Gettin' Leh'ed!

SECMOL - Short Documentary Film - Ladakh, India
In 2012, during our 33-day backpacking trip in the Himalayas, Ladakh(of course) was an eye-opening, mind-altering drug-stop. I say mind-altering because it really was one hell of a trip to yonder-land, or should I say, a different planet altogether. And vacation is a bad word to use here, because if you are taking a trip to the Himalayas, especially Ladakh, it is an adventure that will rattle your bones(literally and figuratively) and your core. It will change the way you look at things, people and what-the-hell - life itself.
And during the stop-over there, we called up our then-new friend, Sonam Wangchuk, the revolutionary extraordinaire and a simple man with a singular vision. We didn't know much about him then, as we were wondering where really we were heading when we took the taxi to Phey, about 18 kms from Leh city. We only knew that he was the founder of SECMOL(Student's Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh) which was founded in 1988 by him and a group of young Ladakhis with the aim to reform the educational system of Ladakh.
It is rumored that Sonam Wangchuk is the real-life Phunsuk Wangdu, the character played by Aamir Khan in the Hindi film, 3 Idiots. But anyways, during our stay there and our interactions with him, his team and the students, we realized that there's a lot than meets the eye. We observed that students identify themselves with their Ladakhi culture, as Ladakhis, and rarely do they associate themselves with the Pan-Indian identity. Like hell that's necessary. But well, let's get to this.

This short profile documentary film was shot in 2012 as a way of bringing to light the result of the efforts of Sonam, who has created waves in educational and cultural reform. We filmed this during our 1 week stay at SECMOL, volunteering for them, teaching Ladakhi students and culturally exchanging ideas and basically having a great time with them.
A couple of changes to the above film:
1. Rebecca should have been labelled Volunteer Advisor/Instructor instead of Co-founder as labelled above.
2. The volunteers for ice-skating are from various countries in the world as opposed to just US or Canada, as mentioned above.
Camera provided by Subheer from Always Outbound.
Created and presented by us, yours truly, the Accessible Horizon Films team.

Why, Mr. Kamal Hassan?

First of all, I never intended to write this. I know that in a few days our angst will subside and we will continue to live on with this issue comfortably tucked in the deep recesses of our memories, until one day, the same will come back and bite our collective asses in a much cruder form. So, with that in mind, and today’s impending Court decision on Vishwaroopam’s atrocious ban by the Tamil Nadu government, I decided to write it, in the form of questions for Mr. Kamal Hassan. Yes sir, you. In fact, 20 questions to be precise.

1. Why did you remind us that we pretend to live in a democracy?
2. Why do you have to be an artistic rebel in a country where socio-political art has been long dead?
3. Why did you have to show us that our society's tails are curled up tightly between our ass-cracks?
4. Why did you point out the wimps within us, who sit by as our toothless government does NOTHING, fucking nothing, as ‘cultural terrorists’ wreck havoc upon us?
5. Why did you give yourself up over the last 50 years for cinema that doesn't let you do what you want to do?
6. Why did you have to become the bait of our failed political system?
7. Why did you unravel the vestigial nature of our Censor Board?
8. Why did you make us realize us that we deserve the governments we elect, and the cinema we are ‘approved’ to make?
9. Why did you make our artists realize that their country is no longer a haven for their angst or expression?
10. Why did you remind us that our governments still continue to be held hostage by vote bank politics?
11. Why are you thinking ahead of your time when, according to society, you should be towing the line, following conventions like sheep in a herd?
12. Why are you trying to show your peers – in vain – that being an artist means having the balls to stick with their artistic conviction?
13. Why have you made us realize that it now means nothing to be an artist in a country that once consecrated art in every form?
14. Why have you reminded us, that tomorrow if we want to take a shit, we need to wait for approval from the thought-police of our society?
15. Why did you have to prove to us again that this country can no longer be called secular?
16. Why are you representing all that is seemingly progressive when the truth is so far removed from it?
17. Why have you given us and our artists another ugly battle to fight?
18. Why did you have to open up the hypocrisy of ‘shining, incredible’ India?
19. Why did you reveal more than the tip of the iceberg floating right under the surface of our fucked-up excuse of a country?
20. Why did you wake us up to the reality that anytime is a time for a revolution to happen?

