When the stars lined up for a minute

Every now and then life throws in a lagniappe to spice things up a bit. Dec 3, 2010 was one such day in our home.

The espresso machine was hissing away as rich dark coffee was filling up the glass carafe beneath it, a drip at a time. The aroma of Colombian coffee at 7 AM on that Friday morning was especially good as I was relishing the idea of spending a relaxed day away from work. Then the phone rang.

“Hey, this is Jay. How are you?…?” That was my friend easing me into the call with some morning pleasantries. “Last night I ran into a movie crew from India. They are in the area shooting a Tamil movie…they are looking for a house with a vaulted ceiling to shoot a few scenes in…” he continued. I wrapped my fingers around my warm cup of java, simultaneously trying to wrap my head around this strange kick off for a Friday.

“I felt that your house will be the perfect setting” Jay temptingly proposed. This was the closest that I had ever come to any personal association with cinema making; suddenly my morning brew started to taste fantastic! “If it’s okay, can I bring the producers over to scope the place?” Jay asked. I responded, involuntarily as the workings of my heart, with an unequivocal “yes!’

A couple of men showed up at my door step around 10 AM escorted by Jay. “I am Suresh Balaje” introduced one of them to me; “George Pius” said the other. They looked like real cinema pros, armed with expensive SLR cameras. They walked around my house and backyard taking pictures in assessment of their cinematic needs. After some discussions among themselves, Suresh said “we like your place. We’ll have the crew come over.”

My jaw dropped, eyes popped and I was speechless. “How many people?” I asked camouflaging my awe with a fake sense of control. “About fifty” he replied. “And the name of the movie?” I asked. “180” he replied. The idea of fifty cinema men walking into my house with all kinds of movie paraphernalia to stage a “180” warranted the immediate attention of my wife who was at work then!

The crew rolled in with their equipment – cameras, props, lights, trolleys, cables and lots of food. My garage was the first area they took over to convert into a mini cafeteria. The shutters up, the temperature in the garage quickly reached an equilibrium with the freezing cold temperature of December.

By that time my wife had rushed home from work to be a part of the unusually exciting Friday happenings. Being the awesome host that she is, she got our kitchen operations going to supplement the rations in the garage with hot coffee, iddlis and sambar (a favorite South Indian dish anyone from the Indian sub-continent will die for, especially on an icy cold day)!

The camera crew then took over our living room and within minutes transformed the setting into that of the home of Renu played by Priya Anand. Our living room became the scene of a romantic and comical encounter between the Ajay (male lead played by Siddharth), Sam (his friend played by Sri Charan), Renu (Ajay’s girlfriend) her parents and their helper, Anne.

Our bedroom downstairs became the green room. We were excited to see these celebrities walking around our house practicing and getting ready for their routine for the day. We had ample opportunities to chat with them and understand their backgrounds and experiences both as creatives and as regular humans. I connected with the producers to understand the dynamics of all that happens behind the scenes – schedules, budgets, editing, accounting and more. That’s when I learned that the location that was originally intended for these scenes to be shot that day had suddenly become unavailable. The cinema crew was desperately seeking an alternate solution to avoid significant disruptions to their schedule and budget. That’s when they met Jay.

Takes and retakes – it went on and on till about 8 PM that night. The crew was exhausted but happy at the end of a productive day. Suresh and George surprised us with a gift basket of a selection of fine Scotch whiskey to express their gratitude. It seemed like my wife and I had a small role to play in helping the movie team stay on track with their schedule and budget when their plans were flipped by 180 degrees.

When it was all said and done, the 180 team had effectively shot about a minute of footage that whole day.

As rare as it can be, the stars indeed lined up for a minute in our house on Dec 3, 2010!

Enjoy the scene shot in our house from 0:12 seconds to 1:19 seconds in the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8DQpVjD_fU

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