Shot by the editor Jenif and edited by the cinematographer Ramchander.

In true indie spirit, Prasanna’s first take at making music for a feature film. ‘ I don’t have any major experience! You can just say I am relatively a newcomer. My experience is little apart from playing for a few Indian Instrumental Ensemble shows at the National University of Singapore Center For the Arts.’

So how does an electrical engineering graduate from the National University of Singapore morph so effortlessly into the role of music director for Shilpa’s pet project? ‘ I had worked with her on her musical project before many years back, titled Bollywood Beats,’ he explains, referring to Shilpa’s 2006 musical staged at Jubilee Hall at the Raffels Hotel, ‘I had been interested in composing music for a while and this was a great opportunity for me to explore some stuff that I hadn’t done before.’

So after a very pleasant experience making music for Bollywood Beats, Prasanna was more than up for the challenge of working on a full-length project. ‘ She sounded very passionate about Mausams & we had a chat about making this film happen.’ And boy, did he make it happen! Not only did he work on the complete background score and soundtrack for the film, Prasanna even managed to record veteran Carnatic music singer Bombay Jayashree for the theme song of Mausams. ‘ I had a great experience recording Bombay Jayashree for one of the songs,’ he says emphatically, ‘ She is a beautiful singer; I am happy that she agreed to lend her magical voice to the theme of the film.’

Upon graduation in 2008, Prasanna decided to follow his passion and successfully made the switch from engineering to working full time in the creative industries. Working from his base at Tatya Creatives in Chennai, Prasanna has composed 4 songs for Mausams which are currently in the final stages of production. He has also scored the background music and overseen all aspects of sound design for the movie. ‘Shilpa’s intention was to do a simple, enjoyable, feel-good film,’ he explains when asked how he filters the essence of Mausam’s into its music, ‘As the title ‘Mausams’ suggests, it is a ‘Hinglish” film; people speak in English but the film has Indian sensibilities. I hope the music reflects that as well.’

As an experience, Prasanna insists that Mausam’s has been one of his most special projects to date and plainly states his admiration for Shilpa, ‘ It is probably the first for all of us to push ourselves, our limits and do something that we have always loved to do. For any project to do well, the drive and inspiration has to come from the source, the director/producer of the film. Shilpa’s conviction has been extra-ordinary, which has inspired everyone to contribute in their own way.’ Amen to that!

When asked about what next after Mausams he says he is hardly thinking beyond Mausams ‘ Right now, I just want the music to be perfect for the film.’

You can listen to the Mausams theme song composed by B. Prasanna and sung by Bombay Jayashree here.

By
Aparna Nambiar

Naren and Poorna are both very different individuals in real life vs. the characters they’ve played in Mausams. Naren plays a young man striving to make it big in a non conventional career path (in reality, he is reasonably happy with his conventional career choices).

Poorna, on the other hand, plays a young girl who is fairly eager to be married. In reality she is already married and insists that not being so would not have made her the desperate bundle of nerves that her character turns into. There’s much more to life, she insists. (I already like her!). Read on to hear what they have to say about their debut project – Mausams.

Me: As we start, I’m going to ask you the 1st question I usually ask the Mausams cast during interviews. Have you acted before?

Naren: Not really. Not at this scale anyway. I’ve done plays in school and more recently in NUS (National University of Singapore). But never something with so much screen time, and never in an actual movie!

Poorna: Ditto. I’ve done stuff in school that doesn’t quite qualify as something to feature on my acting resume. I’m amazed that Shilpa actually had the faith that I’d be able to do justice to her vision for this character.

Me: So how did you both stumble upon the project that is Mausams? How do you know Shilpa?

Naren: Shilpa and I go back almost a decade actually. We met in Bhavan’s Thrissur where she was my senior and later in NUS as well. I didn’t really know her until she started her 1st production (a musical named Bollywood Beats) in which I played a cameo role and danced a little. More recently I acted in a short film ‘It’s Magic’ that Shilpa directed (and won a lot of accolades for, incidentally J) and I guess that’s how she thought of me when she finally decided to make her 1st proper movie.

