Sachin Krishn - The director-cinematographer relationship is one beyond a collaboration

"Rakesh, You mentioned the term ‘collaboration’, in the sense of a cinematographer and director relationship; However, I believe, if you define a cinematographer and director’s relationship as a collaboration, it would amount to severely limiting the reality of their relationship. Because their relationship can go go far beyond being a just a ‘collaboration.’ And in the case of Prakash Jha, I have the privilege of having a relationship far beyond a collaboration.

He arrives on set often with quite a rigid frame of mind, and I have to fit the elements of my art, the craftsmanship and techniques of cinematography, into his mould. Now, fitting yourself into your directors scheme of things without much of your own visual interpretation, and yet delivering successfully, believe me when I say this, is very difficult!"
- Cinematographer Sachin Krishn reflects on his director Prakash Jha, in Directors' Diaries.

Filmmography:
2013 Satyagraha
2013 Inkaar
2012 Chakravyuh
2011 Havai Dada
2011 Aarakshan
2011 Mumbai Cutting
2011 Yeh Saali Zindagi
2010 Raajneeti
2010 Rita.
2009 Tera Kya Hoga Johnny
2008 Sorry Bhai!
2007 Dus Kahaniyaan (Puranmaashi)
2007 Khoya Khoya Chand
2007 Just Married
2007 Raakh
2006 Bas Ek Pal
2005 The Blue Umbrella
2004 Vaastu Shastra

- Vishal Bhardwaj.‘I think I like to raise questions in my viewer’s mind through my stories. I want them to question me, themselves, society, the state, whatever the film’s subject is.’

‘I think I like to raise questions in my viewer’s mind through my stories. I want them to question me, themselves, society, 
the state, whatever the film’s subject is.’ - Vishal Bhardwaj.

SNEAK PEEK
Born and brought up in Uttar Pradesh; lived in Najibabad until he was in fifth standard; spent a large part of his childhood in Meerut; was a cricketer but gave it up when he realized it’s too expensive when his family’s financial circumstances changed overnight due to his father’s untimely death; did his college education in New Delhi; recorded his first song as music composer for Veham, sung by Asha-ji, in1984; composed music for the TV series The Jungle Book in 1989; first film as director was Makdee (2002).

From his first film as music composer (Veham) to his first film as a director, it took him eighteen years.

FILMOGRAPHY AS DIRECTOR
Makdee (2002), Maqbool (2003), The Blue Umbrella (2005), Omkara (2006), Kaminey (2009), 7 Khoon Maaf (2011), Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola (2013), Haider (2014)

Hard Road Ahead!

Hard Road Ahead!
In a world of instant coffee, the myth of instant success needs to be busted, I hope an aspiring filmmaker, and even those not in films, realizes the number of years it has taken these directors to arrive at the threshold of their first film. It's not an easy ride.

Anurag Basu
From his first job in films as an 'extra' actor (Dalaal 1993) to his first film as director, it was a journey of nearly eleven years.

Ashutosh Gowariker
From his first film as an actor (Holi 1983) to his first film as director, it was a journey of ten years.

Farah Khan
From her first job as an assistant director (TV series, Malgudi Days 1987) to her first film as director, it was a journey of seventeen years.

Govind Nihalani
From his first job as an intern as an assistant cameraman (Ziddi 1962) to his first film as director, was a journey of twenty years.

Imtiaz Ali
From his first job as a production assistant with Zee TV in 1994 to his first film as director, it was a journey of eleven to twelve years.

Mahesh Bhatt
From his first job in films as an assistant director (Do Raaste 1969) to his first film as director, it was a journey of five years.

Prakash Jha
From his first film as an assistant director (Dharma 1973) to his first film as director, it was a journey of ten years.

Santosh Sivan
From his first film as a cinematographer (Nidhiyude Katha 1986) to his first film as director, it was a journey of ten years.

Subhash Ghai
From his graduation as an actor from FTII- Pune to his first film as director, it was a journey of nine years.

Tigmanshu Dhulia
From his first job as an assistant art director (Sardar 1993) to his first film as director, it was a journey of fourteen years.

