On the primary day of his new manufacturing, the overseas DoP (Director of Images) was amazed by the flowery puja organised. He was additional shocked by one other Bollywood custom — the primary shot of every single day is of Lord Ganesha. A very good a part of his first day on shoot was spent in amusement as others defined these traditions.
When Aamir Khan did an identical puja to inaugurate his workplace and some photographs from it went viral, some from the Hindu Proper hailed it as an indication of their energy that even a Muslim is pressured to point out his Hinduness. Consumed the rubbish of lies cooked by information channels, they suppose Bollywood is a godless swamp.
The fact is the other. Few on the planet are extra spiritual, extra superstitious than those that make Bollywood movies. And after the annus horribilis that 2022 has been for Bollywood, this has solely reached a fever pitch.
Getting again to Aamir’s puja, in case you dig deep sufficient, Muslims of Bollywood have all the time performed an enormous position in celebrating Hindu gods and Indian mythology. In actual fact, lots of the greatest, most evocative odes and songs to Hindu gods have been commissioned, written, composed and sung by Muslims.
Let’s take India’s, maybe the world’s, biggest epic — Mahabharata. The one who wrote the 1988 BR Chopra collection for Tv was Rahi Masoom Raza. Until focused assaults disheartened him, Aamir Khan was probably the most passionate in all of the world — and maybe probably the most succesful — about making a cinematic adaptation of the Mahabharata. The present, biggest scholar of the Mahabharata in Bollywood, one who would possibly neglect to breathe however always remember to inform his screenwriting college students to not simply learn, however examine the nice epic, is Anjum Rajabali.
It goes additional.
Let’s take Ganesha. Salman Khan has probably the most elaborate worship of the lord throughout Ganeshotsav. I’ve heard tales of how he takes offence if his shut pals — particularly producers and administrators of his present movies irrespective of faith — don’t pay his Ganesha a go to, and the way it doesn’t matter what he does all 12 months, these ten days he touches no flesh and stays as sober as a fish swimming in Arctic freshwaters.
Ganesha is the reigning deity, the guardian angel of Bollywood. Nothing occurs with out detailed and expanded blessings of the elephant-headed Vakratunda. Go to any set in Mumbai, be it the far-flung new studios of Mira Street or the traditional ones like Mehboob Studio in Bandra, be it for a characteristic movie, collection, serial or perhaps a brief movie, be it a set made and produced by a Hindu, Muslim or Christian — the primary port of name each single day, with out fail, is Lord Ganesha.
That is how the primary few hours pan out on any given day in any of the tons of of units throughout Mumbai.
If the time for the primary shot is 9 am, many of the set design workforce will work by the night time (theirs is actually the hardest, most underappreciated job). Most of their most important workforce will begin arriving round 6 am, together with the catering workforce. Round 2 hours earlier than the primary shot, everybody — the director, DoP, route and manufacturing groups, the lighting division, the spot boys and so on. — begin congregating, have breakfasts in between work breaks and round 8:45 am most issues set, crucial shot of the day — one which by no means makes it to the movie — begins manufacturing.
A chair, stool or a excessive plinth is positioned on the centre of the set. The DoP will mild up the place artistically. A spot boy (yup, by no means a woman), brings a framed photograph of Ganesha, locations it over pink material, lights a lamp, incense stick, and breaks a coconut whereas the workforce — Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Jains, Christians, Parsis, males, girls, LGBTQI+ — all sing the aarti ‘Jai Ganesh, jai Ganesh, jai Ganesh deva – mata jaki Parvati, pita Mahadeva‘. In some units I’ve been on, this or another Ganesh aarti is placed on a Bluetooth speaker.
Then, the primary ‘motion’ on the set is screamed to seize the serene picture of Lord Ganesha on digicam. All of the Heads of departments are often there at this second and many of the work stops for these two minutes. If the actors are enthusiastic, they take part on this although often, they’re of their self-importance vans or inexperienced rooms remembering their dialogues, hoping to not goof up as a result of following up on the heels of the elephant god is a tough act to observe.
Gods, particularly Ganesha, should not nearly faith. It’s a part of the wealthy cultural heritage of Bollywood. Each star or spot boy, disgruntled screenwriter or starlet, superstitious producer or atheist, Hindu or a foreigner of one other faith, follows it. One may be a staunch follower of any faith off set, on set everyone seems to be united by the worship of Ekdanta. The 2-minute prayer is an act of meditation, a reminder to do the most effective one can that day.
On two Shyam Benegal units that I’ve labored on, those entrusted with this most necessary duty of the day i.e. taking good care of Ganesha, have been Muslims. Shyambabu’s most trusted spot boy is from Hyderabad and although he doesn’t work as a spot anymore, he’s all the time known as each time the veteran dons the director’s hat. And he comes. Each time. And he’s the one who lovingly brings and places again the puja paraphernalia, hugging the Ganesha picture for the worry of tripping on the under-construction set whereas he carries the god.
Individuals in Bollywood may be crooked and merciless in different methods (most significantly in undermining and underpaying screenwriters), however relating to the gods, there aren’t any shortcuts or compromises. They imagine in god. Interval. The faith of the god is irrelevant.
Like Ganesha, most Mumbai filmwallahs are big followers of the boon granting Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti of Ajmer Sharif, Siddhi Vinayak of Mumbai, Saibaba of Shirdi, Tirupati’s Balaji and Amritsar’s Golden Temple, with a visit to both or all of them, usually turning into a part of the manufacturing value of a movie. And one is bound to hog the limelight on set for a dozen minutes or so if she’s come again from any of the hundreds of pilgrimages accessible in India with some choices.
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Religiosity just isn’t discouraged, it’s actively inspired. Nobody objects to any spiritual symbolism of any form, be it rings, taveez or sacred threads, or the puja or namaz they provide within the nook of the set, or the blessed prasad introduced from a temple or mosque: all the things spiritual is welcome on a movie set with out discrimination of any kind. On one set, I noticed half a dozen individuals battle for half an hour to untie a sacred thread from the wrist of an actor. The often impatient director waited – unusually affected person.
A part of the explanation they imagine in god is that they really feel they haven’t any selection. Business filmmaking is such a skewed, unsure enterprise that success is rarely ever assured. Nobody wherever on the planet actually is aware of what an viewers actually desires although charlatans usually make a enterprise of claiming to know. At greatest we attain an approximation of what works primarily based on what has been made previously and its reception. Making movies is therefore an act of supreme will, it’s an unnatural act the place you need to push your complete kainat – existence – to make the projection mild penetrate the center of the pictures you create.
It is a lottery. A movie casually entered into can resurrect careers (Sanjay Dutt with Munnabhai MBBS) and one made with dogged willpower and focus (Laal Singh Chadda) can fail to seek out the meant viewers. Therefore everybody desires divine mild to shine on their corners, a bit luck and favour to go their approach.
By the tip of the numerous months-long shoot, the amused overseas DoP talked about to start with grew to become probably the most enthusiastic believer of the morning Ganesha ritual, lighting the small setup with the identical nimble dexterity with which he lit each considered one of his different frames. Some will name this the facility of the Gods, some will name it a practice. Tv anchors will name it Bollywood hypocrisy. To these on each set, this debate is irrelevant for the presiding deities of Bollywood, not like haters or lovers –– don’t discriminate. And only for that, if nothing else, they really feel actually blessed.
Satyen Okay Bordoloi is an award-winning screenwriter, researcher weaving phrases for shifting photographs in Mumbai. His journalistic facet is crammed with tales of Synthetic Intelligence, Quantum Computing and cinema.