Omar Shoot: Day Two

19 AUG 2009, Wednesday

One night, one location and one scene.

I worked with junior artists for the first time last night. It was quiet unusual directing them especially the foreigners who played their part really well and made the scene look natural. However had to work on the others as time passed, a lot of them were drained and we had to keep them active and involved.

The dialogue between Jai and Omar takes place in a coffee shop were they meet for the first time. We shot the scene at the CCD on carter road. It‘s very fascinating to observe Rahul Bose and Arjun Mathur play implusive and erratic Jai and Omar respectively.

Unlike last night we faced no interruptions and we managed to complete the scene by dawn. Both Onir and Arvind seemed quite happy with the way the scene has turned out. Looking forward to day three now.

Archis Achrekar

(Assitant Director)

Press

1) To each their own sexuality, says Manish Malhotra - 17 August 2009, DNAIndia.com

Omar Shoot: Day One

18 AUG 2009, Tuesday

Yesterday evening the cast and crew of Omar gathered outside the Joggers Park of Lokhandwala to shoot the second installment of the five short film series.

For Omar, Onir and DOP Arvind Kannibaran developed a different style for executing the story by deciding to shoot it entirely at night. Shot on 16mm Arvind had a complete handheld setup created low key lighting and used swift pan and zoom creating a different look for the film.

Unfortunately we are running slightly behind schedule. Our first day didn’t go as planned. Our intention was to complete five scenes however due to restriction of shooting at night only, a mild shower and mob interrupting sometime we completed only two scenes. But the film is progressing fine. We intend to complete the remaining scenes on Thursday which we have reserved as a spare day.

Inspite of things not going in our favor it was interesting to see Onir not loosing his patience the entire night.

The performances of Rahul Bose and Arjun Mathur were simply brilliant.

The experience to be on set is always different. However what makes this experience unique is the healthy environment we have in our office which also prevails on the set. The direction team headed by Amar has a smooth functioning and understanding. In short I am having a great time working with the other ADs, Onir and Sanjay!

Looking forward to day two.

Cheers

Archis Achrekar
(Assistant Director)