It was end of 1971. I was still at the Film Institute doing
my final year of sound recording course. One fine evening some of my friends
said a producer/director is visiting our Institute to search for some direction
assistants. I was very excited with the prospect of seeing a real film
producer. I wondered what producers looked like, how they spoke or behaved.
They must be very rich certainly.
That day after dinner some 7-8 of us collected on the
terrace of the hostel. We had spread few mattresses for all to sit. There he
was! The producer, Awtar Kaul. Everyone was talking to him continuously to be
noticed. So as soon as I found a gap in the conversation I slipped in my line,
“Awtar ji can I work as a sound assistant in your film?” I realized I had almost
pleaded to him. He replied, “I can’t say anything about it right now, you will
have to speak to Narinder Singh. He is doing my ‘sound’.” I was further
intimidated by Narinder Singh’s name, as he is one of our seniors and a very
busy man. I didn’t say anything further to him.
After my course was over, in May 1972 I came to Bombay. In a
few weeks I started getting messages for doing so-called clash-work. Clashes
are recording jobs where one recordist replaces another one who may be absent or
busy on that particular day.
Soon I had started doing a lot of films as an assistant to Mr.
Narinder Singh, one them being ‘Doosri Seeta’. During this film he got very
impressed with my way of working. In a few months he told me about a friend of
his, Awtar Kaul, who was about to start a film called 27 Down, starring M K
Raina and Rakhee. I thought it was amazing luck, how 27 Down came my way. I
remembered the day I had begged Awtar for it.
Muhurat shot of 27 Down was taken on 19th August
1972, at Madh Island, Malad. M K Raina and Rakhee faced the camera for the
first shot. A K Bir was cinematographer, another well-known and popular name in
art cinema along with his assistant S D Deodhar, popularly called as Debu. We studied
together for 2 years in the institute. Although era of shooting films in
B&W was long over; this film was shot in B&W on purpose.
Other than Madh we shot this film on many locations in
Bombay like, VT station, Kalyan (Om Shivpuri’s house with M K Raina), a chawl where
Raina stays on rent, a house after Raina gets married, Rakhee’s house was shot
at Shivaji Park, Dadar, Arab Bungalow… Most of the Bombay shoot Narinder ji would
attend. So, Awtar would communicate directly with Narinder Singh. They had
worked together on a film titled Bombay Talkie in 1970.
After we wrapped up all of Bombay work, we were left with a
very long and tough schedule in running trains. We shot especially in real 27
Down, train from Dadar to Banaras. It had to be done in one go. This is where
Awtar started interacting more with me and other assistants. Entire train
journey consisted of various sequences, like trains entering or leaving
stations; shot from the platforms. Bir would hide the hand-held camera in some
blanket type thing and shoot only the lens out; so, people don’t look at it.
That is why crowd shots in this film are so natural. In fact, one of ‘script notes’
of Awtar, I came across a sentence ‘close ups’ should be completely natural. We
shot scenes at Bombay’s VT station tea shop in a very bold camera set up; but
no one looked at the camera. Bir took a very dramatic and iconic shot of a
local train entering and stopping on a VT platform, hundreds of passengers
spilling onto the platform and finally turning into a large crowd. Bir had placed
the camera high up behind the huge clock at one end of platform.
Awtar also was short tempered. In the beginning of shooting
at Bhusawal, we had to shoot on the pedestrian bridge. Some of the unit members
were already there; while combing my hair I climbed up the bridge slowly. There
was enough time for the first shot as Raina wasn’t ready yet. Later Debu told
me Awtar abused me and said, “*** has got a comb in his hand in place of the recorder.”
In Bhusawal we shot lots of steam engines shunting, joining, dragging coaches
and close ups of wheels running on rails. The wheels would be made to slip at
one place so we could get fixed shots of them speeding. There would be
tremendous spark and fire with due to friction. Entire atmosphere would get
spoilt with carbon dust. We also shot the song,”Chhuk chhuk chalti rail” here
in Bhusawal.
Once we were taking local train shots. We were in the middle
of busy rail tracks in Matunga, taking close up of wheels and other stuff. After
a while, an amused railway policeman came and stood there watching us. Awtar
told him, “What you want? Do your duty while we are doing ours.” That was a very
bad idea. Cop went away and returned with a big group of cops. But to our good
luck, entire unit had come out of the railway area, into the civilian. All
those cops surrounded us, some even pointed guns at us, saying, “nobody will
move from here.” Awtar got extremely angry and said,” you brought guns you can bring
cannons, but I will not stop for my work!” On the gun point Awtar walked away. Cops
shouted don’t let anyone leave because if someone leaves, he can call up some
top guy, and it will all fizzle out. And it did. Soon another jeep full of cops
appeared on the location and took some of us to a nearby police station, where
we were threatened, shouted at and then allowed to go. It seems Awtar had
called some top shot in Times.
