Make-over master

Making a popular book like `The Inscrutable Americans' into an engaging movie is quite a task. More so, for a debutant and that too, in an alien language. But, local boy Chandra Siddartha has been able to pull it off. With this, he joins a growing list of young independent film-makers from the city daring to dream and achieve something outside the usual commercial milieu. The film just released has been faithful to the book and has received an appreciable response from film buffs. Behind the enterprising movie -- shot entirely in the US -- lies a tale of hard labour for the till now struggling film-maker. Here, Siddartha tells V. GEETANATH why the movie was a `make or break' effort for him.

"I AM happy to have broken the jinx of releasing a film. I had never worked with so much of grit and there was this fear of failure which kept me going," recalls Siddartha. For him, there is something to show after being in the film industry for some years now as assistant director and watching movie offers slipping out of his hands for some reason or other.

Making an English film was the last thing on Siddartha's mind. Quitting post-graduation mid way "to do something creative", his only dream was to make a "commercially viable film which appeals to the youth." Amidst spending time with friends tossing film ideas in the neighbhourhood tea shop, he came across Anurag Mathur's book and was instantly excited by the prospect of filming it two years ago.

"It was surprising none thought of it before. To my luck Mathur immediately agreed and I was on, preparing the script," he says. "Normally, the hitch will be getting finances but my producers backed me and I had total freedom but there were other difficulties," he explains.

This was when actors selected initially opted out, problem of getting permissions for locations, communication hassles with the American crew and the cold weather. "Shooting there costs a bomb and we were hell bent on sticking to our schedule come what may."

This resulted in putting pressure on themselves. "It would have taken me six months if I wanted to make the film the way I was originally visualising," smiles the bearded director. The film was started in December 1999 and completed in April 2000 with actual shooting for 28 days.

The improvisations made on the sets simply amazed the Americans. "They were apprehensive of the kind of movie I was making," says Siddartha. Except for his cinematographer brother C. Rajendra Prasad, the rest of the crew in front and behind the camera were greenhorns.

"It was teamwork all the way with every unit member playing a role. For them, I was the inscrutable Indian," he laughs admitting he felt the same as `Gopal' when he landed in the US. A few crew members were chance encounters. Randy (Eron Otcasek) was found near an auditioning studio and Siddartha ran into Uday Benegal (former lead singer of `Rock Machine') performing in New York and roped him to do the background score.

There were difficulties during post-production work and later, in marketing the movie. It was lapped in the very first screening in Mumbai but he agrees that the "movie lost out in the promotional aspect and we did many mistakes in our business strategies."

Yet, Siddartha is happy with the viewers' response as he was his film would be enjoyed. "But certainly, I can do better. And, I am much wiser with experience," he adds. He is planning to release the film in some more cities here and in the US.

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Section  : Southern States
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