Human Element - Short film based on a true story

A little over 2 years ago, a little incident happened to one of our team. And we thought why not make something out of it. That's how this short film came into being. Anyways, here it is...

A thought on rape and Arundhati Roy's take on the issue

It seems that in the after-math of the rape incident and the furor over it, we are slowly starting to see misogynistic patterns emerge in India...as if this is opening up a pandora's box of misogynistic assholes. This is not a one-off incident as many seem to think of it. The rape only opened up a can of worms that is seemingly more and more harder to swallow. Though the incident has thrown light on the under-belly of the issue, it only reminds one of the ghastly truth, that we are surrounded by highly conservative and traditionally patriarchal values that provide the actual reasons for rape...that women who have been conditioned over centuries of servitude are skeptical about confronting their sons and men about how they should be treating women in general. Case in point, 'literate' mothers with sons would rather reprimand other liberal women than try to teach their sons a thing or two about respecting women. That's how deeply rooted this problem is.

The above interview of Arundhati Roy offers an alternative, incisive analysis of the social-class implications of our society. I'm amazed how almost always she comes up with a holistic and bird's-eye-view point of an issue. But my point is, now is the time when we have to fight harder. No actually, now is when the fight has actually begun. And I don't mean it for women...but for our society too, if we want a dare-i-say 'progressive' society.

Where the heck did 2012 go?

Wow...seriously, when the bloody heck did 2012 fly by? It freakin' feels like last night when exactly 364 days ago we were beset by a severe storm shutting down the power of our city, forcing us to open our eyes to darkness and mayhem on January 1st, 2012. But anyways, that's not the point. The point is, this so-called thing called TIME just whizzed past us, leaving us dumb-founded and as lost as a stray on the highway. So many things happened at break-neck speed that we didn't even realize when and where these days slipped by us. As they say, 'Life is what happens when you are busy doing other things'... But one thing is for sure, we got a bloody short life that there's no reason for us to compromise on the things we truly love. Whewwww! Ok, without rambling too much on the philosophical aspect of things, we'll just reminisce a bit on 2012.
I guess 2012 was a rolla-costa year...full of inspiring, adrenaline-packed stuff. We completed 2 projects - Metroxical New York(our latest feature documentary film) and 500 & 5(our first feature length narrative film project in Tamil), made some crazy artwork, travelled 8000 kms to parts of India that seemed like another planet(Ladakh, Himachal, J&K), did a dangerous(no kidding) trek to Kheer Ganga, climbed 16000 feet, met other whacked-out Nomads(from Uruguay, Sweden, France, London, Israel, Tibet, US) like us, met the Dalai Lama(sat through a little during his teaching), volunteered to teach and interact at SECMOL(Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh) teaching Ladakhi students Science, Maths and English, did a mini documentary film for them, met the awesome and humble Sonam Wangchuk(rumoured to be the real life Phunsukh Wangdu, a character played by Aamir Khan in 3 Idiots, the hindi film), attended the world premiere of 500 & 5 at IFFK, Trivandrum and a ton of other stuff. 
Most importantly, it was the people and friends who made it for us. People who inspired us with their minds, their creativity and amazing personalities. It's only when we interact with people like them, we truly feel we are all connected and are directed by this collective consciousness. Anyways, since some of you couldn't come for the film festival premiere and have been asking about it, a little update on that - We had 2 shows in total. The first one at Anjali Theater was pretty decent and the second one at Kalabhavan theater was ok, not bad. But the good thing is that, we had a lot of our other awesome friends at the festival who came out to support us. A special thanks to all our actors and crew who helped in bringing 500 & 5 to life. I would love to share some of the reviews and feedback we got after the screenings, but I guess I'll wait until the next step.
We had some reasonable press coverage from The Hindu(here and here), The Indian Express(here) and other Malayalam Press/Media. The funny part was, in the Malayalam Manorama newspaper, there was a headline that said – “Cosmic Sex(the movie) is the result of my research” says Raghu – Apparently, I had directed the movie about sex and spirituality. Poor Amitabh Chakraborty, the actual director of the film - he had worked so hard on Cosmic Sex(interesting film) and I get the damn credit. But anyways, the world is never fair and true. We also met some amazing filmmakers from Iran, France, Chile, Mexico and Turkey & got to watch some awesome, crazy-ass whacked out movies. A few worth mentioning are Holy Motors(French), Sister(French), Nos Vemos Papa(Spanish), With you Without you(Sri Lankan), Ini Avan(Sri Lankan), Tungsten(Greek) among others. Moreover, we have some interesting developments happening around our film. And just a note, nothing...nothing comes easy to independent filmmakers. Will elaborate further later.
Also, last week I had gone to the Chennai Thiraipada Sangam(Chennai Film Society) organized by Mr. Vijayan in North Chennai where they regularly have guest filmmakers to teach/interact with their students. They had invited me last week for a session. It wasn't really a class, at least that's what I told them, that a class would serve no purpose...so we had more like a Q & A session revolving around filmmaking, cinema in general and 500 & 5's making and the production process. It was heartening to see lots of like-minded aspiring filmmakers who really felt the need for alternative cinema in Chennai. Some wanted to be directors, some cinematographers, some writers...and the class' age group ranged from 20 to 60. We had an energetic session as we explored what's really stopping independent, low-budget filmmakers from taking their next step. Met some interesting personalities who seem to give hope towards the future of Tamil cinema. Alright, that's that for now I guess. And I won't say Happy New Year because I hope we 'show' and don't 'tell'...

