Posted by: Anurag Kashyap
Posted on: November 26, 2006 12:35 pm
Saurabh and me wrote a draft..he was simultaneously writing a play called KAAL..after we finished we came back to bombay..another thing i forgot to tell you..when saurabh met Ramu for the first time and Ramu narrated him what he had in mind..Saurabh spontanously came up with that scene where bhiku comes back home drunk and shefali slaps him and he slaps her back..Ramu was so goddamned impressed with him..
When we were thinking how do we name our characters..Ramu called his boy to make coffee for us..he said “Bhiku teen coffee”..and i said nice name..Satya was named after a woman called Satya..Someone Ramu knew back in college days..He just wanted her to know that he still rememberred her..Ramu was an engineering student..in some naxalite area in Andhra..then, when ever he got into trouble, he would strike a brucelee pose and make a eeyah sound to defend or protect himself..atleast thats what he told me..slowly all characters fell into place..
Ramu’s screenplay writer of Daud had been to Boston University Film Course..Gerard Hooper taught Cinematography there..he still teaches there..his two students made “THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT”..the writers name was KANNAN..kannan recommended Gerry..as he was fondly called..
We started shooting somewhere in August 1997..three days of shooting..third day we were shooting..it was that sequence where Sushant Singh came to collect hafta from satya and satya refuses and slashes him..the way sushant reacted..he improvised or i didn’t know what..Ramu reacted in a way i never saw him reacting..he said now i know what my film is all about and he trashed the script me and Saurabh wrote..he fucking trashed it..he also cancelled shooting the next day and guess what.. Gulshan Kumar was shot dead..Ramu stopped shooting..Underworld equations had changed..script needed to go through a change.. somedays after that was Daud’s release..i remember..because it rained so much that day that noone could reach the premiere venue on time..anyways..Daud bombed..i still fucking loved it..I thought Neeraj Vora rocked in that film..
so Ramu threw our script in the bin and we started rewriting script..Ramu always treated me like a kid..he was fond of me but never took me seriously..i was the kid in the gang..only other kid was Apoorva Asrani..the editor..Bhiku Mhatre’s laughter was never written into the film..he just laughed one day when we were shooting at his fictitious house in bandra..we loved it so much that it became his character..The first day we shot with the lawyer Mule..Makrand deshpande ,who played the character overacted so nmuch,the scene was never kept in that film..it was the scene where chandar appears in court..just before “goli maar”song..Mule was shown sleeping in the court..his Yawn was louder than Shakti kapoor..it just did not work.. at that time goli maar was not even ther in the film..the whole party sequence was shot on “Mera piya ghar aaya oh Raamji”..later the songs came into the film..Goli maar song had a different version..it went“gham ke neeche bam laga ke gham uda de”..sung to the same tune..Gulzaar sahab wroteb “goli Maar”..we all including Ramu and Vishal prefeered the GHAM version..but who would tell it to Gulzar sahab..i was known to be blunt, so they chose me to tell it to Gulzar sahab..next meeting with him ..they took me along ..and i said “sir gum work nahin karta” and he said,”Gum nahin gham,Pehle bolna seekho” andi was out of discussion..everyone agreed to Goli maar and thank god they did..what a song..
Rest later..a lot is coming back..all too random and all suddenly..need to sleep..
__________________________________________________________________
29 Responses to “SATYA-the true story PART 2”
1. manjeet | November 26th, 2006 at 12:39 pm
Kya baat hai!! Kal ki flight jayda subah ki nahin lagti:)
2. manjeet | November 26th, 2006 at 12:54 pm
Its such an insightful description of Satya. All the characters in the film are so unique There is something extraspecial about them. Now we know how Bhiku name came about! You have taught us the importance of improvisation and teamwork!
I am surprised after a long tough day you could right an article ^:)^
3. Sangeeta | November 26th, 2006 at 1:19 pm
Agree with Manjeets comments, this was definitely a useful post. As viewers small details like characters names esp unique ones are always niggling at me and i’m often question why this was done and how much improvisation is allowed etc.
