During the 3rd semester of my Masters Degree, once I got a chance to work in a commercial bilingual feature film called "Kambdi Kalaai" as an Assistant Director. The opportunity came to me all of a sudden and I was really thrilled getting the opportunity.
The Director was a NRI girl came from America and she had earlier worked in some projects of Zee Telefilms I heard. The Chief Assistant Director who actually took my interview and selected me was a struggling director who had a huge experience in the fields of reporting and film making in his kitty.
During the pre-production phase I was traveling from Noida to GK everyday. Sometimes Production used to provide cab for my pick up and drops and sometimes I needed to take care of my own conveyance, but that was hardly any problem. I was reading scripts, finalizing details and most importantly, thinking of the project 24X7 and I was very happy.
As everything was finalised well before Director Ish's landing in India so pre-production didn't take much time. Soon the whole unit moved to a firm house in Chattarpur for the shoot and my traveling continued.
Everything was new to me. Yes, I had worked in some small projects earlier in my institute and I did know about the basics of camera, lighting, scripts, screen play etc. but working in a professional environment with a professional team was something very delightful and a learning experience.
Everything was going very smoothly and almost 70% film was shoot. Then one night at around 1 am I faced a situation which was unbearable and quite humiliating for me. My Director and Assistant Directors had nothing to do with it, Production Manager seemed unaware of everything and Production In-Charge requested me to pass the night somehow and everything would be sorted next morning. (Lets avoid the details).
Passing one night was not a big deal and I was trying to convince myself that bade bade desho mein aisi choti choti batein ho jati hai, if you wish to go ahead you need to go through potholes sometimes and etc. etc. ..... But I was really hurt that none of those guys with whom I was working for last so many days didn't care about my problem seriously.
After thinking from several aspects and spending more than an hour walking on the dark and narrow roads inside the jungle of Chattarpur, I decided to quit. It was almost 3 o'clock. I took up my bag and left the place forever.
Afterward, it's a simple story. I have been contacted by those guys a few times and they showed sympathy. Chief Assistant Director said sorry for the incident as he could do nothing and tried to motivate me to forget about the whole thing and to join the unit again.
Many friends who were around that time were also trying to convince me to give it another try. But hearing the whole story form one of my friends, my Maa called me and told that I had done the exact thing, she's proud of me and advised not to compromise with dignity ever in life. Sounding filmy I know, but that's the most motivating factor which helped me to forget the incident like a bad memory and I never told this story to anyone.
Now after almost four years, suddenly I have come to know about the film from one my colleagues. As decided at the beginning the movie was released from United States in DVD format. My colleague downloaded the film and gave it to me. Reaching room I was watching the movie and identifying the small details of the locations, movements, dialogues... Many memories were coming in mind which were long forgotten.
Film ended and I was thinking about the quality of the movie, whole thing came out quite nice... Then suddenly, I saw my name on the screen as Assistant Director. I was speech less for a few seconds and then an enormous happiness surrounded me. I really didn't expect this thankfulness from the unit and that's the reason I never tried to find about it in last four years.
I have no shame in accepting that I am delighted to see my name in a commercial feature film's credit list which reassures the credibility of once a Mass Communication student who used to dream to be a film maker one day.
Though the film is not a master piece nor recommendable to everyone but still if any of my friends wish to give a glance to it can click in Kambdi Kalaai.
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