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One look at Vishal Bhardwaj's Omkara, and it consummately blurs the line between what's real and what's not. Especially when you realise that what looks like UP is actually a village in Maharashtra.
The director tells us how he recreated the UP badlands on a small patch of land in rural Maharashtra.
How was the entire set put together?
Our production designer Samir Chanda created the set from scratch. It took nearly 45 days to build and had 200 huts. It was so big that it could easily inhabit 1,000 people. Nearly 60 per cent of our film was shot here, so it was important that everything looked authentic.
So we recreated an entire village the way it would have looked in Uttar Pradesh — right from the typical roofs of the huts to the ochre-yellow colour of the mud.
The set cost us Rs 2.5 crore to build, and had everything from Omkara's haveli (which is the focal point of the village), to a well, a temple, and the village at the foot of the hill.
Why build a set in Wai? If you wanted authenticity, couldn't you shoot in UP?
That's true, but it's really difficult to shoot in UP. The people there are extremely star-struck and it's difficult to control the crowds. So we had two options: either continue shooting there or build a set. Which is why we chose to go to Wai. Also, we wanted a dusty terrain and were looking for a specific kind of location (a mountain as the backdrop and a lake in front of it). We found that in Wai.
Any particular incident while shooting that has stayed with you?
We were shooting this particular sequence in Allahabad, where Omkara crowns Kesu as his successor. We were shooting in a temple on top of a mountain, which is on an island surrounded by the Jamuna.
It was a breath-taking location but we had a huge security cordon as my producer warned me that it might be dangerous to shoot there. Despite the probability that the crowds could get out of control, I was adamant to shoot there. We had called about 700 extras, but by 12 pm, there were nearly 10,000 people on the sets.
We couldn't vacate the area, and had to finish shooting by 4 pm. So I asked the people to act for me. So when Omi crowns Kesu, the 10,000 strong crowd throws red gulal. It was a beautiful scene and potentially dangerous situation turned visually stunning!
I believe several stars walked onto the sets asking for directions?
That's true. I wanted the set to look as real as possible, otherwise it doesn't work for me. Most of the homes are facades: from the outside it may look like a real home, but when you open the doors there's nothing inside but pillars holding up the structure.
When I was told that several stars had either driven past the village looking for the set or stopped on the set to ask for directions, I was satisfied! |
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