Sunday, January 21, 2018

BLACK FRIDAY-How it all began..PART 1

Posted by: Anurag Kashyap
Posted on: February 1, 2007, 11:48 pm


It all began with S.hussain Zaidi..He wrote the book..he was the chief crime correspondent of mid-day..before mid-day, zaidi was working with Indian Express, covering the blasts..all i remembeed about blasts before reading the book, was the front page of TOI in delhi and images in it..images came and they went away from my memory..i was too busy trying to figure out what to do once i reach bombay..93 was the year i came to the city..june 3rd..it was raining..rains that did not stop for two days..
Anyways..so hussain was approached by Penguin to document his findings in the book..as and when hussain finished his first draft he asked Arindam Mitra to read his manuscript…now i met arindam a year before that..he was trying to create some noirish , detective TV shows for mid-day..One day when i was as usual sitting depressed(i have come to a conclusion that i thrive in that state of mind or sometimes i actually go and create it), having my beer when Aditya Basu Bhattacharya called me..that was when babla(ABB) had just come back from italy and had seen paanch ,which i think was pretty radical at that time, not so much now..now babla asked me do i remember arindam mitra, i did..he said we want to meet you regarding some project..
we met at Bombay Blues in bandra..
Arindam wanted me to write a tv series on the bomb blasts which he wanted babla to direct..i was uncomfortable..Stories of Babla’s arrogance would float around, somehow i didn’t trust him then..i probably didn’t know him well..i love and respect the man immensely today..he was arrogant because he was passionate..he didn’t brush off mediocrity with a wave of his hand, he kicked it in the gut..but then i didn’t trust him..arindam gave me the unpublished manuscript..
i read it..and i read it again..i felt so small..all this while i had been so indifferent to everything else which wasn’t about me..i didn’t care about what was happening in the country..all the political elements that creeped into gulaal was post reading that book..the book gave me a perspective on what actually transpired..what happened that day..it made me feel worthless..i was affected by it in a way i was never before..i asked arindam ,”why not a film“..why a tv series..he said we will see that later but will you write the series..

“i would, but i still insist make a film”

“first write one episode anurag we need to raise money”

“ok but..”

“pl write it,tell me how much will you charge for the whole series..”

For the first time in my film career i was paid the entire writing fee upfront..i wrote the first episode, which later on became the landing of the RDX in the film..i kept insisting we should make a film..i also said i would like to direct the film..Arindam had babla in mind..he took his time then decided Mid-day will turn it into a film..i was so eager to make the film that Babla gracefully backed out..he told arindam, anurag should make the film..I will always owe it to him..now the question was how to go about it..by the time the book was officially released..

I think we started by talking to sony..sony was keen but they wanted big names..the budget was too high..we were working from that one episode that was written..the idea was too make the film for what we believed in and then later break it down into a six part miniseries..it didn’t work out with them..later RGV came on board..he said fuck the mini series ,just make the film..he already had in mind the way he wanted the film to be approached..i was uncomfortable with that..i was uncomfortable with RGV at that point..i told my fears to arindam..he wasn’t so comfortable either, but we had no choice..
another most important man at that point was CM(Chandra mohan Puppala)..he was our creative consultant on the movie and a kind of information backbone..he and AM were the pillars of Black Friday..we would talk and meet people try to raise money but we still didn’t have a script..we didn’t know how to go about it..we needed more material..i got two people on board to do research..Aparna Chaturvedi(now Mrs. Pavan Malhotra) and A film fanatic i met at the Lotus bookshop, Dr.Tushar Patel..they started by collecting all the officially available and unavailable material on the subject..later on they were joined in by Devashish Makhija..they had to sift through the archives of Mid-Day and Indian Express..Dev went to all the press photographers to get copies of all published and unpublished material..we got our hands on “VOICES“.. a kind of a manuscript of experiences of the accused that was compiled by the Torchholder for the accused, voices was of great help..it was taken out and circulated by the human rights activists..it gave us a broader perspective on the events..we got M J Akbar’s book,”WHEN BOMBAY BURNED”..A big help was Naresh Fernandes, now the editor of “TIMEOUT-MUMBAI“..A lot of journos came together for this one film..

But we still didn’t have the script..

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8 Responses to “BLACK FRIDAY-How it all began..PART 1”
1. kartik krishnan | February 2nd, 2007 at 12:06 am

shit the article just got over !!!! :((

yeh dil maange more …

Between .. what is aditya bhattacharya doing these days ??? Has he officially settled abroad ???

2. kaafir | February 2nd, 2007 at 12:58 am

ek din bas ek din, apne saare zakham gin, ek raat bas ek raat, tu soche kya hue hua tere saath,
bas ab aur nahin…………..
countdown begins……..saat.

3. Vasan Bala | February 2nd, 2007 at 1:17 am

RGV was to make/produce Black Friday !! o !!
thankful that u insisted on a film than a TV series.

4. VC | February 2nd, 2007 at 1:40 am

Wow…now on to the next part..It’s such a pleasure finishing one part and seeing that the next part is already online…no waiting…[Note to Oz…Finish off your stories…]

5. Phoenixnu | February 2nd, 2007 at 2:33 am

OZ, server sambhal bhai…server sambhal!!!!!! Kuch ho gaya to is baar hum tujhe nahi chorenge…ha ha ha.

Pavan malhotra…m big fan of that guy also. Never gt his due that he should…Hopefully after BF’s release. ( BTW, shld not use the shorter form BF…there was a movie made last year called Bad Friend…as BF..meghna naidu or someone,i think)

Anurag….gaane kaise bane…are ruk ja re bande…I lovvvvve that song…who decided for indian ocean…when, how, why ?

6. Honhaar Goonda | February 2nd, 2007 at 2:42 am

Areh Ruk Ja Reh Bandhe
Areh Thum Ja Reh Bandhe
Kudrat Haseee Padeghee..
Kise Tuh Kyar Kahe Gaya..

… erm, this song sort of perfectly describes Black Friday struggle… and now Kudrat Hasee Padeghe..

Indian Ocean rock! I would have liked it if Indian Ocean were doing the music for No Smoking, but I am slightly understanding why you have gone for Jazz - the film seems a bit sophisticated and suave.

7. Marty | February 7th, 2007 at 7:34 am

aunrag interval haan??

8. Aneesh | February 8th, 2007 at 1:05 pm

Can anyone, or Anurag Kashyap himself, please let me know where I could read the unflattering reviews that he wrote for Black. I really want to read his views.

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