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Beauty and the bruiser

A still from China Gate. Click for bigger pic!

Rajkumar Santoshi's China Gate has constantly been in the news for various reasons -- for its unusual casting, because its storyline resembled that of Sholay, because it had great the rustic visuals, and, not to forget, because of its huge cost -- set to finally hit between Rs 170 million and Rs 180 million.

Off the screen too, it was equally controversial, after heroine Mamta Kulkarni's accident during the horse-riding scenes which finally led to a battle with the director that ended in the former walking out...

Finally, just when the picture, which is dedicated to Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, seemed done, the director decided he needed a song with Urmila Matondkar put in to deliver some lacking oomph.

That's the background we had in mind as we walked into Mehboob Studios, Bandra. The shooting floor quivers to the loud-playing lyrics of Meri patli kamar, meri tirchi nazar. And dancing to the music are the dance director and a lady assistant with a lot of character artists ignoring them and chatting in the small groups.

Pretty Urmila, covered to the full by a rather faded cotton chunni, enters left. Her make-up and hair-do look like they are straight from a village -- there are a lot of tattoos in view and beads aplenty in the hair. The music stops, only to start again for the final shot.

The dance director, still a little winded by all the exertion, tells her a few things the lady nods agreement. The make-up man rushes up as usual to prettify her further, the girl anxiously checks her costume jewellery in the mirror before tossing the chunni to her assistant. And then alone is she revealed in all her beauty.

A still from China Gate. Click for bigger pic!

There's the near-perfect figure we've seen many times before on screen, clad in a red blouse that parts behind to show off her back and a colourful ghagra worn below the navel -- complete with oxidised jewellery.

Since these are the rehearsals, Amrish Puri too materialises from somewhere and joins the girl. Wearing a khaki shirt, striped khaki trousers and a black hat, the man works on his upper body movements like an experienced dancer.

This set is part of the larger 'village' where the movie has being shot. There are many small huts -- the authentic thing since they too are made of mud. The colours are right -- every house has a kandeel, the paper variety used during Diwali and there's a lot of dry grass around, besides one colourfully painted bullock cart. But right now, from the camera placements, it is clear that only mug shots are being taken.

The director now arrives in a hurry, aware the shoot is held up, and tumbles into a chair for the take. The music begins yet again, the steps are repeated, but the unlocatable dance director's voice, sounding disembodied and low through a mike, stops the heroine. There is some problem with where she's looking; she'll have to look higher if she is supposed to be looking at Amrish Puri.

We try to see where the dance director is, and find him standing right behind Santoshi and Viju Khote. He's the same man who choreographed Mamta's number in Ghata, Dil dil dil, we are told. We are duly impressed.

A still from China Gate. Click for bigger pic!

After some changes, the shot is finally canned, so we scuttle along in the wake of the director, who we find disappearing into the innards of a make-up van followed by another journalist. Dashed!

We turn around to see Urmila, modestly covered up again in that chunni, enter her own van and shut the door.

We try to enjoy the tea provided, our attention glued on the door of director's van while the set members move props around the place.

Half-an-hour later, the director steps out but heads for the sets immediately. We envy the lucky lady who's putting away a dictaphone looking very satisfied and then turning to the PR and discussing pictures.

Once the PR is finished with her, he tells us the director has being informed of our presence and that we could meet him after the next shot. We get chatting again but even gossip proves an artificial stimulant, proving incapable of lifting that pall of boredom about us. So, to divert our minds, we walk in onto the production floor again.

Everything -- the camera placement, the angle, even the artistes -- has changed. It looks like a long shot since behind the heroine there are a group of young heroes-in-waiting posing in preparing for the shot.

As the music starts all the bodies sway to the catchy music by Anu Malik. As soon as the shot gets over we go the director to remind him about us. He tells us to follow him and we do.

A still from China Gate. Click for bigger pic!

Finally, we are in that make-up van. We make ourselves comfortable and the director apologising to us is music to the ear. And we feel very generous indeed when we tell him it's all right, that we had, after all, dropped in without an appointment.

The fact is, even if we had an appointment, we might have had to wait, we know from previous experience. But, of course, we don't tell him that.

We ask him about the addition of the song. He says he was going through the rushes in the second half of the film and found it heavy with drama and action. ''We thought a lighter moment was necessary," he says. And Anu Malik, a close friend, had this tune ready.

"I heard it, I liked it and decided to keep it for the film, even though Jatin-Lalit were to do the song earlier,'' he says.

But why call in another heroine when glamour already exists in the film, we ask, avoiding direct mention of his differences with Mamta.

''The situation & the mood of the song does not go with Mamta's character in the film. So we wanted a beautiful heroine who's also a good dancer. It was nice of Urmila to agree to do the number.''

Would Urmila be his next heroine, we inquire, since Mamta, who earlier did only a song in Ghatak, was his heroine in this one.

"I've great respect for Urmila as an actress so, if in future, the requirement comes for her presence, she will be there in my film, but not because of this song...''

We ask him if Urmila's presence is intended to help the market value of the film, and he shudders a little.

"Of course not! The film was sold long ago and people who have seen the rushes have appreciated it. But the song will help us in getting publicity on various channels, helping us get people to notice the film.'' And, going by the music, it could draw attention to the film, we agree.

A still from China Gate. Click for bigger pic!

But doesn't the plot of ex-militarymen teaming up to eliminate the village goon fly in the face of the gooey love stories shot abroad that are in vogue now. He isn't worried. ''It's not important where you shoot -- all these films look the same, even the heroes can't differentiate between their movies.

"If (Ram Gopal Verma's) Satya wasn't different it wouldn't have worked. People want something different and that's what my film will give them.''

Even the visuals are unique, he says, shot in the Gangavati village in Karnataka, where he relied on the rocky terrain to provide the gritty texture that provides the backdrop to his story.

''We didn't want any greenery, so we removed it before the shooting began, and painted the whole place with the desired earthy tones. We built the whole town as per our requirements, spending some 15 million on that. The time of the film is very contemporary, the ambience is modern only its set in the village.''

Unlike what is touted as its model, Sholay, it has no "saleable" star. So even if the film is sold, what will draw the audience?

''China Gate lack conventional stars but it has a lot of popular and talented actors who have done their parts superbly. It's certainly a risk, or call it an experiment.'' Even as an experiment, it has done justice to all the actors with the three hour time limit cinema provides. He believes that justice is done by the strength of the role not by the length.

''For every character, there is a high point and where he can carry the story ahead,'' he says.

Having finished our round of questions, we cap the pens and wish him all luck -- with such an experiment, however good, he may well need it. We step out and find the whole unit outside, waiting for him to pop out. Santoshi scuttles off to work. And we start packing away the dicataphone, satisfied smiles on our faces.