There was a small station called ‘Harsud’. Awtar had done
his recce well. 27 Down has a shot of a train passing on a bridge on a river
during dusk. We had reached Harsud in day and at right time started walking
towards the bridge around 4pm. It was an hour long walk carrying all equipment.
Before it started getting dark Bir found a suitable patch of land to place the
camera stand. He had to shoot the passenger train in dark but adequately exposed
the interior of the compartments. After the shot we returned back to Harsud
platform. Awtar’s brother, Pradyumn, (who was the production manager for the
film) had organized some food and a bottle of local drink from the nearby
village. There were no glasses, so we drank from the lids of the bottle! There
were some leaf plates to eat. I slept on the platform with an empty film can as
a pillow.
In morning, as our next train arrived, we all loaded up
trunks of equipment, makeup, dresses etc. I remember Raina did the coolie job
as well as anyone else. We all had to do everything. We shot a long night
sequence inside the train. Awtar wanted to shoot natural activities in each
part of sleeper coach ambiance. So, Bir had fixed lights in each section of the
coach to take shots. I was also used as a sleeping passenger along with a lady.
That was Madhavi Manjula who acts in the film. There was a scene in Banaras
between her and Raina.
Shooting at Banaras was not very long. In the start maybe
due to exhaustion Awtar felt a bit unwell. So, he rested for a day in the hotel.
We also took some general shots at Sarnath and various Ghats along with Raina
trying to find his peace.
After total shoot was over, he became busy with editing. I
too was very busy as I was doing many films then. I just came to know that the
film had been ‘mixed’ and its married print was out.
I am told that when Awtar had arrived in Bombay with his
wife, he had rented a bungalow in Chembur. But as she did not enjoy the
lifestyle here and fell sick often due to hygiene related issues, she went back
to the US. So, Awtar moved to a high-profile PG accommodation near Kemps
Corner. Later, he moved to another cheaper place etc. He would show his
frustration dealing with FFC, on various issues. Due to shortage of funds, he
finally decided to share a room with assistant sound recordist of the film -
that is me. Rent here was hardly Rs 150 for a bed. I would imagine that was
huge slide-down of lifestyle.
He had brought a ton to books with him, that was so extremely
beneficial for me.
He became very friendly with everyone in the family of the
landlord, Jayant Patel. In fact, Jayant bhai has also played small part in
film, as a teacher in the art school. The shot of ‘Statue of Venus’ smashed
down by a walking crutch was taken in the passage of the house.
Once around 11 pm I returned from my shooting I found Awtar
and Jayant Bhai chatting on the road. As I got off from the cab, Awtar asked
me, “did you have your dinner?” I hesitated a bit. He straight away said I will
give you dinner. He took the same cab and asked me to sit, telling the driver,
“Taj.” I wondered why Taj. But I knew it was fine. Maybe he had also not eaten.
In Taj We entered ‘Shamiana’, the coffee shop. He asked me if I would have a
burger. He ordered 2 beers and a burger for me. He was not going to eat. He was
in some kind of different mood, bit light and bold.
On yet another usual evening, Jayant Bhai and I started
preparing for our regular drinking sessions. Since Awtar was still not back, we
started organizing glasses, put extra bottles of water in fridge and took out
plates for snacks. At 7pm Jayant Bhai proudly switched on his Toshiba B&W
TV, a star attraction for many. A regular gathering of about 15 guests would feel
very special, watching Chhaya Geet and other weekly shows. Those days it was a
huge privilege to be in front of a TV. At 7.30pm Hindi news was scheduled.
Jayant Bhai and I would be anxious to watch it, mainly because of the female newsreader.
She was a very pretty, young, dusky belle, Smita Patil…
Among many political headlines Smita Patil announced that
national film awards for that year have been announced. I got very interested
in this section. Later giving details of various awards, she said Awtar Krishna
Kaul’s film ‘27Down’ had won national award for the best Hindi film category!
Suddenly a spell of utter disbelief gripped everyone. Jaws dropped. How could
something so special happen to someone living right here inside their own home?
