Chhaayaageet #21 - "Can we shoot this song when the weather gets better?"
It's a tough outdoor schedule. The unit is on location to film a song. In the peak of summer in May.
The actress is hoping for a reprieve from the filmmaker. She has worked with him before in his very first directorial venture. Then again in his second film, when he cast her in a double role. This is her third film with him, again with her in the female lead.
"Can we shoot this song when the weather gets better? How about December?"
Not possible.
The location is as barren as it gets. The hot summer sun is blazing down everything it's got.
The terrain is very rocky with not much foliage or shade. You can't walk on those rocks when the sun is overhead.
And the actress has to perform a dance number. Being a consummate dancer with many years of classical dance training, the dance steps are not a problem at all. The problem is to keep dancing in the scorching sun.
“Why can’t we shoot this in good weather?”, she persists.
“Because I want that expression on your face of torture due to extreme heat”, the filmmaker replies.
He explains the sequence to her.
The villain and his goons have tied her lover to pillars with a gun pointed at him. As long as her feet move, he breathes. If her feet stop moving, they shoot.
At some point in the song, she has to dance up a large rock. The villain is going to signal his henchmen to throw bottles at her feet.
She has to keep dancing over shards of glass.
And no, we cannot shoot this song when the weather gets better.
The actress' mother is on location with her daughter. Over a side conversation, mom comes up with an ingenious idea.
"Why don’t you wear a skin toned sock with a pad that no one can see, and it would be easier to dance on the hot rocks", she suggests to her daughter.
Between mother and daughter a plan is afoot!
As the scene gets ready, the director sees her wearing something on her feet.
"Er, what is that you are putting on?"
"Nothing", she tries to say nonchalantly.
"Please, you are not putting anything on your feet. I want you out there dancing bare feet", the strict taskmaster orders.
The song took ten days to be filmed.
O jab tak hain jaan
Jaane jahan
Mein nachoongi
Hema Malini and Ramesh Sippy had worked together in Andaz, and Seeta Aur Geeta prior to Sholay.
The Bangalore weather proved to be fickle during the shoot of this song. Days would be steaming hot, the night would bring rain. In the morning, the rocks would look damp instead of dry. So the production unit would dry the rocks with fans and blowers.
For long shots, Ramesh Sippy insisted Hema Malini wear pads on her feet because he did not want her to suffer too much. However Hema Malini was uncomfortable wearing those. A spot boy would hover just on the edge of the frame with bucket of water to splash on her feet as soon as a shot was done.
They used plastic as mock glass, however for the shot where the bottle breaks at her feet, a real bottle was used. A few splinters hurt Hema Malini’s feet when the bottle broke near her.
Hema Malini danced through blisters and cuts on her feet. She considers this song as her most difficult song to shoot, as she narrated on an episode of Indian Idol. She is the epitome of beauty and grace!
Amjad Khan's expressions in this song are priceless. The camera angles of Ramesh Sippy and cinematographer Dwarka Divecha are beautiful. So is the editing if you pay attention to how the various shots of Gabbar and his goons are mixed in with the music of the song.
The tune of this song seems to be inspired by the Iranian pop artist Googosh's song Jomeh, which was recorded in 1971, a few years before Sholay. Could this have inspired RD to create something beautiful of his own?
Music: RD Burman
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
*ing: Hema Malini, Dharmendra, Amjad Khan
Director: Ramesh Sippy
Film: Sholay (1975)
References:
* Indian Idol episode with Hema Malini
* The Making of Sholay by Anupama Chopra