DIY DSLR gear

The best thing about the Do-It-Yourself process is you can keep discovering newer and newer ways of doing your own thing; in this case, building your own gear. Before we started our independent film 500 & 5, we fabricated quite a few accessories(with Youtube and DIY forums), one of them being a DSLR rig. But anyways, here's one more - http://diyphotography.net/diy-dslr-pvc-shoulder-rigSome of the other stuff we made were the track dolly, the table top dolly, the fig-rig or the wheel-cam rig, a camera mount and the steadicam. Hopefully soon, we will be updating stuff on how we made them.

Bronze Beauty - Goddess Tara

Tibetan Goddess Tara made by Tibetan refugees in Ladakh. Got her during our backpacking trip to the Himalayas. First set my eyes on her in Leh, Ladakh but finally got around to buying her in Dharamshala/McLeodganj. Lovely, enchanting and intricate art work. Pure love. Always had a thing for bronze beauties. The painting behind her was done by our very own Earthling :) 

Shit...

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! Fucking shit!

A Voice for the voiceless

Many a times, I've been a closet activist and rebel regarding various issues. Of course, I guess there's a need to be shaken up and stirred before one can react and rebel openly against the system. Sometimes, it's the sheer energy expended trying to voice against something that you feel is so futile. But this time, I promised someone I'd do my little part about it. Case in point - recently heard a grim news through a good friend, Mahima who's also an animal activist(if I can say that) and voices out & DOES something about cruelty to animals. Every day, thousands of cattle are being trafficked for slaughtering about which we don't really know much. Well, I guess this documentary made by the Temple Worshippers' Society which she shared with me expounds on this gruesome act.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGHfPQGbUlc&feature=youtu.be
While I'm not sharing this from a religious POV, there's a bit of a humanist inside. From their Youtube Link "Temple Worshippers Society was formed with the twin objectives of Temple Protection and Cattle Protection. Since its inception, Temple Worshippers Society has been focussing on the Government's mismanagement of Temples, their properties and endowments, interference in worshipping patterns, total disregard to Gau Samrakshana, etc. We are committed to restoring our Temples and its endowments from the evil clutches of the Government, rightfully for management by Hindus themselves.
Towards achieving the second objective, this documentary is our first step to stop cruelty to cattle, while being transported in millions to Kerala. It is our earnest desire that viewers should protest strongly through emails and letters to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu to stop allowing Tamil Nadu from being a transit point for illegal cattle mafia. All that we ask the Government is to enforce the rule of law - the laws pertaining to transportation of Animals, true to its words, spirit and content. The Government should rescue the animals and house them in Temple lands endowed by generous devotees for running Goshalas. Every temple in Tamil Nadu should house such abandoned cattle and nourish them through the rest of their lives in Goshalas earmarked as endowments for such purpose.
We made a documentary titled: "Their Last Journey" - Cattle trafficking to Kerala. This is the Tamil version.
Please forward it to as many people as you know. This would help in spreading awareness of this noble cause."

