To do anything in this place is difficult, but to do something new is even more difficult or rather difficult, plus the minimum requirement to tolerate everyone that stands up to discourage you. I wanted to make the first stereoscopic 3D film of India like Avatar and that was the mission of my company and me. We embarked on a project called Haunted and this piece is in a way premature because Haunted has not released and become some runaway hit. Well, at least not yet but it is still a celebration of sorts because we managed to finish the film and make it in 3D and that too with no stone unturned.

You may ask what is the big deal? I don’t blame you for that question. The big deal is nothing but the triumph of a cast and crew that were thrown into a situation from which we thought we would never come out victorious. We left for Ooty after a few days of pre-production work. There was a crew from Canada and one from Chennai, not to mention one from Mumbai.
Initially everything was a nightmare. Ooty was bitterly cold, the equipment that arrived from Canada was either destroyed in shipping or the wrong stuff had reached us. The Canadian technicians were great but could only do as much as possible within the parameters. The gear failed in every shot, again and again and again.
I remember on the first day we got only two shots done and then the next day three. We never went over ten shots a day and it went for our pockets like the asteroid that destroyed the dinasours. Actors were sitting by twiddling their thumbs and the entire schedule went on its head, but everyone stood by the project. The actors cancelled dates, moved other schedules but were there for me.
My lead actor Mahaakshay Chakrabroty AKA Mimoh Chakraborty had only had one colossal flop to his credit before this film. There was no market confidence in him. He had reinvented himself and looked like a million bucks but only he and I knew that. Investors came to the location. Expressed interest and then disappeared.
Rain, it would come down in torrents. Endless waits and changes in schedules to get things done. It was frustrating to say the least. What started as a 45 day outdoor went on 65 days which was the first for me and more than twice over the budget. One of the Canadian techies decided to have a scooty ride on an off day and fractured his foot.
I remember one day when we were supposed to wrap from a certain location. We were supposed to be there for 15 days and had ended up being there for 32 days and then just when only six shots were all that was left the gear failed again! Just six shots away from getting out of there and it looked like we would have to come back for another day.
I looked up at the sky and thought that this time I had bitten off more than I could chew. Everything was against me. I took a deep breath. Composed myself. This was it. We managed to finish the film in 86 days.
Last week we put together a show reel to show the film industry. The screen lit up with 3D images of Haunted and in that one instance all those days of hard work just disappeared. As the show ended and people stood up to clap I realised the one thing that I shall always keep in mind — everyone is lost when they are trying to find something new. To be lost is not a bad thing. To stop searching is.