4. george thomas | November 26th, 2006 at 1:47 pm
“so Ramu threw our script in the bin and we started rewriting script.” … Aha!
Anurag,
Once you’ve finished the current narrative till then, could you let us know what went into the bin?
5. striker | November 26th, 2006 at 1:58 pm
bhiku chai-boy becomes bhiku mhatre? wah bhai wah =D> anurag, any such real-life inspired characters in ‘no smoking’?
6. oz | November 26th, 2006 at 4:17 pm
- The scene that HIT ME THE MOST in this part - Your meeting with Gulzar-saab and he telling you “Gum nahin gham,Pehle bolna seekho” and you going “and I was out of the discussion” - CLASSIC!!! :)>-
7. oz | November 26th, 2006 at 4:19 pm
- Actually I love the original line “gham ke neeche bam laga ke gham uda de” - damn!!! too good!!!
8. randramble | November 26th, 2006 at 6:26 pm
Superlative stuff! It’s very insightful to know how things work and shape up.
The apparent lack of structure in your posts somehow makes it racy and interesting. AK, gimme more!
9. Sash | November 26th, 2006 at 9:18 pm
Hey..u tell us about everythg that happened in the making….giv us sum insights into wat u went through while wrkng on the script…
how was it to hav them dumped in the bin….
nd how do u motivate urself to begin wrk again rt frm the scratch….
guss that wud b interesting to know…
10. The truth about Satya at Blogbharti | November 26th, 2006 at 9:24 pm
[…] Part 1 here and Part 2 here. Must read for all Kashyap fans. Posted by Bombay Addict […]
11. Zero | November 26th, 2006 at 9:57 pm
Anurag,
Priceless insider’s account of a classic! Eagerly awaiting the future posts on the same!
>>the whole party sequence was shot on “Mera piya ghar aaya oh Raamji”
Just a bit of triviamongering, was the whole party sequence reshot or some of the original footage used? If I’m not wrong, the characters did mouth some lines of Goli Maar.
12. premal | November 26th, 2006 at 10:24 pm
yes sir, loving this article. wanted to know whether satya’s character was originally planned to be gup chup and that violent in heart zubaan pe taala type or bcoz chekri couldny utter hindi dialogs.
regards,
premal
13. premal | November 26th, 2006 at 10:26 pm
yes sir loving the article. wanted to know whther Satya’s character was originally planned as the violent from inside aur zubban pe taala type or bcoz chekri couldnt mouth hindi dialogues did prompt chracter changes.
regards,
premal
14. tushar | November 27th, 2006 at 12:48 am
I am still wondering how would the ‘gham’ line have fitted in where Goli maar did?
And also wondering about the entire Sushant Singh episode. Was Ramu ecstatic/annoyed/moved or what?
15. sophocles | November 27th, 2006 at 1:37 am
I would love to visualise you talking to Gulzar (he in his pristine white kurta payjama) and telling him that Gham doesnt work..and he tells you - pehle bolna to seekh lo…heh heh!! kya scene hota…
16. RK | November 27th, 2006 at 2:25 am
Ala Sanjay from Mahabharata epic: trying to visualize Gulzar Saab saying words “Gum nahin Ghum, pehle bolna sikho”. How he said it with his serius voice?
It more looks like Late Raaj Kumar saying “Jani, gum nahin Gham hota hai, pehle bolna seekho Raja”
But then one GK question always has always been confusing for all Indians” Who gave slogan of “Karo ya Maro” in 1942. It just does not resemble with image of Mahtma Gandhi. It damn looks like given by Neta Ji Subhash Bose, but then genius people are spontaneous and unpredicatble. I just loved this line of gulzar Saab. There is only one Gulzar! :)
Thanks Anurag for this sharing of past. The journey of making a great thing is not less than the product itself:)
17. Drupad Venugopal | November 27th, 2006 at 5:46 am
Hi Anurag,
Satya is a film that changed the way i looked at films..So reading about how satya was made is exhilarating…… :-) thanks a billion…
How i wish there was a new DVD release of SATYA with exclusive deleted,behind the scenes footage !!
