Le Thé des Ecrivains

Shakti and I made ourselves comfortable and started chatting about the making of his movie An Evening in Paris. Shakti directed quite a number of movies before that one. The latter is different however in that it is shot in Paris, Switzerland and at the Niagara falls.

 

The idea of the movie

“The big idea behind the movie was to show a poor public who never travelled as many places abroad as possible. So we came up with a story in which the characters travel a lot.” “The movie isn’t based on any book or existing story. We simply decided to do it. Generally, what happens is I have an idea and my team transcripts it. I always function that way, except for a few rare movies where my name does not appear in the credits.”…“The title heralds a light romance and that’s how it begins: a poor little rich girl wearies of ‘the Indian kind of love’ because men are only interested in her money. She believes France is where real love can be found and decides to go there. She’s very rich, her father has an office in Paris and the manager of the office welcomes her at the airport. She has an apartment, a chauffeur and everything is simple even if she knows nothing of France. That’s the beginning of a love story… but it’s also a thriller with kidnapping and murder.”

 

Did you have a big crew?

“The smallest crew I’ve ever had: fifteen or so, artists included. Of course, the artists are all close friends and always ready to help if necessary. We had to show resourcefulness at every turn for that movie.

 

There have been comments over Sharmila Tagore’s bikini in Evening in Paris however. People were shocked because they could not recognize the Sharmila of Satyajit Ray’s chefs-d’oeuvre. In Kashmir Ki Kali (1964), his first Hindi movie, Samantha brings out the image of a shy and frightened young spouse to respond to the needs of the cinema of Bombay: Sharmila plays the part of a pretty florist of the Cashmere lakes who falls in love with a hedonistic city dweller, acted out by Shammi Kapoor.

 

How long did the shooting last?

“72 days abroad. We started filming in 1966 and it took a whole year to finish the movie. We spent 28 days in Paris and 12 in Switzerland – I was named Honorary Citizen for the occasion, as first Indian to show Switzerland. It was made very easy for us. Then 10 to 12 days at the Niagara falls and about a month in Beirut.”

 

Did you research locations before going to all these countries? How was it there?

“In the Lebanon, I used the fact that my movie ‘Kashmir Ki Kali’ was presented at an Indian film festival to research locations, among others a magnificent casino where I meant to shoot dancing scenes. We published ads to find European extras and we recruited all the girls from the embassies who were happy to act out dancing scenes in costume. I went directly to Paris, Switzerland and Niagara to film. We didn’t really have authorizations in Paris and we deceived the police a bit. When a policeman asked us for our shooting permit, we served him a drink, pretending that someone would come with the said authorization while I kept on shooting the scenes I needed, unnoticed. He waited for a long time… Each time he seemed to show some kind of doubt, we gave him another beer, talked to him about India and once the necessary images were shot, we put everything away and left with a ‘Excuse me officer… no permit, next time perhaps.’”

 

The movie was a success, thanks to suspense…

“Thanks to the songs mostly and to all the places where it was shot. The movie was shown for two years in Madras. The people liked that it was sexy and slightly audacious for the time. It came out at Christmas because we wanted to give people hope; the year had been hard for the Indian people.”

 

Were you fated to make movies or are you the first one in your family?

“I was born on January 14^th 1925 in Bengal. I am the first in my family to be in the movie business. I come from a family of engineers and I should have studied at the ‘Chitpur Engineering College’ like my father and his father before him, but I chose to become a Mathematics and English teacher before getting a job at the Bombay Talkies studios; it was paid poorly but I knew I could learn to climb the social ladder… All the departments were led by Bengalis which must have helped! A good many of the people I met became my friends. ‘Singapore’ was the first movie I directed abroad- it was in 1960 and Shammi Kapoor plays in it. I had already directed 7 movies including ‘Howrah Bridge’ which he’d liked; he recommended me for Singapore, he was a star, we became great friends. After that, many other movies had great success, more so than ‘An Evening in Paris’. Thanks to our friendship with Shammi and Sharmilla, we had big moments. I made another movie abroad after that one, in 1979, a spy film called ‘The Great Gambler’- it was shot in Portugal, Venice and France…”

Shakti and I made ourselves comfortable and started chatting about the making of his movie An Evening in Paris. Shakti directed quite a number of movies before that one. The latter is different however in that it is shot in Paris, Switzerland and at the Niagara falls.

 

The idea of the movie

“The big idea behind the movie was to show a poor public who never travelled as many places abroad as possible. So we came up with a story in which the characters travel a lot.” “The movie isn’t based on any book or existing story. We simply decided to do it. Generally, what happens is I have an idea and my team transcripts it. I always function that way, except for a few rare movies where my name does not appear in the credits.”…“The title heralds a light romance and that’s how it begins: a poor little rich girl wearies of ‘the Indian kind of love’ because men are only interested in her money. She believes France is where real love can be found and decides to go there. She’s very rich, her father has an office in Paris and the manager of the office welcomes her at the airport. She has an apartment, a chauffeur and everything is simple even if she knows nothing of France. That’s the beginning of a love story… but it’s also a thriller with kidnapping and murder.”

 

Did you have a big crew?

“The smallest crew I’ve ever had: fifteen or so, artists included. Of course, the artists are all close friends and always ready to help if necessary. We had to show resourcefulness at every turn for that movie.