Poorna: My story is less impressive compared to the saga of Naren and Shilpa’s association. J My husband works with Shilpa and when I moved to Singapore post my wedding, I was out of a job and dreading the empty days of job hunting. To ensure I didn’t bite his head off from the boredom of it all, he coaxed and cajoled me to go audition for this friend of his who was making her 1st movie. I almost refused, but changed my mind at the last minute given I didn’t have much else to do back then. I’m so glad I did because this movie is how learned so much and met some fabulous people, Shilpa, Naren and Shweta included.

Me: Everyone I’ve interviewed for this movie (includes the editor and Shweta Sharma who plays the protagonist) has said the exact same thing so far. This movie was founded over a series of coincidences followed by some steep learning curves!

Naren: It’s true not only of our performances, but also of our relationships on set. Barely 2 or 3 of us knew each other when we started, but all the time we spent together getting better at this acting thing has made us considerably close. Shweta plays my sister in the movie and I remember this scene where she and I confront each other and things get pretty emotional.

I recall feeling distinctly brotherly towards her and realizing that somehow over the 6 months of working together, our very equation had transformed to a much more solid one. The same thing happened with Poorna (and he proceeds to clarify that this equation developed at a much more platonic level considering they’re both in committed relationships with other people)

Poorna: (Laughing) That’s true. I must say though, that while Naren and I play the so called ‘couple’ in the movie, the most openly affectionate scenes are still with Shweta who plays his sister. I’ll tell you later about the spoofs we’ve created by turning some of their scenes into romantic ones! RamC, the cinematographer, and I had a LOT of fun doing this with every character! You can put this up as a ‘coming soon’ on the website!

Me: Err ok! Onto another classic question. Any memorable scenes from the movie?

Naren: I think my favorites were the emotionally charged ones towards the end where we finally began to feel confident about our acting abilities. Intense scenes would get wrapped in 1 or 2 takes and Shilpa would just look at us with her jaw hanging open in surprise. She never said it, but we knew the look. It basically said, “When did these amateurs get SO good!” Those were my personal favorites

Poorna: My most memorable one is this one where Naren does an almost gushy expression of “you’re gorgeous” and I’m supposed to respond in surprise with a look of utter happiness. “We want a twinkle to show in your eye!!!” was how Shilpa tried to inspire me. It failed miserably.

At this point young RamC, our cinematographer came over to me and said “Move aside. Let me show you how this is done”. Naren was flabbergasted at this turn of events and it showed in his sudden muteness. RamC then proceeded to encourage him by emphatically demanding, “Tell me I’m GORGEOUS! TELL ME!”

I’ve never seen Naren look so stumped, not even in his toughest and most emotional scenes. I laughed so much I almost cried! And I can tell you I wasn’t alone.

Me: And my very last question – tell us something we don’t know about you guys, and wouldn’t guess based on what we see in the movie.

Naren: I’m have a healthy obsession for fitness and technology – something my character doesn’t possess. Other than this I’m a pretty nice fella like the character!

Poorna: In the movie, I’m usually impeccably dressed and it’s easy to assume I’m like that in real life. But I’m the most un-girly girl I know and even the clothes and make up were a stretch for my real personality to take. This is why asking me to enact ‘twinkly eyes’ was requiring of talent I simply don’t possess!! And none of the clothes in the movie were mine. All the other girls just loaned me theirs (and some begged me to keep them at the end because they make me look nicer than my usual clothes). Hmpf!

And on that note, we wrap up the sneak peek into the life of the lead couple of Mausams. I hope to bring you more news from the team over the next few months. Highlights amongst these will include a music preview, a trailer, and if Poorna is to be believed, a couple of spoofs the cinematographer has hidden up his sleeve. Adios!

