From the time a movie is in its conception stage till it hits the screens and even after that, a director has to dedicate all his time to a movie. It can be a tedious job, but director Nitin Kumar Gupta, the man behind movies like “Sayonee”, “Death of an Ambassador” and “Hannah – Love Story of the Devil”, revealed that he enjoys every moment of the process of filmmaking.
Asked which is the most difficult part of his job, he said, “I don’t have one because I find each step immensely satisfying. Filming action scenes is the most enjoyable. Editing, however, is extremely tedious as every scene has multiple ways to edit. But dubbing is the most boring part for me.”
Well, a director also runs on tight schedules, and Nitin shared, “The entire schedule is etched out in my head before starting production. It must be on paper, but it must be in my head, memorized and ready for changes. On paper, my schedule is shot by shot and hour by hour, which I revise before the day’s filming begins. In case anything goes wrong (which it does 20 percent of the time) I immediately juggle shots, scenes, locations, or actors on the spot and put it down on paper, while forwarding it to all departments simultaneously.”
But what about budgeting? “Again, it is all about making changes on the spot and thinking from an editor’s point of view. When we were filming with 400 extras for five days for my film ‘L.A.C’, and the transport budget suddenly escalated, we took a wide shot instead with the crowd for the first two days and then close-ups with less extras in the next three days,” Nitin said.
“Talent, people handling skills, and attention to detail”, are the qualities he feels a director should have. Speaking of people handling, he also revealed what he does when an actor is being unprofessional, and said, “On the spot, I weigh the pros and cons of being strict and putting my foot down or being flexible, and let the behaviour slide.”
“If it doesn’t affect the scene and film, I mostly let it slide and then speak with the actor later about their behavior and try to understand why this happened. However, if it is affecting the scene, I am very strict and get the actor to behave as required, including reminding them of the contract,” he added.
Nitin tries to stay calm and also understand the other person’s point of view when a conflict arises on the sets. He further added, “Knowing how each crew member reacts to which trigger is important in handling them and any conflicts. The cast and crew are as passionate about the project as the director, so once they understand what’s good for the project they cool down.”
He shot for his film “Sayonee” in Russia and said that he believes in doing an extremely detailed recce. “In order of priority I look for – availability of maximum locations from the script, availability of extras, closeness to medical facilities, availability of additional crew, ease of transporting cast, crew and equipment and weather,” he added.
However, Nitin revealed while shooting for “Sayonee” he miscalculated the weather, and said, “When we went in April it was still freezing, so I decided we would not be able to pull off some beautiful shots and so took some required scenes and then travelled back in June again for the glamorous shots.”