Tamil film 500 & 5 - World Premiere at the IFFK 2012

Soooo...we got this bit of an exciting news to share! 500 & 5 has been Officially Selected to screen at the 17th International Film Festival of Kerala 2012, IFFK under the Focus Section's Top Angle-Indian Cinema category between 7th and 14th December in Trivandrum. This will be the World Premiere of our film, that is, the first-ever Public Premiere of 500 & 5, open to international audiences. Apparently, it's the only Tamil film among this year's selection. We are double excited because this is Accessible Horizon Films production's 2nd film to be screened there(earlier it was Metroxical New York at the IDSFFK). So folks, we guess the release of 500 & 5 is going to be after the festival screening. Delegate registration for IFFK-2012 begins soon at their website. So you can book your tickets through www.iffk.in.
The full list under the Focus Section's Top Angle-Indian Cinema category are Drapchi by Arvind Iyer, Koormavatara by Girish Kasaravalli, 500 & 5 by Raghu Jeganathan, Deol by Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni, Miss Lovely by Ashim Ahluwalia, The Ballad of Rustom by Ajita Suchitra Veera, Touring Talkies by Gajendra Ahire. Looking forward to Miss Lovely, which if you already didn't know is an Official selection at Cannes 2012.
For more info on the film, check out the film's website www.500n5themovie.com or the FB page 500 & 5 or www.AccessibleHorizonFilms.com

Getting your movie ready for DCP

Getting your movie ready for DCP

Congrats you have come this far in making your movie and you are only few more steps away from watching them on big screens. 

A. Video

B. Audio

A. Video

For DCP, the movie needs to be of resolution 2048 x 858 for scope and 1998 x 1080 for flat. Assuming you have your video's resolution as 1920 x 1080, you need to modify its size to one of the above formats. Real Image in Chennai accepts only DPX Log files. I used After Effects to do this conversion and it was real simple.

If you have not conformed your video to 24 fps then read this article to convert your movie from 23.976 fps to 24 fps. 

Software Required

Adobe After Effects 

Steps

1. Create a Composition with the following settings. Hopefully you have already converted your movie from 23.976 to 24p.
   
   
   

   
   

2. 2. Import the movie clip to the timeline and obviously the width of the movie and the comp is different so you need to modify the clip's width as show in the image below.Transform → Fit to Comp Width

3. When you add this to Render Queue modify the Output Settings

And under the Color Management → Cineon Settings enable the “Logarithmic Conversion” and remember to choose an output directory with enough space on your disk and then render.

Note: Now after the DPX log files are created you can try and import the DPX log sequence into your After Effects timeline. Don't get panic when you see the images are washed out. The Log files are washed out and if you want to see the true color apply the "Cineon Effects" and you will see the true color.

B. Audio

Now that the video conversion is over, audio is lot simpler but it requires couple of softwares to get the work done. Refer to this article for other ways to convert.

Using Logic Pro

1. Create a logic project and set the Frame Rate under Synchronization tab to 24 fps. Import the movie that you converted from 23.976 fps to 24p whose audio will be in 48048 Hz. 

2. Open the movie

      File - Open Movie

3. Export Audio from Video

      File - Import Audio from Movie

4. Bounce

       File - Bounce 

      

Now you are all set and your movie (both audio and video) is ready for DCP. 

Are all your eggs in the Facebook basket?

