, she delivers little jewels of wisdom, twisting the screws of the character over the actors a little tighter with each comment. Once again, Vineet demands some attention, although his problem is rather contrary.

‘Why are you acting? You’re supposed to just be yourself for this role. What happens to your voice when you’re in character? Stop being weird Vineet. Stop trying to act!’

When it’s time to rehearse, an interesting transformation occurs. At first, everyone’s a little stiff and self conscious. People forget what to do with their hands. Confused accents waltz in and out. Then gradually after a few tries, the right expression settles in and diction gets more natural.. Everyone gets it perfect for about 80% of the time, but the remaining 20% is precious idiocy.

One person, who needs no direction whatsoever ever, is the brilliant Navneet, who in all appearances is slouched like a flaccid leek over the couch, neck down, conversing with his chest hair. But when it is his turn to speak, the character arrives with all the ease and confidence of a master.

Okay, I’ve seen enough of this fun morning to know that if rehearsals are this eventful, then the actual shoot will prove to be a real phenomenon.

The Making of Mausams: The People

If you know Shilpa Krishnan, then you’ll know that she’s making a movie. No, I don’t mean one of those Handy cam shot, iPhoto edited short home videos, but a real 90-120 min feature film, with a real production schedule, pretty people, background score, outdoor shoots, indoor shoots, dubbing, editing, trailers and teasers. Yup, it's the real deal. And all this to be achieved with a close-to-zero budget.

I was curious of how this project, which is beyond mammoth considering everyone involved in it have full time jobs/husbands/wives/social lives/other-things-to-do/all-of-the-above, was turning out. So I strolled over to Shilpa’s place one morning to check it out. Having publicly announced embarking on this entirely crazy and wildly exciting idea of ‘making a film, proper’ half a year ago, Shilpa Inc. definitely seem to be on the way to pulling this off.

Here's a quick look at the people behind Mausams:

1. Shilpa- the One and Only. Writer, cinematographer, editor, producer and director extraordinaire. Mrs. Shivanu Shukla.
2. Shivanu - Co-producer and anti-hero. Mr. Shilpa Krishnan
3. Shweta-. Protagonist.
4. Naren- Planted to gain tween fan base.
5. Poorna- Love interest.
6. Navneet- character artist #1
7. Bala- character artist #2
8. Vineet- comic relief, mainly off-screen. Hero of the next post
9. Uthra- best actress in a supporting role
10. Nitya- Production manager. The Shepherd.
11. Shahana- the beautifier.
12. Adarsh/Sid- Camera men.
13. RamC- Remote cinematographer, currently based in Zurich. Conference calls his shot ideas. Still under 21 (bah)
14. Prasanna- Beethoven. As in tempestuous composer.
15. Me- Fly on the wall. Scribe and official drum-beater.
16. Yash and Sudha- fellow drum beaters.
17. Kurian - Still Photographer
18. Rachit - Website Designer
19. Jeni, Anto, Kokhwee, Jayesh - Other supporting actors
20. Jenif (M.E.T Films, Dubai) - Consultant and overall moral support
21. Supriya Shukla (Shivanu's mom) and Sudha Krishnan (Shilpa' mom) - Official chefs to cater for indoor shoots

Yes, at the moment, this is turning out to be an entirely expat-Indian venture. But of course, that shouldn’t deter the rest of the world from joining forces.

More from the sets of Mausams coming soon!

Mausams - First Look Teaser Poster

Mausams is a light hearted film based on a group of young Indians in Singapore, hoping to be completed and premiered by end this year. Below is the first look teaser poster.

Call for Production Crew

Now that the cast for the film is almost close to being finalized, here are the production crew roles up for grabs! I am putting the titles and the job descriptions (mostly courtesy of Wiki) so that the expectations from each role are absolutely clear! Of course, they are all no-pay-but-all-fun roles! :)

Time commitments: Varies by role. But all weekends and public holidays from Jul-Sep (+/- 2 weeks) can be expected. Also a few weekends in earlier months.

a) Production Manager/Co-ordinator
- Assist in the charting of the schedule and making sure that it is stuck to, leads budget tracking, assists in sourcing of locations, getting required permits, if any and other logistics.

b) First Assistant Director (Must have experience in directing before)
- Day-to-day management of the cast and crew scheduling, equipment, script, and set. Also be responsible for directing background action for major shots or the entirety of relatively minor shots, at the director's discretion.

c) Costume Designer/Standby
- Responsible for all the clothing and costumes worn by all the actors that appear on screen. Also responsible for designing, planning, and organizing the costumes down to the fabric, colors, and sizes. Monitors the quality and continuity of the actors and actresses costumes before and during takes.

d) Make-up Artist/Hairdresser
- Assist in make up and hair dressing of the cast. The film does not require anything fancy and needs only simple everyday make-up in most parts but the cast would need assistance to get it done.

e) Production Sound Mixer/Sound Designer (Must have experience)
- Responsible for recording all sound during filming. This involves the choice and deployment of microphones, operation of a sound recording device, and sometimes the mixing of audio signals in real time. Also in charge of the post-production sound.

The roles will be assigned on a first come first serve basis, after a short interview. If you are interested, please let us know at makingofthefilm@gmail.com . And please help spread the word! Thanks!