 

There have been comments over Sharmila Tagore’s bikini in Evening in Paris however. People were shocked because they could not recognize the Sharmila of Satyajit Ray’s chefs-d’oeuvre. In Kashmir Ki Kali (1964), his first Hindi movie, Samantha brings out the image of a shy and frightened young spouse to respond to the needs of the cinema of Bombay: Sharmila plays the part of a pretty florist of the Cashmere lakes who falls in love with a hedonistic city dweller, acted out by Shammi Kapoor.

 

How long did the shooting last?

“72 days abroad. We started filming in 1966 and it took a whole year to finish the movie. We spent 28 days in Paris and 12 in Switzerland – I was named Honorary Citizen for the occasion, as first Indian to show Switzerland. It was made very easy for us. Then 10 to 12 days at the Niagara falls and about a month in Beirut.”

 

Did you research locations before going to all these countries? How was it there?

“In the Lebanon, I used the fact that my movie ‘Kashmir Ki Kali’ was presented at an Indian film festival to research locations, among others a magnificent casino where I meant to shoot dancing scenes. We published ads to find European extras and we recruited all the girls from the embassies who were happy to act out dancing scenes in costume. I went directly to Paris, Switzerland and Niagara to film. We didn’t really have authorizations in Paris and we deceived the police a bit. When a policeman asked us for our shooting permit, we served him a drink, pretending that someone would come with the said authorization while I kept on shooting the scenes I needed, unnoticed. He waited for a long time… Each time he seemed to show some kind of doubt, we gave him another beer, talked to him about India and once the necessary images were shot, we put everything away and left with a ‘Excuse me officer… no permit, next time perhaps.’”

 

The movie was a success, thanks to suspense…

“Thanks to the songs mostly and to all the places where it was shot. The movie was shown for two years in Madras. The people liked that it was sexy and slightly audacious for the time. It came out at Christmas because we wanted to give people hope; the year had been hard for the Indian people.”

 

Were you fated to make movies or are you the first one in your family?

“I was born on January 14^th 1925 in Bengal. I am the first in my family to be in the movie business. I come from a family of engineers and I should have studied at the ‘Chitpur Engineering College’ like my father and his father before him, but I chose to become a Mathematics and English teacher before getting a job at the Bombay Talkies studios; it was paid poorly but I knew I could learn to climb the social ladder… All the departments were led by Bengalis which must have helped! A good many of the people I met became my friends. ‘Singapore’ was the first movie I directed abroad- it was in 1960 and Shammi Kapoor plays in it. I had already directed 7 movies including ‘Howrah Bridge’ which he’d liked; he recommended me for Singapore, he was a star, we became great friends. After that, many other movies had great success, more so than ‘An Evening in Paris’. Thanks to our friendship with Shammi and Sharmilla, we had big moments. I made another movie abroad after that one, in 1979, a spy film called ‘The Great Gambler’- it was shot in Portugal, Venice and France…”

1.    Devdas (2002/II)
2.    Geetanjali (1993/I)
3.    Dushman (1990)
4.    Aakhri Baazi (1989)
5.    Aar Paar (1985)
6.    Alag Alag (1985)
7.    Anyay Abichar (1985)
8.    Awaaz (1984)
9.    Ayaash (1982)
10.    Anusandhan (1981)
... aka Barsaat Ki Ek Raat (1981)
11.    Khwab (1980)
12.    Great Gambler, The (1979)
13.    Anand Ashram (1977/I)
14.    Anand Ashram (1977/II)
15.    Anurodh (1977)
16.    Mehbooba (1976)
17.    Amanush (1975/I)
18.    Amanush (1975/II)
19.    Ajnabi (1974)
20.    Charitraheen (1974)
21.    Anuraag (1972)
22.    Amar Prem (1971)
... aka Immortal Love (1971)
23.    Jaane Anjane (1971)
24.    Kati Patang (1970)
25.    Pagla Kahin Ka (1970)
26.    Aradhana (1969)
27.    Evening in Paris, An (1967)
... aka Paris Ki Ek Shyam (1967) (India: Hindi title)
28.    Sawan Ki Ghata (1966)
29.    Kashmir Ki Kali (1964)
30.    Ek Raaz (1963)
31.    China Town (1962)
32.    Isi Ka Naam Duniya Hai (1962)
33.    Naughty Boy (1962)
34.    Jaali Note (1960)
35.    Singapore (1960)
36.    Insaan Jaag Utha (1959)
37.    Detective (1958)
38.    Howrah Bridge (1958)
39.    Hill Station (1957)
40.    Sheroo (1957)
41.    Inspector (1956)
42.    Bahu (1955)

Producer - filmography

1.    Devdas (2002/II) (producer)
2.    Aankhon Mein Tum Ho (1997) (producer)
3.    Geetanjali (1993/I) (producer)
4.    Main Awara Hoon (1983) (producer)
5.    Amanush (1975/I) (producer)
6.    Amar Prem (1971) (producer)
... aka Immortal Love (1971)
7.    Kati Patang (1970) (producer)
8.    Aradhana (1969) (producer)
9.    Evening in Paris, An (1967) (producer)
... aka Paris Ki Ek Shyam (1967) (India: Hindi title)
10.    Kashmir Ki Kali (1964) (producer)
11.    China Town (1962) (producer)

Writer - filmography

1.    Baadbaan (1954) (also dialogue)