How about you coming out with a book on the same..?? A compilations of ur writings about those days…!! it will be amazing…I know u r a busy man…but i think u shud give a serious thought to it…
Also before finishing, i must confess ur writing is extremely addictive…i mean i keep reading ur articles again n again n again n again……My company is surely gonna throw me out one of these days….:-)
All the best with ur film….
Plz continue writing…..
18. OM | November 27th, 2006 at 10:02 am
“Mule was shown sleeping in the court..his Yawn was louder than Shakti kapoor”
=))
Fantatsic post again!!!! Anurag..correct me if i am wrong but…in Satya i dont think Chander appears in court…it was some other guy..and i remember his dialogues which were fucking too good
” Maloom nai saab dubai se fone aaya..tapka ne ke liye kaha..tapka diya..”
19. Sudha Elavarti | November 27th, 2006 at 10:04 am
I am awestuck seeing the randomness in movie making. I always wonder what works…well bound script or random creativity. It’s hard to come to a conclusion as we had film makers with both approaches.
20. manjeet singh | November 28th, 2006 at 1:39 am
Anurag,
How about discussing any flaws present in final Satya. It would be so insane!
21. Rony D'costa | November 28th, 2006 at 4:33 am
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING THIS WITH US….
22. v9y | November 29th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
Anurag:
As with almost every nonsensical-sounding Gulzar song, there’s another layer of profound thought in ‘golii maar bheje me.n’. But I am sure it must have been true for the discarded ‘Gam ke neeche bam lagaake..’ too. It would be great if that one gets used in some other movie.
Talking of songs in Satya, ’sapane me.n milatii hai’ also had wonderful and witty lines in conversational ‘aam bolchaal kii bhaaShaa’ like ’saaraa din sa.Dako.n pe Khaalii rikshe saa peechhe peechhe chalataa hai’ and ‘paajii hai, shareer hai, ghoomati lakeer hai, chakaraa ke chalatee hai’.
But on the whole I find that both the songs and the movie, while on their own are simply excellent, together do not work for me. There is a disconnect between them. While a couple of them actually slow down the story, the rest like the above two examples simply don’t fit in the scheme of things for me. Probably because Satya’s stark and real characterization was unprecedented, something seen never before in Hindi cinema (and unfortunately rarely after. Your very own ‘Black Friday’ is the only movie that I can recall offhand) and it demanded a different handling of songs. It may be something else that I cannot pinpoint right now, but to me, the songs remain Satya’s biggest (and probably only) kamajorii.
23. punit | December 5th, 2006 at 1:50 pm
“Ramu was an engineering student..in some naxalite area in Andhra..then, when ever he got into trouble, he would strike a brucelee pose and make a eeyah sound to defend or protect himself..atleast thats what he told me..slowly all characters fell into place..”=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))
imagine ramu actually did that…….
24. Ashvin Sagar | December 15th, 2006 at 1:04 am
There goes the difference between Ramu Bhai’s film and any other Bollywood director, he has changed the way how Villainism in bollywood look, once upon a time…..a masked person first moves the photoframe and then rotates the small statue and then the door opens ..here goes the villain and Ramu Bhai…with his characters…satya…bhiku….kallu mama….vakil mule….man, this is what we call film making…..Anurag a great article man….really interesting and impressive.
25. cobain | January 3rd, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Anurag,
Thanks for the post. I just added Satya to my rental dvd list and moved it to the top. Somewhat like Satya - revisited.
Always wanted to understand how a story was written. Maybe this is where I start my journey.
26. shiva | January 5th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
hey anurag…..when are you going to finish this?…still waiting for the part 3….
27. DK | January 7th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Waiting for the rest of the story…pls hurry anurag:((
28. John L | January 16th, 2007 at 4:50 am
Seriously DK. My curiosity is ignited too.
29. Nilesh | January 16th, 2007 at 11:07 am
Thats awesome man!!! Ramu works purely on instincts. Satya is the film…which transformed me into a complete movie buff and changed the way I looked at films. Wat a film!!! Even, I loved Daud…and I felt Sanju was awesome.