Vishal Bhardwaj
From his first film as a music composer (Veham 1984) to his first film as a director, it was a journey of eighteen years.

Zoya Akhtar
From her first job as writer with The Script Shop to her first film as a director, it was a journey of sixteen years.

Thank you Bobby Nagi Jatinder Singh Nagi for sending me this profound image, it reflects an essence of our book - Directors' Diaries - The Road to Their First Film.

DNA India - Unlike actors, directors rarely get a platform to speak about their lives and work.

Unlike actors, directors rarely get a platform to talk about their work.

Rakesh Anand Bakshi's Director's Diaries: The Road To Their First Film corrects that anomaly and gives a sneak peek into their lives and craft, says Amrita Madhukalya.

Did you know that Anurag Basu urged Priyanka Chopra to hurl her choicest abuses at him during the filming of Barfi just so that he could break the ice with the actor? Or that Farah Khan's was an assistant director with Shankar Nag in Malgudi Days? These and more such trivia is what make-up Rakesh Anand Bakshi's Director's Diaries: The Road To Their First Film, collection of conversations with director about their craft.

Bakshi, a screenwriter, and bicycle enthusiast, says he hit upon the idea, because in India unlike the West, directors do not have a platform to talk about their work. The book, consisting of interactions with various directors, is sneak into their lives; a look at how they arrived at the director's seat. Some struggled through years of hard work, others fiddled with other odd jobs for a decade to realise their potential. Almost all were taken in by the mystique of the world behind the camera.

Bakshi, son of the legendary lyricist Anand Bakshi, could not have chosen a more diverse list of directors; there's Anurag Basu, Farah Khan, Ashutosh Gowariker, Imtiaz Ali, Vishal Bhardwaj, Santosh Sivan, Prakash Jha and Mahesh Bhatt, to name a few. What tumbles out, mostly, are crucial mundane details that reflect in the directorial styles of the directors.

Anurag Basu, whose first experience was with teleserial Tara in the 1990s, says he worked odd jobs for many years to fund college. And that he found a lot of joy on film sets. He talks of the time he worked as a dancing extra, and of the times he was a plastic chair salesman.

Ashutosh Gowariker, who started out as an actor with contemporaries like Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Deepak Tijori, says that after the first film, a director is robbed of his spontaneity and innocence.

Govind Nihalani, whose critically-acclaimed Tamas is a reflection of his family's turmoils during the Partition, says that the day he decided to learn filmmaking in Bengaluru, he told himself that he would one day make a film on a story based on events during the Partition.

There's Mahesh Bhatt talking about a scene from Zakhm, were the protagonist's father played by Nagarjuna does not open his shoes at home, and tells the director that the scene is from his childhood. His father Nanabhai Bhatt, already married, was never married to his mother, a Muslim woman, and would not take his shoes off in their house.

Subhash Ghai recalls the time legendary filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak told him to pay special attention to cinematographers.

Filmmaker-composer, Vishal Bhardwaj, who worked with Bakshi's father and was even one of his pallbearer's, remembers the time he lost his own father because of financial constraints, and of the time he played the harmonium at food festivals. He remembers walking towards a house where his father lay dead. "Even now, when I see a Steadicam point-of-view shot, I travel back. I am reminded of that walk," he said.

http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/report-their-first-take-i

How a song can be born. Aradhana.

How a song can be born.

Thank you dear Hari ji. Happy reading.
Hari uncle. A friend of my father, and mine too now. Rare was a day in my father's life, when my Dad may not have visited him at his shop and demanded, from mutual affection, "Brahmin nu cigarette pila." And Hari uncle would happily offer him his favourite, 555. Regards.

Once, Hari uncle and Dad were traveling in a car near Khar, and they saw a very pretty girl passing by. One of them remarked 'kya roop paya hai!'