The two paying guests? It was so unbelievable. But when a clipping of the film
was shown, the emotions tuned into a high-pitched excitement! I especially was
so ecstatic. After all I was an assistant recordist in that film! Patel family
boasted to all the TV watching neighbors that the news of the award was about
their own paying guests. I became an instant hero among them. Jayant Bhai
boasted, ‘Awtar has gone out right now… he and Arun live in that room there…’
As the national award news sunk in everyone’s mind,
something different had to be done about it. We decided to celebrate the news with
Awtar, when he returns. Jayant Bhai and I went out, got a bottle of good whiskey
and a rum from a wine shop near Dreamland cinema. On our way back we picked up
lot of assorted snacks, like bhajia, gathia, batata wada etc go with the
drinks…
Awtar had to be back soon. I decided that they all go and
watch English news bulletin too. Normally, Jayant Bhai and I would pour a drink
around 8pm. But now it was 9pm! Quite late! We decided to clink the glasses at
9.30 and then continued waiting for Awtar. With noisy cheers in the name of
Awtar, me, 27DN and National award, this small group of friends took the most
exciting first sip…
At 10.30, Ba (grandmother) peeped in, asking if Awtar has
come. I said, ‘no.’ She laughed and said, “he also must be drinking somewhere
like you all.” Do you think he doesn’t know about the news?” That put a
different perspective in everyone’s head. ‘Yes’ and all decided that they
should stop making noise and go out for dinner, as the family had to sleep…
Before Tukaram went to sleep I told him, Awtar will come
later. So, open shutter softly in case Awtar arrived too late and was too
drunk…
At 3am, I heard a tap on my door. I thought Awtar is here
finally. But it was Jayant Bhai, who was outside. He said there was a phone call
for you. Call? At this time? Many quick ‘dark’ flashes crossed my mind. My own father,
mother, accidents god knows! I was just about 23 years old and was shit scared
of getting bad news from my family or anyone. In my drunken sleep I mumbled who
has called? Jayant Bhai said “call is from a police station, and they are
talking all crap. I don’t understand what they are saying.” In the darkness I got
up in my underwear and walked to the phone kept in outer verandah. Hello, I
said. Caller identified himself as a police inspector and asked who I was. I said,
I am Arun Sharma and just sat down on the floor while the cop still was
speaking. The receiver slipped from my hand and I passed out…
Jayant Bhai was shaking me up to open my eyes. I had gone to
sleep sitting on the floor with the phone receiver dangling near my face. I again
held the phone to my ear, listened and kept it down. Slowly I realized what had
happened.
Around 4am a noisy police jeep stopped near the gate of Arab
Bungalow and two cops shook the collapsible gate. I was awake now and was
dressed in pant shirt. Entire Patel family was awake too. I stepped out saying
to policeman, ‘I am Arun Sharma’. They asked me to sit at the back of the jeep.
They drove to Nair municipal hospital near Bombay central station. I was asked
to follow two cops to a room where a police inspector was sitting. ‘Come in’,
inspector on duty said and pointed me to a chair to sit. A green curtain was
drawn at his side. Inspector held a small telephone diary in his hand and was
going through it. I knew the diary belonged to Awtar. In a moment inspector got
up smartly and said, ‘come’, drawing the green curtain aside. We both entered.
There he was. On the stretcher was Awtar in his familiar red kurta. Inspector
asked, ‘is he Awtar Krishna Kaul?’ Yes, I mumbled moving closer to Awtar’s face.
I noticed many bruises and cuts on his forehead and face. I went still closer to
him and lifted his hair from his forehead to see if there was any other major
hurt. Actually, I wanted to touch his face and hair. At that moment I also
became very angry with him. ‘Why? What was the need to be so rash in life?’ On
inspector’s hint, I moved out and sat the chair. Inspector asked me some more
relevant questions, which I must have replied.
Inspector narrated the official version, “Awtar’s body was
seen floating in the sea at Girgaon Chowpatty around midnight. Fire brigade was
called and with great difficulty they fished him out. You see it is no moon night,
and to make it worse high tide was at its peak. He was rushed to Bhatia
hospital, closest from there. He was alive then. For some reason they refused
admission. Then he was rushed here; but was declared dead on arrival.”
I had never felt an emotional tsunami of that magnitude in my
life. Anyways I was just 23 then. Deeply shaken from inside, I had managed to stay
steady through it.
For the police, identification of the body was complete. I was free to go. Same
jeep dropped me back home.
Everyone was awake. I sat with them. Bhabhi made some tea. I
narrated what I saw and reproduced inspector’s version of the incident. Nobody
knew how to react to this sudden reversal in fortune.
I attended his funeral at Chandan wadi, next day. Crying
bitterly, I fiddled with the ashes.
I could not sleep in my room next to Awtar’s empty bed for many months.
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