Posted on: November 26, 2006 12:35 pm
Saurabh and me wrote a draft..he was simultaneously writing a play called KAAL..after we finished we came back to bombay..another thing i forgot to tell you..when saurabh met Ramu for the first time and Ramu narrated him what he had in mind..Saurabh spontanously came up with that scene where bhiku comes back home drunk and shefali slaps him and he slaps her back..Ramu was so goddamned impressed with him..
When we were thinking how do we name our characters..Ramu called his boy to make coffee for us..he said “Bhiku teen coffee”..and i said nice name..Satya was named after a woman called Satya..Someone Ramu knew back in college days..He just wanted her to know that he still rememberred her..Ramu was an engineering student..in some naxalite area in Andhra..then, when ever he got into trouble, he would strike a brucelee pose and make a eeyah sound to defend or protect himself..atleast thats what he told me..slowly all characters fell into place..
Ramu’s screenplay writer of Daud had been to Boston University Film Course..Gerard Hooper taught Cinematography there..he still teaches there..his two students made “THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT”..the writers name was KANNAN..kannan recommended Gerry..as he was fondly called..
We started shooting somewhere in August 1997..three days of shooting..third day we were shooting..it was that sequence where Sushant Singh came to collect hafta from satya and satya refuses and slashes him..the way sushant reacted..he improvised or i didn’t know what..Ramu reacted in a way i never saw him reacting..he said now i know what my film is all about and he trashed the script me and Saurabh wrote..he fucking trashed it..he also cancelled shooting the next day and guess what.. Gulshan Kumar was shot dead..Ramu stopped shooting..Underworld equations had changed..script needed to go through a change.. somedays after that was Daud’s release..i remember..because it rained so much that day that noone could reach the premiere venue on time..anyways..Daud bombed..i still fucking loved it..I thought Neeraj Vora rocked in that film..
so Ramu threw our script in the bin and we started rewriting script..Ramu always treated me like a kid..he was fond of me but never took me seriously..i was the kid in the gang..only other kid was Apoorva Asrani..the editor..Bhiku Mhatre’s laughter was never written into the film..he just laughed one day when we were shooting at his fictitious house in bandra..we loved it so much that it became his character..The first day we shot with the lawyer Mule..Makrand deshpande ,who played the character overacted so nmuch,the scene was never kept in that film..it was the scene where chandar appears in court..just before “goli maar”song..Mule was shown sleeping in the court..his Yawn was louder than Shakti kapoor..it just did not work.. at that time goli maar was not even ther in the film..the whole party sequence was shot on “Mera piya ghar aaya oh Raamji”..later the songs came into the film..Goli maar song had a different version..it went“gham ke neeche bam laga ke gham uda de”..sung to the same tune..Gulzaar sahab wroteb “goli Maar”..we all including Ramu and Vishal prefeered the GHAM version..but who would tell it to Gulzar sahab..i was known to be blunt, so they chose me to tell it to Gulzar sahab..next meeting with him ..they took me along ..and i said “sir gum work nahin karta” and he said,”Gum nahin gham,Pehle bolna seekho” andi was out of discussion..everyone agreed to Goli maar and thank god they did..what a song..
Rest later..a lot is coming back..all too random and all suddenly..need to sleep..
__________________________________________________________________
29 Responses to “SATYA-the true story PART 2”
1. manjeet | November 26th, 2006 at 12:39 pm
Kya baat hai!! Kal ki flight jayda subah ki nahin lagti:)
2. manjeet | November 26th, 2006 at 12:54 pm
Its such an insightful description of Satya. All the characters in the film are so unique There is something extraspecial about them. Now we know how Bhiku name came about! You have taught us the importance of improvisation and teamwork!
I am surprised after a long tough day you could right an article ^:)^
3. Sangeeta | November 26th, 2006 at 1:19 pm
Agree with Manjeets comments, this was definitely a useful post. As viewers small details like characters names esp unique ones are always niggling at me and i’m often question why this was done and how much improvisation is allowed etc.