Dad stopped the car and scribbled the mukhda of the song from Aradhana then and there: Roop Tera Mastana, Pyar Mera Deewana... The rest is history. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HenA-OUyo0s )

Hari Mehra's music shop is the one Farah Khan (choreographer/director) would visit as a child four days a week. In her words: "Four days a week, I would travel to Twist, a music shop in Khar-Bandra, Linking road, to buy vinyl records, a LP or an EP. Back home I would dance to the songs. I would do actress Helen’s cabarets, and when I would dance to the song, ‘Kaise rahun chup’ from the film Intaquam (1969), I too would break a glass at the end. (laughs)" - Farah Khan. (@Directors' Diaries)

Anurag Basu 'Making actors audition for roles doesn't serve any purpose'

'Making actors audition for roles doesn't serve any purpose'
Filmmaker Anurag Basu talks about his experience of directing movies and television serials in this extract from a new book. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150607/jsp/7days/story_24337.jsp

Directors' Diaries: Directors' Diaries - The Road To Their First Film ...

Directors' Diaries: Directors' Diaries - The Road To Their First Film ...: Film directors tell stories; they narrate them through their films. In this anthology, 12 film directors tell us about their journey from t...

Directors' Diaries: Directors' Diaries - The Road To Their First Film ...

Directors' Diaries: Directors' Diaries - The Road To Their First Film ...: Film directors tell stories; they narrate them through their films. In this anthology, 12 film directors tell us about their journey from t...

Directors' Diaries: Directors' Diaries - The Road To Their First Film ...

Directors' Diaries: Directors' Diaries - The Road To Their First Film ...: Film directors tell stories; they narrate them through their films. In this anthology, 12 film directors tell us about their journey from t...

Farah Khan - Choreography goes beyond dance and song;

‘Choreography goes beyond dance and song; it encompasses expressions along with the music and dance. All the directors I worked with as a choreographer were my film school, because everything you do, even mistakes, lead you to that moment in your life when you first say “Action!”’ – Farah Khan.

SNEAK PEEK
Born in Mumbai; began dancing after her father passed away; danced professionally in films from college days; first job was as an assistant director to Shankar Nag on the fiction TV series Malgudi Days (1987), worked on the post-production of the same; first film as assistant director: Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992); first film as choreographer: Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar; directed first feature film Main Hoon Na (2004). From her first job as assistant director to her first film as director, it was a journey of 17 years.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Imtiaz Ali on his first film being his film-school degree, and about our book Directors' Diaries :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzC18coaoLw

Zoya Akhtar (AV sound byte) on - Being a first-time filmmaker.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsdg8UNfwKs

Film directors tell stories; they narrate them through their films. In this anthology, 12 film directors tell us about their journey from their childhood to their first film, and how they make films: Ashutosh Gowariker, Zoya Akhtar, Farah Khan, Imtiaz Ali, Vishal Bhardwaj, Anurag Basu, Mahesh Bhatt, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Prakash Jha, Subhash Ghai, Santosh Sivan, Govind Nihalani.

Film Director: The invisible, omnipotent presence in cinema – a word that holds spaces inaccessible to most people.
In Directors’ Diaries, the author Rakesh Anand Bakshi attempts to demystify that figure through the voices of twelve of the most iconic film-makers of our time. In doing so, he happens upon the greater questions of destiny and chance and how random encounters can end up determining the course of a person’s life.
A valuable record of Hindi cinema’s old and new voices, and a study of the changing face of it, Directors’ Diaries is also an inspiring account of people battling great odds to achieve their dreams.

This book also includes views of eight Cinematographers, on the director they have worked with who appear in this book.
Ravi Varman, Mahesh Aney, Manikandan Velayutham, Natarajan Subramaniam, Sachin Krishn, Kabir Lal Ranjan Palit, Aseem Mishra. These wonderful creative souls help directors create their vision and magic.

The Epilogue is a chapter on Art Director and Production Designer Nitin C. Desai. Because, the art director is one of the most important players on a film along with the cinematographer.

In this book, these twelve film directors also voice their opinions on the art and craft/techniques of filmmaking, and the emotions that make them who they are, what it takes to be a director, professionally and personally.

Reading about the earlier lives of these twelve directors can help us discover where we are today, and reveal to us why our connections to each other and the path we chose to walk is very precious.
Because, our yesterday made today which makes our tomorrow.

