Funtimes CC#26 |INVITE ONLY DT Nt pg.26 - Page 38

Production[edit]

Produced by Ashutosh Gowariker Productions Private Limited, Everest has been slated to telecast 100 episodes.^{[11][12][13][14][15]} The telenovela was edited by Dilip Deo,^[11][16] and the story and series screenplay were written by Mitali Mahajan and Gowariker. Episodic screenplay was written by Bhavani Iyer. Preeti Mamgain, Lalit Marathe and Manisha Korde wrote the dialogues forEverest.^[11] The rest of the crew members of Everest are:

• Cinematographer - Alphonse Roy, Mahesh Aney and Piyush Shah^[11]
• Art director - Aparna Raina^[11]
• Action director - Amar Shetty^[11]
• Music composer - A. R. Rahman^[11]
• Sound designer - Lochan Kanvinde^[11]
• Costume designer - Preeti Sharma^[11]
• Make-up artist - Vikram Gaikwad^[11]

Afaqs! has described the project as "high on investment", and Gaurav Banerjee, the general manager of STAR Plus, said thatEverest will be "a television show at a scale bigger than any other show".^[11] Gowariker added that their aim is "to take cinema to the home of the audiences" by giving the television audience a cinematic experience through this show.^[17]

Everest led to a delay in the film Mohenjo Daro, another of Gowariker's projects. Gowariker came up with the concepts at the same time, but because he was more excited about starting Everest he postponed Mohenjo Daro. Gowariker later clarified this, saying: "What is most important for me is the planning stage. Once that is in place, implementing the ideas becomes easier. The research (for Everest) took longer than usual. So yes, I did have to push the movie a little bit because Everest took up a lot of my time. It is my dream project and needed more attention."^[18]

Making[edit]

When creating his concept, Ashutosh Gowariker realised that a television script is different than one for film projects, and that covering mountaineering as a sport would have limitations. He ultimately derived a script that attempted to show the mountaineers' inner satisfactions at their attempts to conquer their obstacles.^[14]

The concept of Everest took shape in Gowariker's mind around two years before the telenovela was made. At that time he was confused between the themes of female empowerment and the fairly obscure sport of mountaineering. As he could not proceed with either of them individually, Gowariker combined the two themes into one, creating the theme of Everest. Gowariker stated that: "The whole idea of the show actually began with an insight that what are you willing to do for your dreams?"^[19] Before starting the shooting of Everest, Gowariker had to do a great deal of research. The makers referred to books such as To Everest and Beyond (by Edmund Hillary) and accounts by various other mountaineers, a few of whom they met personally.^[20] Mitali Mahajan, who co-wrote the story and the screenplay of the show, said: "There are 14 peaks that have an elevation of over 8,000 meters and some enthusiastic people have climbed them all. A lot of them have live blogs about their journey through these peak. We have been following a lot of them."^[21]

Accustomed to writing the scripts for movies, Gowariker said that he found it difficult to write the script for Everest. Typically, in the case of a soap opera, the story is not written entirely prior to release. Rather, it is written as the soap opera goes on, analysing various factors such as the TRPs (television rating points) and the audience feedback. Everest, however, was not written this way.^[22] Gowariker has also said that it was while writing the story that he realised the self-satisfaction that people get after climbing Mount Everest. After finishing writing the story, he realised not only that he wanted to produce the show, but also that he also needed experts to direct it.^[21] Gowariker said in a group interview that through Everest he would also be addressing the girl child issue.^[23]

Shooting[edit]

While making Everest, which was filmed using equipment such as GoPro cameras and 4K technology,^[21] the producers collaborated with the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering(NIM) in Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand (India), to shoot the telenovela. Filmed in Nepal and India, the filming locations included Lukla and Everest Base Camp (which is located at 17,590 feet (5,360 m) above sea level^[24]) in Nepal and Pokhran, Jaipur and Jodhpur, in Rajasthan, Uttarkashi and the Dokriani Glacier (which is located at 12,000 feet (3,700 m) above sea level) in India.^{[6][14][19][25][26]} The crew of Everest had to shoot the telenovela in extreme temperatures and required additional oxygen to cope with the increased altitude, making it difficult for them to shoot.^[14][25] They had to trek in Uttarakhand for 10 days to film the telenovela.^[20]

The shooting began in December 2013, and by September 2014 ninety per cent of the storyline had been shot. Due to the extreme climatic conditions, the crew were able to shoot for a maximum of 4-5 hours a day, increasing the number of shooting days.^[11][27][28] Members of the crew also underwent various health tests prior to the shooting.^[14]

Initially, producers Lawrence D'Souza and Gowariker had planned to shoot the entire telenovela in New Zealand. However, before the shooting started they incidentally met Col. Kothiyal, the Principal of NIM, who convinced them to shoot the telenovela in Uttarkashi by informing them that the NIM had not only the required equipment but also the expertise to shoot the serial. Col. Kothiyal also pointed out to Gowariker and D'Souza that it would bring down the production costs. This led the producers to shoot part ofEverest in Uttarakashi and part in New Zealand. The cast and the crew arrived in Dehradun, Uttarakand on 6 February 2014, from where they headed to Uttarkashi. The training of the cast and crew also began at NIM, after which the team headed to the Dokriani Glacier, and then Nepal, where the final portion of Everest was shot.^[5][29] The team finished shooting in Uttarakhand within two months, according to the scheduled plan.^[30]