Muraleedharan On Shooting Raabta - The Single Take Song In Agent Vinod

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I came across this online today.Thought might be an interesting read.😊

C K Muraleedharan On Shooting Raabta - The Single Take Song In Agent Vinod!

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By Aditya Savnal. Posted on September 15, 2015

One of the most memorable moments of Agent Vinod was the song Raabta. Interestingly this song was shot as a single take - a shooting technique that is not frequently used in Hindi cinema. The song was also smartly used in the movie as a narrative device.

Here ... Watch the one and only take full without any cuts, from Agent Vinod'.

We recently stumbled upon this article by cinematographer C K Muraleedharan who had shot this amazing song. In this article, he tells us how he and his team shot one of the most talked about songs in recent times.

Republished below is the same.

The article had first appeared on Mr. Muraleedharan's blog and has been republished with due consent from .

After I started the blog I got many requests to write about this song. The song had captured attention of many viewers, because the presentation of the song was very unique.

Agent Vinod and Iram have a personal moment where they try to understand each other - An emotional scene, a love song?

Vinod loses a valuable clue to what he was pursuing dangerously for some time - the ancient book - The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam', nevertheless he manages to escape an attempt on his life - An action scene.

This point in the script cropped up in the schedule for shoot in every location we shot. Because of various reasons we never managed to shoot the scenes, love song and the action scene.

Towards the last stages of shooting we decided to shoot it in Mumbai. The song was not ready yet. Sriram came up with the idea of a Motel to have the action scene. He was still undecided about the love song. One fine morning he came up with the idea of having the emotional scene happening in the motel bedroom and the song overlaid on the action scene. And he threw a question-

"How about shooting the song in one shot?"

It was a challenging scenario. Shooting a three-minute single shot is very tough. Having action happening in between makes it almost impossible. After an hour of discussion I was convinced, excited and nervous at the same time. We presented the idea to our action director Peter Heinz. He was shocked and completely against it. He said action doesn't work without cuts, and if we do this we will fall flat on our face. It took couple of days to convince him. Agent Vinod - Raabta 3

As we were nearing the end of the shoot, we couldn't think of elaborate sets. Rajnish our art director came up with the idea of putting the set in a real space instead of a studio. He suggested the empty 1st floor in Film city with a ceiling height of 12 ft with pillars all over. He came up with the design of a motel with a bar, lobby and a corridor with rooms on either side. by QS" href="http://www.jamuura.com/blog/c-k-muraleedharan-on-shooting-raabta-the-single-take-song-in-agent-vinod/#96949294"> One room in this corridor will be done up for the scene between Vinod and Iram.

We had planned to shoot the song and the scene in four days. When I visited the site, the construction of the set had already started and I realized its going to be very difficult to light up the set. There was hardly any space to hide lights because the camera would be moving all through the corridor, bar and the lobby and with 360 degree turns. We decided to finish the bedroom scene first so that we get enough time to plan and choreograph the song movement. The song was still not recorded. We had the beginning piano beats to get an idea of the pace of the shot. Every day before the actors arrive we would spend time on designing the song movement, and once the actors get ready we would get into shooting the bedroom scene.

Each one of us got busy with our respective jobs.

The Shoot Day

Sriram, Pooja and Rakesh got busy with explaining and walking each supporting actor through his or her role.

Peter got busy with rigging up the explosions and other action elements as per the final movement.

I had to redo my lighting with the new positions of actors. I had added a shadow play of one of the killings on the wall. We created it with a 5K without Fresnel. We had done smoke tests the previous day and decided to smoke the set to a mild density. Once my team took over it, I started explaining the movement and framing with steadycam operator Sunil Khandpur. By afternoon we had pressure mounting from production to finish shoot fast.

On the set I could smell gunpowder and I found the source. It was behind the bar counter. I could see three people trying to fit in the small space with numerous wires and other controls. That was the action team who was responsible for the fireworks involved in the gunfire. When the actor fires a gun these people press the right buttons to make small pre rigged explosions which will look like the impacts of the gun shots. When the camera comes close to the counter they may be seen, so they will have to lie down on the floor and do this job.

Agent Vinod - Raabta 1

Split of a moment I realized I am standing in the middle of a time bomb. In the event of a fire, there was only one way out through the narrow stairway. And I couldn't see any fire extinguisher on the set.

Don't be surprised, this is a usual scenario in Hindi film shoots. By the time the pressure to start the shoot had become unbearable. I decided to forget about the fire concern and believe in destiny.

We got into our dry runs with all the actors.

Lets go for TAKE...

Chetna Koushik, the 1st AD and I had counted around 36 cues to be given during the take.

There were different kinds of cues. Once the camera starts moving each actor has to be cued to get correct timed entry into the frame, because they wouldn't know when they are coming into the field of view. They would be hiding behind doors or behind walls. Each lighting change had to be cued like the shadow play of killing, because the guy who operates the door doesn't know the timing. Each action bit had to be cued depending on actor's gun positions. Camera pacing and pan timings had to be cued as per the actor movements. There are so many of them.

It's like a music composer conducting a thirty six-piece orchestra on stage. Correct instrument has to come in at the correct moment with correct note.

Chetna and I shared the job armed with mike and walkie talkies in our hands.

We parked ourselves in such positions where we could see the set and the video monitor to get the correct judgment.

Sriram, Peter and I agreed that if any thing goes wrong before the explosions start, we will cut the take. Because resetting the set after explosions will take time.

ACTION...3 minutes and 21 seconds ...CUT.

Agent Vinod - Raabta 7

I had the urge to cut at many points, but let it go.

I ran to the camera to check everything is right.

Was the aperture right?

Did the film roll?

Is there any warning light blinking?

By the time I came back to the monitor to watch the take, everyone on the set had gathered there. I couldn't find space to see the monitor, so I stepped aside. In a minute, Ramani came with a small monitor in which he had been recording the take. In another two minutes I could hear loud screams, cheers and continuous applause.

Did I hear someone calling Pack up?' Agent Vinod - Raabta 8