Because, our yesterday made today which makes our tomorrow. Need or desire creates purpose, which creates intent, which creates will, which creates action or deeds, which creates mistakes or success, which creates experiences, which hones talents and skills, which eventually creates our destiny. I think, not just film people but people from other professions will make connections to their stories and how they make movies.
And it is through this sharing of their moments, anecdotes, their experiences from childhood, and the process of how they reached the threshold of and made their first film that readers will relate, revel and find hope in their own struggles. And no one will give up easily or early.

Hard Road Ahead!
In a world of instant coffee, the myth of instant success needs to be busted, I hope an aspiring filmmaker, and even those not in films, realizes the number of years it has taken these directors to arrive at the threshold of their first film. It's not an easy ride.

Anurag Basu
From his first job in films as an 'extra' actor (Dalaal 1993) to his first film as director, it was a journey of nearly eleven years.

Ashutosh Gowariker
From his first film as an actor (Holi 1983) to his first film as director, it was a journey of ten years.

Farah Khan
From her first job as an assistant director (TV series, Malgudi Days 1987) to her first film as director, it was a journey of seventeen years.

Govind Nihalani
From his first job as an intern as an assistant cameraman (Ziddi 1962) to his first film as director, was a journey of twenty years.

Imtiaz Ali
From his first job as a production assistant with Zee TV in 1994 to his first film as director, it was a journey of eleven to twelve years.

Mahesh Bhatt
From his first job in films as an assistant director (Do Raaste 1969) to his first film as director, it was a journey of five years.

Prakash Jha
From his first film as an assistant director (Dharma 1973) to his first film as director, it was a journey of ten years.

Santosh Sivan
From his first film as a cinematographer (Nidhiyude Katha 1986) to his first film as director, it was a journey of ten years.

Subhash Ghai
From his graduation as an actor from FTII- Pune to his first film as director, it was a journey of nine years.

Tigmanshu Dhulia
From his first job as an assistant art director (Sardar 1993) to his first film as director, it was a journey of fourteen years.

Vishal Bhardwaj
From his first film as a music composer (Veham 1984) to his first film as a director, it was a journey of eighteen years.

Zoya Akhtar
From her first job as writer with The Script Shop to her first film as a director, it was a journey of sixteen years.

About the Author:
Film-script writer, director, actor, author, photographer, swimmer, walker and cyclist. Founder of Bicycle Angels, a non-profit social initiative that helps donate livelihood bicycles to the under privileged; My Memoirs – My stories for my family, creates a video or audio diary of your life story and inspiring moments, however young or old you may be; Beautiful Bicycles Beautiful People, a blog on cyclists, their rides, their stories. Love reading biographies, self-help books and fiction novels; and watching different kinds of cinema and documentaries.

Web links to Directors' Diaries:

Primary site: https://www.facebook.com/DirectorsDiaries

Secondary site: https://rakbak16.wordpress.com/

YouTube: : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfstvnVNw6HPKSeOWcSHjzw

Bicycle Angels https://www.facebook.com/groups/309043432570135/

Beautiful Bicycles Beautiful Peoplehttps://www.facebook.com/groups/313526712019526/

Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/home/myvideos

 — withRakesh Anand Bakshi.

Cinematographer Mr Anil Mehta.

Cinematographer Mr Anil Mehta.

This anthology on twelve directors includes views of eight Cinematographers, on the director they have worked with who appear in this book. 

The cinematographers appearing in this book are: Ravi Varman, Mahesh Aney, V. Manikandan, Natarajan Subramaniam, Sachin Krishn, Kabir Lal, Ranjan Palit, Aseem Mishra.

Filmography of Anil Mehta:
(2014 Finding Fanny 
2014/I Highway 
2012 Jab Tak Hai Jaan 
2012 Cocktail 
2011 RockStar 
2009 Wake Up Sid 
2007 Marigold 
2006 Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna 
2004 Veer-Zaara 
2003 Kal Ho Naa Ho 
2002 Saathiya 
2002 Agnivarsha: The Fire and the Rain 
2001 Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India 
1999 Straight from the Heart 
1996 Khamoshi: The Musical 
1994 The Cloud Door (Short) 

Director (2007) Aaja Nachle.)

