• An interview with the Writer-Director-Producer - Part I

By Gasper Crasto

Kuwait Nov 14, 2007: Since his early teens at St. Joseph's Convent, Nagoa - Verna, Salcete – Goa, T-Bush has visualized the world around him.  At the Goa College of Art he gained a strong dispersal of ideas to see things in a new vision. And to set himself on the road to professionalism and perfection, T-Bush graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts, majoring in Audio-Visual from the Goa University, India.

BLACK Premier on August 10 at the hands of the Indian Ambassador to Kuwait Shri M. Ganapati, writer-director-producer T-Bush, and T-Bush's school teacher Shri Sadashiva Joshi 

He further mastered the Art of Film Making and TV Production at the London Film School, United Kingdom with the main intention of sharing his dreams with the world.

In an interview with Gasper Crasto, T-Bush discusses his start as a filmmaker, the problems and challenges faced with bringing 'BLACK Nhesop Atanchem Fashion’ to the screen, and his other dreams and projects.

Excerpts of the interview:

Q. How was it winning the awards for your short film, 'The Letter'?

T-Bush: 'The Letter' brought me a lot of attention. The short film was somewhat an obsolete art form and I was afraid that if someone asked me to make a feature film, I wouldn't know what to do. A feature film requires lot of planning and professionalism. I feel good to have followed up 'Letter' with a full length E-Cinema.

Q. What compliments did you get for Letter?

T-Bush: Many people appreciated me saying it was an inspiring film. The recognition I got as a filmmaker after 'The Letter' is in itself the greatest compliment.

Q. Who are the filmmakers that you admire?

T-Bush: Steven Spielbierg and James Cameron

Q. Why did you decide to pursue film?

T-Bush: My main aim to pursue films is to give Konkani films their rightful place on the cinema map of the world.

Q. What is the duration of BLACK? How long did it take you to shoot the film?

T-Bush: It is 3:00 hours. We started the shoot on 13 November 2006. Shooting and editing completed on July 15th 2007. It was a marathon effort given the fact that we had to do the production without the use of any studio sets. I knew it was going to be complex, as there are lot of Goa oriented scenes. It was a rather long shoot but with such energy we didn't even notice the time pass.

Q. One camera, one take... What was the challenge and how do you go about making a movie like that?

T-Bush: The biggest challenge was really to get the cast and crew together despite facing the fact that an important artiste was missing on the sets on the day of the shoot. If I had to pack the shoot the movie would take a long time to finish. Every artiste in the film realized what we were trying to accomplish. They had to understand the shot in order to do their part well, and it took every person on the film to make it work. Other than that, we were faced with the normal challenges --  technical glitches, waiting for hours, getting the set together, running around, etc.

I went about the film with careful planning and a very talented cast who trusted my vision. They knew I was utterly committed to getting this vision on film (or hard drive in this case!). I've spent many hours doing tests and rehearsing so all the problems could be worked out in advance.

Q. How easily did the casting of BLACK come along?

T-Bush: Well, that was not much of a problem. We chose from the artistes who approached us and were right for the role. The storyline demanded actors who looked appropriate to suit the character. All of them are terrific. I was amazed at some of the amateur artistes as I never expected them to deliver such a fine histrionics. You would not see some of these actors in BLACK but the character.

The leading characters are always highlighted while in the very heart of action. They have taken special care in enhancing the mood of the film. We all worked a lot! It is a script studded with different sequences, a real plot, dialogues and genuine scenes, not just dancing or guys banging each other like in Hindi movies. For several hours, I had them all rehearse, one after the other.

Q. Where was most of the post-production process done?

T-Bush: Except for music, everything is done in Kuwait. Flat-out. The technical challenge was to be able to create spectacular things, and come up with the right places to do them and film them. There are things in the movie that don't exist in real life: the walls, backdrop of Goan scenes... everything that we didn't film in real.

Q. At any time during the production, was there ever any doubt that you could pull it off?

T-Bush: I was pretty confident in myself that I would eventually complete the movie.

Q. If you were to sum up one difficulty, and one thing that you thought was going to be difficult but wasn't, what would that be?

T-Bush: I thought it was going to be difficult directing actors, but it turned out to be a total delight.

Q. How was it directing some established actors?

T-Bush: A motion picture is made up of more than one character. Each one enacts the situation differently. The director comes in, and he's supposed to take all of his characters and hone them down. If you're not in control of the direction, you're going to have anywhere from two to ten different points of views of a movie, and nobody focusing in on the same. Some actors just won't bend, and then it's a different issue altogether. You have to find ways of putting your words in their mouth and letting them say it back at you and say, 'That is super.' I did not lock horns with any actors, they were all very supportive.

Q. Were there any difficulties in finding original sound elements?

T-Bush: No, they just had to be brought up to my standards and liking. I actually took a group of musicians, who play at funerals in Goa, to the studio to record the some music needed for the movie. The original art of that music cannot be brought out by the new genre of musicians.

Music plays an important role in BLACK because the story is based on a musician. Although the film is shot entirely in Kuwait, the story and background depicts Goa. I have taken special precautions in music, camera and costumes department to make sure that the everything of Goa is reflected in the film.

Q. Tell us how the story is related in lyrics?

T-Bush: The lyrics are set to tune by Braz de Parra. I knew right away that he was really talented and he could come together with some original lyrics. He collaborated with me and allowed me to be in there and be really kind of editorial with how I wanted the words to fit in with my story. The lyrics are touching with lot of intensity.

Q. How closely does the final film match what was in your head when you wrote the script?

T-Bush: You write the script and you see it in a particular way, then it all changes when you figure out, 'Oh, we can't shoot this.' You write a script that takes place in Goa and then you realize that you have to shoot it in an advanced country like Kuwait where there are either high rise buildings or desert, highways and Arabic signals. You thought you were going to cast the best professionals and it ends up being mostly amateurs and those available at hand.

There's some stuff in the screenplay that was never shot. Whatever it was when I wrote the script, there had to be changes here and there and things are slightly different, but it's pretty close. I had put lot of efforts in my earlier venture 'All the Best'. What I have accomplished in BLACK is not as I anticipated but I am fully satisfied with the final outcome.

I don't think any film I ever make will match the screenplay perfectly because I think things evolve on the set. You don't need this scene, or all of a sudden you need a new one, or the dialogue's going to completely change because some actors are not available or out of station on holidays or vacation. Sometimes, what's exciting is to see what comes out different. I had to limit myself because of many such restrictions.

Q. What went wrong with your previously announced 'All the Best'?

>>> TO BE CONCLUDED IN PART - II

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