4. george thomas | November 26th, 2006 at 1:47 pm
“so Ramu threw our script in the bin and we started rewriting script.” … Aha!
Anurag,
Once you’ve finished the current narrative till then, could you let us know what went into the bin?
5. striker | November 26th, 2006 at 1:58 pm
bhiku chai-boy becomes bhiku mhatre? wah bhai wah =D> anurag, any such real-life inspired characters in ‘no smoking’?
6. oz | November 26th, 2006 at 4:17 pm
- The scene that HIT ME THE MOST in this part - Your meeting with Gulzar-saab and he telling you “Gum nahin gham,Pehle bolna seekho” and you going “and I was out of the discussion” - CLASSIC!!! :)>-
7. oz | November 26th, 2006 at 4:19 pm
- Actually I love the original line “gham ke neeche bam laga ke gham uda de” - damn!!! too good!!!
8. randramble | November 26th, 2006 at 6:26 pm
Superlative stuff! It’s very insightful to know how things work and shape up.
The apparent lack of structure in your posts somehow makes it racy and interesting. AK, gimme more!
9. Sash | November 26th, 2006 at 9:18 pm
Hey..u tell us about everythg that happened in the making….giv us sum insights into wat u went through while wrkng on the script…
how was it to hav them dumped in the bin….
nd how do u motivate urself to begin wrk again rt frm the scratch….
guss that wud b interesting to know…
10. The truth about Satya at Blogbharti | November 26th, 2006 at 9:24 pm
[…] Part 1 here and Part 2 here. Must read for all Kashyap fans. Posted by Bombay Addict […]
11. Zero | November 26th, 2006 at 9:57 pm
Anurag,
Priceless insider’s account of a classic! Eagerly awaiting the future posts on the same!
>>the whole party sequence was shot on “Mera piya ghar aaya oh Raamji”
Just a bit of triviamongering, was the whole party sequence reshot or some of the original footage used? If I’m not wrong, the characters did mouth some lines of Goli Maar.
12. premal | November 26th, 2006 at 10:24 pm
yes sir, loving this article. wanted to know whether satya’s character was originally planned to be gup chup and that violent in heart zubaan pe taala type or bcoz chekri couldny utter hindi dialogs.
regards,
premal
13. premal | November 26th, 2006 at 10:26 pm
yes sir loving the article. wanted to know whther Satya’s character was originally planned as the violent from inside aur zubban pe taala type or bcoz chekri couldnt mouth hindi dialogues did prompt chracter changes.
regards,
premal
14. tushar | November 27th, 2006 at 12:48 am
I am still wondering how would the ‘gham’ line have fitted in where Goli maar did?
And also wondering about the entire Sushant Singh episode. Was Ramu ecstatic/annoyed/moved or what?
15. sophocles | November 27th, 2006 at 1:37 am
I would love to visualise you talking to Gulzar (he in his pristine white kurta payjama) and telling him that Gham doesnt work..and he tells you - pehle bolna to seekh lo…heh heh!! kya scene hota…
16. RK | November 27th, 2006 at 2:25 am
Ala Sanjay from Mahabharata epic: trying to visualize Gulzar Saab saying words “Gum nahin Ghum, pehle bolna sikho”. How he said it with his serius voice?
It more looks like Late Raaj Kumar saying “Jani, gum nahin Gham hota hai, pehle bolna seekho Raja”
But then one GK question always has always been confusing for all Indians” Who gave slogan of “Karo ya Maro” in 1942. It just does not resemble with image of Mahtma Gandhi. It damn looks like given by Neta Ji Subhash Bose, but then genius people are spontaneous and unpredicatble. I just loved this line of gulzar Saab. There is only one Gulzar! :)
Thanks Anurag for this sharing of past. The journey of making a great thing is not less than the product itself:)
17. Drupad Venugopal | November 27th, 2006 at 5:46 am
Hi Anurag,
Satya is a film that changed the way i looked at films..So reading about how satya was made is exhilarating…… :-) thanks a billion…
How i wish there was a new DVD release of SATYA with exclusive deleted,behind the scenes footage !!