Cinematographer Ranjan Palit reflects on his director Vishal Bhardwaj

Cinematographer Ranjan Palit reflects on his director Vishal Bhardwaj

- "The second moment working with Vishal Bhardwaj I cherish is, during a shoot/film wrap party on our units’ last day in Russia, Vishal told me, raising a toast, “Ranjan Da, I am really going to miss you….. after this I’m really going to miss you.”
He repeated it a couple of more times, and his eyes began to get moist.
His wife, Rekha, said “Okay, this is fine today, but I cannot hear this every day. So, Ranjan Da, since Vishal is going to miss you so much all the time, may I suggest that either you shift to Mumbai, or Vishal, you shift to Kolkata.” We all erupted in laughter. We were so happy that our sentiments were mutual. We were more than just director and cinematographer, I felt. We had become family then."

Filmmography:
The Textures of Loss (Documentary) (completed)
2013 The Revolutionary Optimists (Documentary)
2013 Red Ant Dream (Documentary)
2012 Shyamal Uncle Turns Off the Lights
2012 Celluloid Man (Documentary)
2012 Aparajita Tumi
2011 7 Khoon Maaf
2010 In Camera (Documentary)
2007 The Lightning Testimonies (Video documentary)
2006/I Karma
2005 Dreaming Lhasa
2004 Journeyings and Conversations (Documentary)
2003 Byatikrami
2003 In Othello
2003 Life of Buddha (Documentary)
2000 Mask of Desire
1999 Karvaan
1999 In the Forest Hangs a Bridge (Documentary short)
1993 Tales from the Planet Kolkota (Short)
1992 Kamlabai (Documentary)
1991 Egaro Mile (Documentary)
1990 When Hamlet Went to Mizoram
1987 Babulal Bhuiya Ki Qurbani (Documentary)
1985 Hamara Shahar - Bombay, Our City (Documentary)

(Ranjan Palit's photo courtesy Neel Mitra)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Imtiaz Ali speaking about his first film being his film school, and about our book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzC18coaoLw

Zoya Akhtar (AV sound byte): Being a first-time filmmaker.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsdg8UNfwKs
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You got to make your own breaks. You got to write your own Biography. @ Anand Bakshi. (Lyricists)

You got to make your own breaks. You got to write your own Biography. @ Anand Bakshi. (Lyricists)

Today, a reader brought this expression from my father, lyricists Anand Bakshi (to whom my first book is dedicated) to my attention; It appears after my dedication to my father in our book, and I had quite forgotten about this profound diamond until Miss Herminder mentioned to me how the expression inspired her and will probably stay with her for very long. 
This must make my father so happy.
Thank you Miss Herminder.
In hindsight, it was Sushrut Mankad who first did.

Directors' Diaries - The Road To Their First Film and How They Make Films (A HarperCollins publication)

Film directors tell stories; they narrate them through their films. In this anthology, 12 film directors tell us about their journey from their childhood to their first film, and how they make films: Ashutosh Gowariker, Zoya Akhtar, Farah Khan, Imtiaz Ali, Vishal Bhardwaj, Anurag Basu, Mahesh Bhatt, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Prakash Jha, Subhash Ghai, Santosh Sivan, Govind Nihalani.

Film Director: The invisible, omnipotent presence in cinema – a word that holds spaces inaccessible to most people.
In Directors’ Diaries, the author Rakesh Anand Bakshi attempts to demystify that figure through the voices of twelve of the most iconic film-makers of our time. In doing so, he happens upon the greater questions of destiny and chance and how random encounters can end up determining the course of a person’s life.
A valuable record of Hindi cinema’s old and new voices, and a study of the changing face of it, Directors’ Diaries is also an inspiring account of people battling great odds to achieve their dreams.

