‘Forgot to say cut on my first day of shooting’

When the film Jhankaar Beats is mentioned, Sujoy Ghosh takes a pause and says, “I became a director with the film.” The 2003 film starring Sanjay Suri, Rahul Bose, Shayan Munshi, Juhi Chawla, Rinke Khanna and Riya Sen, completes 14 years today.

As it was his very first directorial, the memories of the whole experience are clearly etched in Sujoy’s mind. He remembers the very first day of shooting when he actually forgot to say ‘cut’, as he didn’t know that he would have to say it. Juhi Chawla and Sanjay Suri, who were part of the shot, therefore continued to perform. Sujoy shares that someone from the team had to actually tell him to say cut and then explained that he is supposed to do it after every scene.

“I was learning everyday while shooting for the film— from camera panning to putting it on a trolley to using lens and a lot of other things,” he says, adding, “I am thankful that along with all the actors, the crew was also supportive. So, I basically learnt on the job. I totally enjoyed the process and still cherish the memory of making it. Also, for a firsttimer, I got four credits for the film (writer, director, screenplay and story), not bad.”

Jhankaar Beats was shot during 2001 and 2002 and released the next year. Another thing that makes the film special for Sujoy is that he built his relationship in the film industry through rejections. “Everyone, from the popular banners to the upcoming ones I approached for the film, rejected it. I guess being a new entrant I was not articulate enough to explain to them how exactly I was trying to make it. But meeting most of them just helped in building the base of the relationships,” he adds.

The film was made on an extremely tight budget. So choreographer Terence Lewis, who also started his Bollywood journey with the film, was usually given a whole or half a day to choreograph songs. “While working with us, he got an offer from the production house. And he had once come and told me how he was given at least five to six days to choreograph songs. He told me that he didn’t know what to do with so many days,” smiles Sujoy who has also directed films such as Kahaani (2012) and Te3n (2016).