Imagine that the director Satyajit Ray maintains a daily notebook of his experience of shooting the flim in Rajasthan.Use information given in text to write on - a)when he meets the maharaja and- b)the first day of shooting. the contents should around 2 paragraph. you are free to add more detail of your own
PLEASE ANSWER THE QUESTION IT IS MY PROJECT
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Answer:
In 1977, Satyajit Ray started shooting a historical film based in Awadh of 1856, in the reign of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. It falls into our discussion of 1857 films because of its plot centring the British takeover of Awadh, which has been cited as one of the causes that triggered the 1857 uprising in the region. The film has two parallel narratives, one based on Munshi Prem Chand’s short story of two chess-playing jagirdars, who remain absorbed in their games of chess while the British moved into Lucknow, the other dramatizing the takeover of Oudh by the British under General Outram.
The film has a strain of nationalist sentiment in its concession of the treacherous ad of Dalhousie’s takeover of Awadh, the frustrations of the Nawab, and Outram’s own discomfort with the course of events. Yet, it is a new genre of 1857 historical with its overt subtext of historicity, and its departure from the established elements of the historical genre that were available in Jhansi Ki Rani——the film builds on research and recorded history and dispenses with the larger-than-life element established by the genre. Rather than intense engagement as called for by the heightened use of character and action in the conventional historical, the voice-over punctuating the diegesis gives the sense of a fait accompli establishing distance from the unfolding historical events.
Ray was India’s most famous filmmaker and his films automatically generated a series of assumptions about the quality and value of the product. Shatranj Ke Khilari was meticulously researched and period reconstruction undertaken in the minutest of detail. Filmfare, which had been following the shoots since its 7-20 January 1977 issue, for instance, revealed in its 18 February-3 March issue that actor Amjad Khan, who plays Wajid Au Shah in the film, was being trained in Kathak dance, for scenes in the film that had Wajid Au performing the Raas-Leela with his nautch girls. Cooper mentions that Ray’s research on Wajid Ali Shah had revealed, according to Ray, Wajid’s “extraordinary character”, which “made the king a figure worthy of the film treatment.” (Cooper, 198).
In response to a critic’s comments in the 22 October 1978 issue of The Illustrated Weekly of India that Ray had been “Orientalist” in his depiction of Wajid Au as weak, ineffectual and effeminate. Ray himself declared many of the sources he had consulted while making the film in the 31 December 1978 issue of the magazine. These included among other contemporary sources, Abdul Halim Sharar’s Guzesta Lucknow, which provided both the socio-cultural details and a portrait of Wajid in Lucknow and Calcutta, the text of Wajid Au Shah’s Rajas, where he plays Krishna, and the young Wajid’s personal diary, Mahaj Khana Shahi (Cooper, 199).
Dated :- April 10th
We reached the fort where the guards asked for our ID Cards and the reason of meeting Maharaja. We showed them our documents and told them that we are here to shoot for our Bengali Film. He went inside and came back with the permission of letting us in the Fort. He took us to a room which had many dull and unpleasant looking sofas which lined the four walls of the Maharaja's sitting room. There were fluorescent tubes near the four corners of the ceiling and around half a dozen of paintings of the calendar variety hung from various positions on the wall. Also there was a Kashmiri table with a brass top which placed in the center of the room. Maharaja entered the room and asked me if we have come from Bombay. I told him no and that we are from Calcutta, Then he asked me if it we are here to shoot a Bengali film. I told him yes. I could see the disappointment on his face. He came towards me and took the vacant seat next to me. It was really hard for me to believe it that I am sitting next to the Maharaja of Jaisalmer for a conference. He then asked me the reason of choosing Jaisalmer for the shooting. I told him that it is because this fort provides the perfect backdrop for the story of my film and also this fort hasn't used before by any of the feature film makers. He corrected me that a movie has already been shot here called Sassi-Punnu and it was by * Punjabi company. On hearing it I was a bit embarrassed as I was quite confident of being the first filmmaker to shoot in the fort of Jaisalmer. He also asked me if there would be any dance sequence in the film. I told him that there is only one and that too a Demon dance which we have already shot in the Forests of Bengal. He asked me to take the pictures of the fort so that we can prepare for our shoor.
We have already completed shooting in the villages of Bengal, Shimla and in a desert and now were here to turn this 800 year old fortress town into a mythical kingdom called Halla, of the "bad king' in our story. He asked me if I wanted any permission about anything. I told him that we want to use the roof of the old Palace and would like to hoist some flags with special emblems on them. On hearing it he asked me if his flags will be displaced. I told him no. He agreed to it and then asked me if there is anything else I might need. I told him that we would also like to use the old drum for a war scene. He said it is fine until we are taking it out of the for and we really didn't need to do that. At last I asked him if we can get a few hundred camels with men to ride them. He spoke to his cousin the Kumar Bahadur and told me that Ramdulal will take care of it. I told him that that is all I needed and thanked him for the same. It was a pleasure to meet him and I am really thankful for him for his generosity We have to start our shooting tomorrow and I hope everything goes as per our plans. We have everything ready and we just need to shoot now.
Dated: April 11
Today we started setting up the location for the shooting The crew set up the base at the fort and I was busy at my work behind the camera. Soon I saw that Maharaja was also there to inspect on us. He was pleased on seeing the set up but went to his jeep as it was the day time in summers and the sun was really hot. I also focused on the camels but suddenly I heard a lot of chatter and noise in the background and found out that a crowd had gathered to watch the shooting and to meet the Maharaja. My crew then shuffled them off They seemed to be unhappy about it.
Maharaja also left after that. But we shot till 6:30 in the evening as it was a long day of summer. We were able to complete our first day of shooting and we were satisfied that everything went well. We have to start early tomorrow make sure we finish our schedule on time.