Blog: India beats Australia…courtesy Shahrukh Khan!
By IndiaFM News Bureau, December 9, 2006 - 11:26 IST
It's every film extra's dream.
You're on the set of a major international production being paid peanuts to be a human backdrop for the major stars when you notice the casting director is staring right at you.
Maybe it's the way you're standing, or something about your look. Maybe it's just that you're quietly oozing star quality. Whatever it is, he strides over, declares you the find of the year and promptly presents you with a speaking part. Alongside the star.
Your career in movies is launched. I'm an extra on the set of a huge Bollywood film being shot in Sydney when this very dream flashes before me. Bollywood's biggest male star ShahRukh Khan - the Indian Tom Cruise - has come to Australia to make a film about hockey for the Indian market.
It's a massive production with thousands of crowd extras for the exciting finale where India beats Australia in the Women's World Cup final. I'm one of a group of about 30 elite extras playing on-field roles.
Some of us are supposed to be press photographers, others ballboys and along with 10 others I'm a suit-clad World Cup official. Everyone's a little excited as extras are being upgraded all over the place. One minute a woman playing an official is standing next to me in the background, the next she's been promoted to the coveted role of hockey player and standing on the winner's dais. Another female official is dramatically given the plum role of World Cup master of ceremonies. She gets to stand at a lecturn in the finale scene, mouthing a speech as the camera pans to ShahRukh Khan.
Meanwhile, a pretty hockey player has suddenly found herself upgraded to trophy girl, a role that sees her standing next to Khan and at the centre of the action. In this frenzy of upgrading I notice the woman responsible for casting is looking directly at me with what can only be described as a scrutinising look. For a moment I think it's my imagination, but as the remaining officials look on enviously she purposefully strides over and pulls me aside.
She leans in close and asks: ''Could I ask you a big favour ......?.''
''Of course,'' I blurt out, already dreaming of a trailer and a chair with my name on the back.
It's hard for Australians not familiar with Bollywood films to understand just how big a star ShahRukh Khan is.
In the flesh he presents as a handsome, mid-sized Indian man with soft voice and charming smile. But to fans throughout India he is Brad Pitt and George Clooney rolled into one. Only with more sex appeal. Now 41, he got his break on Indian television in the late 1980s before graduating to a string of Bollywood hits and starting his own production company. Despite - or perhaps because of - a stuttering speaking style and a tendency of overact, he has walked away with six best actor statues at the Indian equivalent of the Oscars, the Filmfare awards. He has featured on the cover of National Geographic and is mobbed wherever he goes in India.Women swoon in his presence.
When the makers of Chak De India, the hockey centred-blockbuster Khan recently shot in Sydney wanted crowd extras they merely circulated flyers and emails mentioning the star was appearing. About four thousand members of the Indian community turned up for the gruelling overnight shoot, providing their services for free in exchange for a glance at Khan. When he appeared on set at 3.30am he didn't disappoint.
Using his hands he eventually quietened the roaring crowd, thanking them for turning up before promising in a velvety, subcontinental voice: ''When I'm finished we can go home and make hot, torrid love.'' Quite a few members of the crowd appeared to find that an extremely attractive proposition.
As extras playing World Cup officials, myself and three friends I roped in, were required to wear suits and to turn up at the hockey centre at Sydney Olympic Park at 8pm on Friday December 1. Our jobs, it was explained, was to stand by the dais in the final scene on a hockey field.
Chak De India tells the story of an impoverished Indian women's hockey team, initially too poor to even afford shoes. Khan, a disgraced former men's player, takes on the job of coaching the no-hopers including a young Sikh girl who must battle to win her parents permission to play. Under Khan's leadership the team thrives, making its way to the World Cup finals where it ultimately defeats the Australian women's team in the final. As a World Cup official I am to stand near to where the Indian team is receiving their trophy from the head of the women's hockey movement. We are to occasionally turn to each other and mouth a few words of approval before clapping some more.
When we turn up at a quarter to eight, the queue of Indian extras is already hundreds of metres long and fast growing. A crew member with a loud hailer singles out the on-field extras and we're ushered past a security checkpoint and into a dressing room in the bowels of the hockey centre. After a quick check over by wardrobe to see that our suits are up to scratch, we're told we can stay in the dressing room or stand in a public viewing area and watch the filming. Visiting the viewing area is problematic. Female fans are looking for ways to get close to Khan and not above striking up conversations with extras in a bid to get into the dressing rooms.
''So, now that we're friends you can take me inside there, right,'' one female fan blurts out after we've been talking for about two minutes, mainly about Khan. There's talk among extras of how much we could sell our security passes for. The figure of $200 doesn't seem unrealistic.
Aside from the excited crowd there are numerous other touches to remind us we're on a Bollywood film set. While some of the production staff are Australian, most of the crew, including the director are Indian. The Indian hockey team which features in the film are a combination of real Indian hockey players and actors. In the dressing room sari-clad women are rushing about seeing to minor wardrobe details, including plaiting the hair of extras playing German hockey players into authentic plaits.
Various Indian dance troops traipse in and out, getting in and out of their brilliantly-coloured costumes. They don't feature in the production, but in a surreal touch, burst onto the pitch during breaks in filming to keep the extras and staff entertained. The staff meal is another subcontinental delight. At an ungoldly hour we're directed to bain maries filled with rice and steaming curries. Even with the nausea of being awake in the middle of the night to contend with, the biryani and aloo matar are delicious.
FINALLY at 3.30 the World Cup officials get the call to go on field for filming. Straightening ties and trousers we're lead to the centre of the field where three cameras are set up to capture every angle of the medal ceremony. The hockey teams are already on the dais when a crew member responsible for casting spots me and marching over asks for THAT favour.
''Would you mind lending us your jacket?,'' she says, instantly shattering my dream of stardom.
It turns out the actor playing the head of womens hockey, and who will be central to the scene, has nothing suitable. Slightly crest-fallen I hand my black jacket over and am given as a replacement a checked number with two buttons missing and a third hanging on by a thread. From here shooting proceeds quickly. Along with the other extras I clap dutifully and nod as India receives its trophy. With my elbows I try to keep my unruly new jacket closed. From the way the cameras are set up I think it's unlikely I'll appear in the finished film, which will be screened in Australia next year.
My jacket on the other hand in the centre of the action lending, I think, a sartorial air to the hockey president. I may not have turned out to be the next hit of Indian cinema, but an item of my clothing will be seen by tens of millions of cinema-goers. That's something.
WITH the shooting over ShahRukh Khan turns to the baying crowd and gives them a wave. Later he will sign autographs for them. As he walks off the set, he graciously pauses to have his photograph taken with various cast and crew members and fast thinking extras.
Now that's star quality.
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