So it turns out that there's a storm brewing around Facebook's new policy decisions. This would primarily concern those who've used FB on a very regular basis and are trying to use it for professional or business or direct/indirect personal/business reasons or whatever. Before you read on, check out this article 'Facebook, I want my friends back' linked to the Dangerous Minds website. To be honest, we aren't really invested that much in Facebook even though we(AccessibleHorizon FilmCollective) started our FB account primarily for our artistic projects(I don't have a personal account for myself). We try and post regularly about our projects and 'hope' to get some traffic out of it. Our 'fan-base' isn't that much in the sense that we'd lose out on too many promotional opportunities, because we haven't gone full-out on Facebook.
But obviously, there are millions of people, who are FB users, that have been relying on it so much that virtually their 'online' existence depends on it. So, the 'bait-and-switch' model that it has implemented now, is inevitably creating a bit of a furor among users. I personally am trying to figure out whether this is a good thing or a bad thing; that is whether FB was right in their part to charge their users for their posts, or if they are wrong, like many users feel. As the post and the subsequent comments point out, it affects a lot of the smaller companies and people who are grappling with this change and trying to figure out how to go forward.
I ain't going into too much detail, coz we already know the pros and cons. And I don't want to take a cynic's stance and say 'it is what it is, so deal with it'. Of course, I imagine that's what it eventually would boil down to. But I figure just one underlying thing in all this free-market, business model approach or whatever - that as users, we have to ask ourselves the question of 'Are all our eggs in the Facebook basket?'. Meaning, whatever happens, are we going to or rather, should we keep and/or safeguard our eggs(our promotional, marketing or business out-reach) strictly and only within our FB basket? Time and again, the 'free-market' economy has taught us to be wary of things like this. So why fall for the same again? If we were to operate our ventures online, it would be smart to spread out on several platforms and keep Facebook as 'one' of the baskets. Kinda like spreading your 'investment' across several platforms. Just something to ponder about.

Save Indian Independent Cinema!

Folks, as many of you may already know of this or have heard about this, we still wanted to share this across to you in the hope of supporting Alternative, Independent Cinema in India. Recently we have seen a spate of parallel and alternative and experimental cinematic content oozing into the mainstream Indian film consciousness and we only hope it gets bigger and better. This has to be brought into the mainstream school of thought and we have to encourage people to support content that is typically created with minimal resources and under extreme circumstances. The article and the petition in itself has valid points towards helping Independent artists, performers, filmmakers, technicians et al, and what you can do to propagate it. So if you can take the time off to sign this petition, you may become a part of the change that you've always wanted to be.
Here's the link: https://www.change.org/en-IN/petitions/save-indie-cinema
Pic courtesy: Change.org

Converting audio from 23.976 fps to True 24 fps

We've often had problems getting the Audio ready for the final DCP output. This one took us a while to figure out, because we had to redo this after our submission for DCP syncing which didn't work out the first time. This is sort of a late post that we had compiled a while back.

Converting audio from 23.976 to True 24 fps (48000 Hz to 48048 Hz) 

Method 1: Using Wave Agent
Method 2: Using Logic Pro

Method 1: Using Wave Agent

Note: Do not try to verify audio sync in FCP or any other video editing software, always CHECK using Pro-Tools or Logic for True 24fps audio sync

Import the audio file (preferably make a copy of the original audio) you want to convert into the WaveAgent. After importing convert the audio, modify the Sample Rate to 48048 and Frame Rate to 24 ND. 

Fixing the sample rate from 48048 to 48000 using Barba Batch

1. Add the audio file that needs to be fixed from 48048 to 48000 Hz.

2. Click on the Conversion tab and select "Wave (.wav), 48000.00 Hz, interleaved

3. Click on Output tab and choose an output directory and click START.

Method 2:  Using Logic Pro

1. Create a logic project and set the Frame Rate under Synchronization tab to 24 fps. Import the movie that you converted from 23.976 fps to 24p whose audio will be in 48048 Hz. 

2. Open the movie

      File - Open Movie

3. Export Audio from Video

      File - Import Audio from Movie

4. Bounce

       File - Bounce

      
If you think there's a better workflow, please share it with us. We are pretty positive there must be, but...

Hey '500 & 5'...whaz cookin'?