Of interest is the fact that no one on the cast of Mausams had ever met Jenif until a couple of days ago. Of even more interest is that the director, Shilpa, herself only “properly” met him 2 weeks ago (we’re discounting the breezy 3-hour meeting in Mumbai months ago when Jenif handed her the first draft of the Mausams edit) despite having worked with him on Mausams’ editing for about 4 months now.

Read on to find out more about how a UAE based Jenif has played editor in chief of Mausams that was conceptualized and shot completely in Singapore!

Note: My interview with Jenif happened under the strangest circumstances. Shilpa messaged me 2 weeks ago to say that I could interview him because he was in Singapore for about 12 days to help close out the final edits in person. I was given a number on which to call him and no more information.

I called Jenif on a Sunday morning wondering what it would be like to interview someone I have never seen or spoken to before. Jenif picked up the phone as if expecting my call and went on chat with me as if he’d known me for years.

Me: Err. Hello. Is this Jenif?

Jenif: SUDHA! Is that Sudha? Shilpa said you’d call.

Me: Indeed it is Sudha. Can you talk now? Are you in the middle of something important? (Wondering to self – ‘what do super important editor types do on a Sunday morning?’)

Jenif: Not at all! I’m just roaming around the Jurong Bird Park because I haven’t had time to see anything in Singapore for the 10 days I’ve been here. We’ve worked on the editing practically non-stop and wrapped up at 4.30 am this morning. I’m roaming around here with a friend who is far more interested in the birds than I am, so I’m MORE than happy to talk.

And THAT is how our interview began

Me: So how do you know Shilpa? Through school, college or theatre?

Jenif: I don’t really know Shilpa through any of those. In fact before this weekend in Singapore, Shilpa and I had met only briefly for a few hours in Mumbai a couple of months ago.

Me: Wait a second. Haven’t you been editing Mausams with her for the last 4 months? How could you do that without really knowing her or meeting her properly? Please do tell us how it all started.

Jenif: (Laughing) I get this precious reaction from every one who hears the story. So this is how it goes.

In 2009, Shilpa made a short movie ‘It’s Magic’ which was circulated online through Vimeo. A friend of mine saw it on Vimeo and called me to tell me about it and subsequently I visited the website and watched the movie. I was very impressed and left Shilpa a comment on the site telling her it was fantastic work and that she should never stop making movies. And she replied to that. And I replied some more. And she finally said ‘let’s stop the infinite comment thread on Vimeo and stay in touch over email’. And that, my friend, is how I got to know Shilpa.

Me: That is one hell of a story! But how did you end up on the Mausams team?

Jenif: Like I said before, Shilpa and I stayed in touch over email. She kept me updated on her upcoming project (i.e. Mausams) and I kept telling her not to worry about the setbacks and that she’d do a great job. Meanwhile I told her about my aspirations to be an editor and work in the movie industry…

Me: Wait a minute. Let’s back up here. Aspirations to be an editor? What’s YOUR story? What DO you do?

Jenif: You’re going to laugh again. I work for my family business in UAE that makes office supplies. Yes, you heard me right. Office Supplies. It’s as far from showbiz as can be. But my cousins and I have always been interested in the art of making movies and I’m sure my dad’s love for photography has a genetic role to play somewhere there. A few years back we set up our own little company called MET (Mediastation, Energy and Twism – it’s a long story. Don’t ask what or how) and started making short movies.

Our strength wasn’t really in the scripting and we knew it. What we were most fascinated by was translating ordinary scripts into extraordinary movies. We’ve participated in smaller scale contests and recently some bigger ones including Talentia – a church led contest on short movies based on the Bible. We won, by the way! Ever since, I’ve been more seriously trying to get into the Indian film industry. And that’s my story so far.

Me: Fascinating. And how does this all link back to Shilpa and Mausams?

Jenif: In course of our online exchange, Shilpa told me about this movie she was working on. It sounded exciting and I told her I’d be happy to help with editing pieces or anything else for that matter, whenever she needed it.

