What happens next?

And so today wersquove closed in on a year since Bugs Bhargava Krishna and I began our journey the destination being my debut film Bugrsquos fourth titled Pune Highwaymdashit was last September that wersquod nailed the screenplay dialogue was being pennedldquoIs the film in Englishrdquo ldquoNo Hindirdquo ldquoBut dude your Hindi sucksrdquo ldquoThatrsquos why we have skilled Hindi dialogue writers plus we still donrsquot have a big enough audience for Indian English cinemardquoScenes were being broken down into shots locations hunted down between Bandra and Bhor with a spattering of SataramdashAmit Sadh pitted against Jim SarbhTwelve months later the edit is lockedAnd yet the finishing line is still some distance away Fascination still abounds as the sound engineer is busy analysing footage figuring a sound designmdashdo we need to dub not a great option as actors are rarely able to reproduce the same emotion in a studio as they do on a set with sync soundWhatrsquos that final look of the film The Digital Imaging itrsquos called the grain grungy glamorous gravitas Darius Khondjirsquos work in Se7en the inspiration for our lsquorelationship mysteryrsquomdashVFX is at play the addition of effects How do we maintain that sense of foreboding to rivet an audience keep them engaged to not reach for that remote controlldquoWhich aspect of filmmaking have I found to be the most interestinghellip writing shooting and editingrdquo The three processes the mind spaces are vastly different the writerrsquos hat chalk and cheese from the directorrsquosmdashplanning whatrsquos on a page into a series of shots figuring a shooting schedule many technical decisions filmmaking as much an art form as a science But story is kingmdashthe editorrsquos cap another ball gamemdashsnipping out portions on the editing table ldquoLetting go of your darlingsrdquo as Bugs Bhargava terms it ldquoyou may love the scene but if finally it has no place in the story out it goes even if you have spent half a day shooting itrdquoldquoAnd adapting a play in this case Pune Highway to a screenplay how was thatrdquo The play restricted to one location action happens off stage in cinema you watch it happen you can show not just suggestldquoTheatre acting vs film actingrdquoIn plays acting is gentler the actor gets one month or even two months of rehearsalsThe stage actor has to live in the moment night after night he must convey absolute truth like hersquos delivering those lines for the first timeFilm in contrast is brutal actorsrsquo schedules being what they are much time spent in vanity vans preparingmdashin film acting you get one shot at a scene ldquoIn cinema you have multiple takes but no second chancesrdquo Bugs Bhargavarsquos says Therersquos no linearity to build your character day one you may shoot the climax day 41 itrsquos the actorrsquos entry invariably you work backwards learning your lines you plan how you want to act in a scene you meet your coactor on the day of the shoot a couple of rehearsals if yoursquore luckyAnd finally to that locked 120 mins of celluloidhellip decisions decisions whatrsquos in the film whatrsquos in the dustbinEvery second countshellip every framehellip do you retain do you remove do you sustain an extra second do you stay on a silencehellip no dialoguehellip an actorrsquos facehellip subtext in visual terms Spoon feed an audienceOr let them figureldquoWhenrsquos the release OTT or PVRrdquomdashthat is the question couch or cinema seat Film festivals perhaps Cannes VeniceIn OTT content rules in a cinema release collections ruleIrsquom now heading to my friend cum composer Clinton Cerejorsquos studio decisions on background score pure dialogue holding a pause underlay of a cello perhaps or crows cawing a tap dripping water a guitar solo Do you punctuate a moment or pare it down And three songs yes three songs to be recordedI return to the screenplay to see if wersquove veered from the bound document which scenes have been deleted additional dialogues rearranging making sure one last time that we have been true to the scriptTo our visionIf itrsquos not in the screenplay itrsquos not on the screenRahul daCunha is an adman theatre directorplaywright photographer and traveller Reach him at rahuldacunhamiddaycom