Guess this is one of the longest gaps in our blog this year, though a pretty intended one. Earlier, I had never believed in 'tunnel-visions' like when being engrossed in something that consumes you in your entirety. You know, the point when you start believing that you've figured everything about it until a huge wall stands in front of you, blocking you and daring you to go through it. Though you've encountered many like these and have virtually bulldozed your way around through sheer grit and work alone, there are a few stages where no amount of bulldozing or grit or bloody, sweaty work can get you through...except...yes, except a little detachment from it. 
A little time away from the madness of it all (the tunnel-vision), can help in getting some clarity as to where we are headed. Because that little time-out can show you perspectives you've never ever have imagined - the view from outside the tunnel, from the mountain above it and from way above the clouds that hover above the mountains - which I guess can show you possibilities and do the trick of razing down that wall and getting through it unscathed.
So I guess that's what happened after all with 500 & 5. Right after the special private preview show in Chennai a while ago, it felt like being inside a tunnel with little perspective. So we decided on this random detachment from all things 'work' and decided to hover above the mountains, almost too literally. And just got back from a wild and totally unpredictable ride around some of the most elusive and distant lands of India. 
This above pic was taken during a trek(with the Canon 7D) - by far the most difficult and can I say dangerous - in our lexicon of treks. But one thing is certain, if you ever think someone needs a lesson in humility, you should take them on an unplanned and reckless travel around the vastness and humongous-ness of the mountains that touch the clouds. Now that we are back, I ain't saying we now got all the answers as to what the next step would be, but the head feels clear and thinking afresh, my friend, opens up possibilities.

Nothingness of the Other kind

What do you write when you got nothing to say or write? How do you put that 'nothingness' onto the paper or onto this....screen, when you know that it's not the 'nothingness' you got in there, but something...and that something just wouldn't come out. On the one hand, that something is either too small to manifest itself because it seems so insignificant or (on the other hand) too huge that you cannot possibly contain it in words. The most usual thing/s that you would do typically consists of the following. 

You wait a little. You take long pauses. You stare at something so long that it blurs out in your vision. Then you fix your gaze at something else. Blur out again. Then you make a feeble attempt at voicing out something which turns out to be crap. Then you erase it. You start all over again.

I guess this is that stage of nothingness of the 2nd kind - the nothingness that's loaded with that huge something which couldn't possibly be contained...ergo...can't be written about. So, as I contemplate on this and life's other meaningless shit, we, the collective, are working towards giving closure to the project that needs one. Can't really tell if this closure would be a definitive one...yet!

Converting the movie from 23.976 fps to 24 fps

To convert your movie from 23.976 fps to 24 fps, use the "Cinema Tools" application.

1. Open Cinema Tools application

NOTE: It is a good idea to backup the files before you confirm them. 

2. Batch Conform the folder where the movie file resides. A pop-up window will appear, choose 24 fps and that is it. Seriously that is it, all the movie files under this folder are already conformed to 24 fps.
File -> Batch Conform

3. Go to the folder that you chose in the previous step, you will see a conform.log file and a "conformed 24.0" folder, under this folder it will have all the movies conformed to 24 fps.

4. In order to confirm it, just right click on the movie and open with "Cinema Tools"
Under the "Analysis" tab see the details of the movie and if you see Frame Rate as 24.00FPS. Voila.

5 Tech. things we're onto right now for '500 & 5'

Though we are compiling other blog posts(for the tech-inclined) on various technical stages in detail, here's a little glimpse into the madness of the film's technical universe. For the last 3-4 days, 3 MacBook Pros are processing overtime simultaneously connected and mixed and matched to 7 to 8 External hard-drives. The following 5 is just a little peek into our state of mind.

1. Getting the DCP Log files ready for conversion

2. Updating the Censor warning Title cards onto the Reels

3. Readying up the DVD Compression files

4. Syncing and final Output of Audio Files for 24fps 

5. Syncing the Subtitles for Output to DCP

And much more...(The above pic is a 15-sec frame preview from the start of the movie - for Cigarette and Alcohol warning as suggested by the Censor Board - what we are adding now. If anyone needs to put it up in your film in the future, don't keep searching. Just download this and use it)

Enter the Censors - 500 & 5 scores a clean 'A'

Bells, Whistles and Applause!!!!! Folks...we got some 'A'mazing news...or should we say 'A'wesome news, or should it be 'A'stounding news. Alright, alright, alright too much drum-roll not needed for this...since we've never gotten 'A' grades in high school or college or where-ever...we figured we'd score an 'A' at least in...well...our film. Yes, my sweet, dear, lovely people...'500 & 5' just returned from the Censor Board for Film Certification this week and we've been awarded an 'A' certificate. Yes, not U/A, but a loud, unadulterated, clean 'A' without any cuts.

