Close encounters
Saat Phere actresses are too ill to run around. So they have been asked to sit and emote, and continue shooting through close-ups
| Saat phere by proxy: Rajshri Thakur |
| Aditi Pratap, Ashlesha Sawant |
| Close call: A still from Saat Phere |
Sapana Patil Poojary
The TV industry has acquired notoriety for its exacting hours and inhuman schedules. But ever heard of shooting continuing on the strength of close-up shots being given by bed-ridden actors? (While body doubles do the running around in long shots.) "The show must go on," the creative departments rationalise. So what if actors are too weak to move around, they can at least give close-ups shots, sitting in one place, right?
Mumbai Mirror had earlier carried a story on how one of its actresses Ashlesha Sawant had passed out on the sets and had to be propped up by unit members to complete the shoot. Well, this time they've allowed the actresses to sit and emote.
It so happened that all three leading ladies of Saat Phere, Rajshri Thakur (Saloni), Ashlesha Sawant (Tara) and Aditi (Aditi) fell ill simultaneously. After the mass illness on the sets, the creative team did try to re-work the story line and to re-adjust the shooting schedule to keep the ailing actors out of the story as far as possible. But since Saat Phere is a daily show, they were asked to report to the sets anyway. And they were asked to emote for close-up shots if they felt unable to do the usual running around. Body doubles did this for them.
Actresses Aditi and Ashlesha managed to accede to the rather unreasonable demand of the production house. However, leading lady Rajshri hasn't been able to report to work for over six days now as she has been hospitalised with high viral fever. Such was the desperation of the production house that they contemplated shooting close-ups of the bed-ridden Rajshri in her hospital bed.
"But that wouldn't have been a good idea, as she probably wouldn't have been able to get the expressions right, since she had high fever. So we decided to change the story line. We may show Saloni going out of town," says director Vijay Pande.
"Since Rajshri was in the hospital, we wrote four episodes without her. When the focus shifts from her, the tracks of the other characters increase automatically. A story cannot do much without its leading ladies. For how long can one survive without all the three leading ladies in the frame? Hence Aditi and Ashlesha needed to be there in the scenes. So, they had to be called in for a few hours to give close-up shots," says the executive producer Abdul Karim.
Attuned to the rigorous ways of the industry, these actresses don't even think of complaining. "I was very ill and yet I had to come for the shoot. But it is nobody's fault. We are in a profession where we can't afford to fall ill. Everyone is working under extreme pressure. It is just that actors have to bear the brunt of the pressure all the more because we need to look appealing on screen too," says Aditi. "We can't afford to look unwell."
Ashlesha adds, "I was down with viral fever. But I came and shot all through the night."
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