She agreed and started getting my help on Mausams – mainly with feedback on the script, shot breakdowns etc. It was a pretty ad hoc arrangement until 4 months ago when all the time she was spending in front of the computer doing office work and Mausams work started to take a toll on her eyes. Shilpa’s doctor was vehement about her cutting down on computer time if her eyes had to go back to normal. And this is when she basically asked me if I could take over as editor for Mausams. And I said yes!

Me: But you’re based in UAE, and she’s here in Singapore. How did you get over the sheer logistics involved?

Jenif: We piggy backed on to family members and friends travelling across countries. Shilpa sent me the initial footage tapes (35 hours worth – not little, mind you!) through my cousin who was visiting UAE and he brought them to me. I kept her updated over email and over the phone for the last 4 months as I worked through the reel trying to bring this movie to life as she intended it. The biggest challenge was how to ensure everyone gets their fair share of screen time vs. chopping off the smaller bits with the guest appearances etc. Like you, for example. You have all of 5 minutes in the movie and I was determined to keep those in.

And then a couple of months ago, it so happened that both Shilpa and I were in Mumbai at the same time. So we had a short meeting when I gave her the first cut edit. From there on it was really fine tuning of the edit, which turned out to be a nightmare when the two of us were not located in the same place. The long emails and reference edits we were sending each other were not the most efficient way to get it done. So I decided to plan a trip to Singapore to close out the final edits with her in person. And that’s why I’m here.

Me: For someone who barely even knows the director or the cast, that is an INSANE amount of effort you’ve put into this movie!

Jenif: I guess you could see it that way. Or you could see it as me treating this movie as a platform to finally showcase my work as well. I trust Shilpa and her movie making skills and I figure there’s no better project to be associated with for someone interested in serious filmmaking.

Me: And I hope this movie brings both of you the recognition you deserve. Where does the movie stand as of now?

Jenif: We’ve edited 35 hours of footage down to 2 hours. We think we have a very strong end product and this is even before sound design and music are overlaid. Mausams is well on track to premiere in April 2011, and I hope I can make it in person, no matter where in the world I am then!

And that, folks, is the amazing story of our editor Jenif. This is the Mausams pubicity team signing off until 2011. We hope to welcome you back with the story of our lead pair – Naren and Poorna. Until then, Adios!

We’re back again with more updates on Mausams. And what better way to kick off telling you more about the movie, than by telling you more about the people behind the movie, eh?

So here’s the very 1^st interview with a member of cast, Shweta Sharma (better known as Spunky), who plays Shalini in the upcoming Mausams.

I’ve known Shweta for about 6 years now and yet when I tell her I need an interview with her, she shifts ever so uncomfortably in her seat. Fidgety and nervous is something I’ve never seen Shweta look, not even before the most stressful of meetings at work. I’m amused but determined to not get in the way of her natural conversational abilities (usually read as: non stop chatterboxism)

But before that, a word about the poet. He is none other than Shivanu Shukla, the Co-Producer cum Production Assistant cum Cast Member cum Husband-to-the-Director of Mausams. And when he is not immersed in such creative activities, he pretends to be a consultant.

So here we go. Presenting to you, “Mausams Wausams”. (The poem is in Hindi, so apologies to those who don’t understand the language!)

Hello again. It’s the end of a glorious short week. To celebrate, lets get some updates on what’s going on with our home-made-full-length-movie.

1. Our character artists- Navneet Jagannatan (for those who don’t know him, you have no idea how lucky we are to get him to talk) and K.Bala, on what it’s like to be talented and underappreciated.
2. Stalking our leading lady – a peek into Shweta Sharma’s vanity case
3. The romantic pair-Naren Kolary and Poorna Prasad on their new found international heart throb status
4. Shivanu Shukla (who’s multi tasking on this project as producer, guest artist and husband of director) on waking up one morning post shoot, to find all the framed photographs in his bedroom featuring another woman
5. The supporting cast Vineeth Kumar and Uthra Parameswaran talk about work-movie-life balance (or lack thereof)
6. Dead boring technical stuff by Shilpa for the movie making geeks.
7. And then some more.