This book also includes views of eight Cinematographers, on the director they have worked with who appear in this book.
Ravi Varman, Mahesh Aney, Manikandan Velayutham, Natarajan Subramaniam, Sachin Krishn, Kabir Lal Ranjan Palit, Aseem Mishra. These wonderful creative souls help directors create their vision and magic.

The Epilogue is a chapter on Art Director and Production Designer Nitin C. Desai. Because, the art director is one of the most important players on a film along with the cinematographer.

In this book, these twelve film directors also voice their opinions on the art and craft/techniques of filmmaking, and the emotions that make them who they are, what it takes to be a director, professionally and personally.

Reading about the earlier lives of these twelve directors can help us discover where we are today, and reveal to us why our connections to each other and the path we chose to walk is very precious.
Because, our yesterday made today which makes our tomorrow.

Because, our yesterday made today which makes our tomorrow. Need or desire creates purpose, which creates intent, which creates will, which creates action or deeds, which creates mistakes or success, which creates experiences, which hones talents and skills, which eventually creates our destiny. I think, not just film people but people from other professions will make connections to their stories and how they make movies.
And it is through this sharing of their moments, anecdotes, their experiences from childhood, and the process of how they reached the threshold of and made their first film that readers will relate, revel and find hope in their own struggles. And no one will give up easily or early.

Hard Road Ahead!
In a world of instant coffee, the myth of instant success needs to be busted, I hope an aspiring filmmaker, and even those not in films, realizes the number of years it has taken these directors to arrive at the threshold of their first film. It's not an easy ride.

Anurag Basu
From his first job in films as an 'extra' actor (Dalaal 1993) to his first film as director, it was a journey of nearly eleven years.

Ashutosh Gowariker
From his first film as an actor (Holi 1983) to his first film as director, it was a journey of ten years.

Farah Khan
From her first job as an assistant director (TV series, Malgudi Days 1987) to her first film as director, it was a journey of seventeen years.

Govind Nihalani
From his first job as an intern as an assistant cameraman (Ziddi 1962) to his first film as director, was a journey of twenty years.

Imtiaz Ali
From his first job as a production assistant with Zee TV in 1994 to his first film as director, it was a journey of eleven to twelve years.

Mahesh Bhatt
From his first job in films as an assistant director (Do Raaste 1969) to his first film as director, it was a journey of five years.

Prakash Jha
From his first film as an assistant director (Dharma 1973) to his first film as director, it was a journey of ten years.

Santosh Sivan
From his first film as a cinematographer (Nidhiyude Katha 1986) to his first film as director, it was a journey of ten years.

Subhash Ghai
From his graduation as an actor from FTII- Pune to his first film as director, it was a journey of nine years.

Tigmanshu Dhulia
From his first job as an assistant art director (Sardar 1993) to his first film as director, it was a journey of fourteen years.

Vishal Bhardwaj
From his first film as a music composer (Veham 1984) to his first film as a director, it was a journey of eighteen years.

Zoya Akhtar
From her first job as writer with The Script Shop to her first film as a director, it was a journey of sixteen years.

Imtiaz Ali on his first film being his film-school degree, and about our book Directors' Diaries :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzC18coaoLw

Zoya Akhtar (AV sound byte) on - Being a first-time filmmaker.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsdg8UNfwKs

About the Author:
Film-script writer, director, actor, author, photographer, swimmer, walker and cyclist. Founder of Bicycle Angels, a non-profit social initiative that helps donate livelihood bicycles to the under privileged; My Memoirs – My stories for my family, creates a video or audio diary of your life story and inspiring moments, however young or old you may be; Beautiful Bicycles Beautiful People, a blog on cyclists, their rides, their stories. Love reading biographies, self-help books and fiction novels; and watching different kinds of cinema and documentaries.

Web links to Directors' Diaries:

Primary site: https://www.facebook.com/DirectorsDiaries

Secondary site: https://rakbak16.wordpress.com/

Amazon.in reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/review/RG8P1PEQJDO1Z/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

YouTube: : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfstvnVNw6HPKSeOWcSHjzw

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/rakbak16/directors-diaries-the-road-to-their-first-film-and/

Bicycle Angels https://www.facebook.com/groups/309043432570135/