Our dear examining committee members from the CBFC were too nice a people. We had a nice long chat for almost an hour as to the justifications of what Indian society deems censorable or uncensorable. Obviously, we expounded on the necessity of certain scenes(like smoking, drinking, drug abuse, kissing etc - really basic stuff, hellloooo) and the significance of an open-thought-based society. The board members agreed to everything we said but eventually (and apparently) according to them, in Indian society, we can DO certain things but NOT talk(or make movies) about it openly on grounds of the usage of our most flaunted(but under-utilized) constitutional right - freedom of speech and expression - without the content being labeled 'Adult'. Seriously, who really isn't an Adult these days. I can probably write volumes on this but...please remind us later as to what the topic of our discussion/justification was, after you see the movie.

The board members said some surprisingly flattering things about '500 & 5' and that though our style of expression deserved a creative merit, it would not be understood the way it is supposed to be, by the society at large, and that was why it had to be for a restricted audience. Don't know if I concur on that, but in my opinion, in our current zeitgeist, our prevailing collective consciousness is by far the most intelligent it's ever been. So without any pretense of knowing what the audience or people in our society want, we want to just create and let it out in whatever way it can be possible. A mere 'label' or 'certificate' is not gonna change anything. So...anyways, since we don't really care about what certificate we get(it never really was an issue other than the fact that we are NOT tax-exempt), at no point do we(as creators) want to hold back because filmmaking, according to us, is first a purgatory and deeply personal Art form and then...everything else. The board actually did not want us to cut because they felt it would dilute the intensity of the expression.

Anywho peeps, here we are...crossing the next milestone of a 'seemingly' long journey. But wait, we have a moment for...Wooo-hooo! Can we hear you say it?....Thank you. And Actors and contributors and friends of '500 & 5'! You can now proudly and emphatically say that you are part of a larger grown-up, Adult movement that's happening in society and blah, blah...ok ok, again too much build-up not required. Sooo...Howzatttttt???!!!

(For all things '500 & 5' in our blog so far, please go to the '500 & 5' tag on your right, or click HERE)

5 things you didn’t know about the Pre-production of ‘500 & 5’

Well, it all has to be in 5's right? So...here they are...

1. The thematic core of ‘500 & 5’ was conceived one frustrated evening, in December 2010. Obviously, this frustration was a result of long, tiring periods of our ideological/philosophical ramblings about all things under the sun, especially creating a film independently and that too about money.
2. Initially, since we planned on this being a low-budget, independent film/s(it still is), we figured we’d hardly cast 5 to 10 people to illustrate the story. But eventually, it turned out to be a 90-member casting coup.
3. The entire script(actually 5 scripts with a total of about 90 pages) from ‘FADE IN’ to ‘FADE TO BLACK’ was completed in 15 days (my personal best in terms of speed, coz usually I take months of research, writing and rewriting). The script was finalized and greenlit on 11^th February, 2011. Of course, the incubation process took a little longer and constant tweaking was done to the finished script till the shooting stage.

4. By early February 2011, we had started fabricating/designing and mechanically creating various equipments ourselves because we couldn’t afford to rent out from high-end production houses. With help from Youtube tutorials, local blacksmiths, carpenters and mechanical workshop technicians, Dass, Ramesh and Toot-machi over-saw and managed this entire mechanical process. We literally created Steadicams, Wheel-cam rigs, Track dolly and table-top dolly from scratch for real cheap but of awesome quality. For example, we made our Steadicam for a mere 5000 Rupees when the ‘Rental cost’ of a professional Steadicam is 10,000 Rupees per day in Chennai.

5. 500 & 5 is actually a crowd-funded film thereby reaffirming that this is a truly democratically-made film. The funding for this film was put together in exactly 9 phone calls. Though right now we can’t discuss in detail about it, we’ll share more later.

Pictures: 1. Dass testing the Camera-rig we made. 2. Our first shooting schedule in Bangalore for Adi(Me, Dass, Ramesh & Shankar). 3. Dopehouse scene with Dass holding the wheelcam rig that we created. (In it, me, Pradeep and King Sek.)