Omar Shoot: Day Three

20 Aug, Thursday

Well the bad news is that we still remain behind schedule for Omar. Rains interrupted day three leaving us with a backlog of 3 – 4 shots. The whole crew took shelter under a shed watching it pour hoping the rains would go so that we could resume shooting

However last night Abhimanyu Singh joined us. The actor played a merciless Maharashtrian cop who confronts Jai and Omar at an abandoned place. We shot the scene outside Bandra Joggers Park which served as a perfect cramped, restricted location for the look of the film.

Anyways, now the POA is that we shoot all the remaining scenes of Day 1 and Day 3 on the 27th and hopefully complete Omar without any further interruptions.

Cheers

Archis Achrekar

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)

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)

Anticlock Films Presents - Team OMAR

I AM OMAR

Featuring
Rahul Bose
Abhimanyu Singh
Arjun Mathur (as Omar)

Banner: Anticlock Films
Producers: Sanjay Suri and Onir
Director: Onir
Cinematographer: Arvind Kannabiran
Story Screen Play: Merle Kroeger and Onir
Dialogues: Ashwini Malik
Music: Vivek Philip
Playback Singer: Karthik
Lyrics: Amitabh Varma
Editing: Irene Dhar Malik
Sound Design: Arun Nambiar
Engineer: Sameer C
Art Director: Sujith Sawant
Still Photography: Thulasi Kakkat
Make up Director: Elton Fernandez
Costume Designs: Manish Malhotra
Publicity Design: Siddharth Dutta
Graphics: Sidharth Meer
Asst Directors: Amar Kaushik, Sundeep Malani, Akhil Chaudhary, Archis Achrekar, Bianca Saldanha, Kumari Sunayna, Sumith Arora
Assistant Cameraman: Reddy, Vidushi Tiwari
Online Marketing: Mayank Dhingra
Making of Omar: Rajeev Kohli
Production Manager: Mohan Joshi
Production Assistant: Rakesh Jain, Rajesh Patel, Lalith
PR and Promotion: Arati Salgaonkar (Perception Managers)

So how do you find Omar's cast ?

OMAR TRAILER

Omar In Goa Times

Thanks Nameeta Premkumar Nair for contributing and co-owning Omar

Second Contribution:

Guys in literally no time since we received the first contribution we got another one. Nameeta Premkumar Nair from Mumbai has contributed for Omar and Afia. Her contribution is second for the film and falls in the Rs 1,00,000 - Rs 15,00,000 category.

Thanks a lot Nameeta for believing in us.

Contributor Testimonial - Ram Badrinath

Ram Badrinath on how he got to know about Omar and what made him contribute

I came to know about Abhimanyu through Water No Ice which i subscribe to and was very intrigued by the micro financing concept for films. It has always remain with me how Shyam Benegal financed Manthan through 2 rupee donation by milk farmers in the 70's. That approach decouples a film maker from the cudgels of "corporate" mentality and babus. Allows the film maker to focus on making the film and the web emerges as a force for good art

best of luck.

OMAR speaks up against gay extortion!

Omar reveals the nexus between the police and Male Sex Workers to blackmail and abuse gay men.

In India because of the archaic law  by the British which has been long discarded in UK homosexuality is criminalized by law under article 377, whereas any man caught in a homosexual act can be imprisoned for life. This law is very often used by the police to harass and extort money from gay men.

OMAR tells the story of how because of fear of society and law Gay men are very often get blackmailed and are scared to do anything about it. This film is based on real life stories and incidences. It questions the law and a society where the concern should be addressing the deep and growing violence in society but decides to all up in arms against an expression of adult consensual love.

Omar believes that independent cinema exists to give a voice to those working against the tide and outside the system.  

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OMAR is one of five short films directed by Onir to tackle important issues ignored by mainstream Indian cinema. Our idea is to release each film for educational /awareness /festival purposes and eventually compile all five short films into one release for the general audiences.

These topics are too important to let slide into the shadows. We at Anticlock Films call upon individuals, corporate houses, and NGOs who share in our indignation to join our cause in shedding light upon such daily tragedies. We want this project to be a completely independent, community endeavor free from studio criteria like star-power and opening weekend sales. This is a movement towards cinema that has content- entertains by way of enriching oneself.

We at ANTICLOCK FILMS offer you an opportunity to be a part of a process of the making of a film, to be a part owner of a film. You can do this my contributing monetarily for the making of the film. To that end, we’ve established three different ways to help:


• Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000 – Acknowledgements in the end credits( Treated as donation/pledge)

• Rs 25,000 to Rs 100,000 – Return of your contribution at the time of the final film release and acknowledgement in the end credits
• Rs 100,000 to Rs 15,00,000 – Acknowledgements in the beginning titles of the film and proportionate share in the profits.

Total budget of each short film is – Rs 30,000,00 (Rupees thirty lacs)

Funds in Place by Anticlock Films – Rs 15,000,00 (Rupees fifteen lacs)

Please spread word and help support a film that wants to make a difference. Thank you.

Omar has been nominated in the new category of Best Educational Movie,Triangle Media Group (UK)Global Award Nominations for 2009 on basics of script.