How about you coming out with a book on the same..?? A compilations of ur writings about those days…!! it will be amazing…I know u r a busy man…but i think u shud give a serious thought to it…
Also before finishing, i must confess ur writing is extremely addictive…i mean i keep reading ur articles again n again n again n again……My company is surely gonna throw me out one of these days….:-)
All the best with ur film….
Plz continue writing…..
18. OM | November 27th, 2006 at 10:02 am
“Mule was shown sleeping in the court..his Yawn was louder than Shakti kapoor”
=))
Fantatsic post again!!!! Anurag..correct me if i am wrong but…in Satya i dont think Chander appears in court…it was some other guy..and i remember his dialogues which were fucking too good
” Maloom nai saab dubai se fone aaya..tapka ne ke liye kaha..tapka diya..”
19. Sudha Elavarti | November 27th, 2006 at 10:04 am
I am awestuck seeing the randomness in movie making. I always wonder what works…well bound script or random creativity. It’s hard to come to a conclusion as we had film makers with both approaches.
20. manjeet singh | November 28th, 2006 at 1:39 am
Anurag,
How about discussing any flaws present in final Satya. It would be so insane!
21. Rony D'costa | November 28th, 2006 at 4:33 am
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING THIS WITH US….
22. v9y | November 29th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
Anurag:
As with almost every nonsensical-sounding Gulzar song, there’s another layer of profound thought in ‘golii maar bheje me.n’. But I am sure it must have been true for the discarded ‘Gam ke neeche bam lagaake..’ too. It would be great if that one gets used in some other movie.
Talking of songs in Satya, ’sapane me.n milatii hai’ also had wonderful and witty lines in conversational ‘aam bolchaal kii bhaaShaa’ like ’saaraa din sa.Dako.n pe Khaalii rikshe saa peechhe peechhe chalataa hai’ and ‘paajii hai, shareer hai, ghoomati lakeer hai, chakaraa ke chalatee hai’.
But on the whole I find that both the songs and the movie, while on their own are simply excellent, together do not work for me. There is a disconnect between them. While a couple of them actually slow down the story, the rest like the above two examples simply don’t fit in the scheme of things for me. Probably because Satya’s stark and real characterization was unprecedented, something seen never before in Hindi cinema (and unfortunately rarely after. Your very own ‘Black Friday’ is the only movie that I can recall offhand) and it demanded a different handling of songs. It may be something else that I cannot pinpoint right now, but to me, the songs remain Satya’s biggest (and probably only) kamajorii.
23. punit | December 5th, 2006 at 1:50 pm
“Ramu was an engineering student..in some naxalite area in Andhra..then, when ever he got into trouble, he would strike a brucelee pose and make a eeyah sound to defend or protect himself..atleast thats what he told me..slowly all characters fell into place..”=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))
imagine ramu actually did that…….
24. Ashvin Sagar | December 15th, 2006 at 1:04 am
There goes the difference between Ramu Bhai’s film and any other Bollywood director, he has changed the way how Villainism in bollywood look, once upon a time…..a masked person first moves the photoframe and then rotates the small statue and then the door opens ..here goes the villain and Ramu Bhai…with his characters…satya…bhiku….kallu mama….vakil mule….man, this is what we call film making…..Anurag a great article man….really interesting and impressive.
25. cobain | January 3rd, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Anurag,
Thanks for the post. I just added Satya to my rental dvd list and moved it to the top. Somewhat like Satya - revisited.
Always wanted to understand how a story was written. Maybe this is where I start my journey.
26. shiva | January 5th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
hey anurag…..when are you going to finish this?…still waiting for the part 3….
27. DK | January 7th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Waiting for the rest of the story…pls hurry anurag:((
28. John L | January 16th, 2007 at 4:50 am
Seriously DK. My curiosity is ignited too.
29. Nilesh | January 16th, 2007 at 11:07 am
Thats awesome man!!! Ramu works purely on instincts. Satya is the film…which transformed me into a complete movie buff and changed the way I looked at films. Wat a film!!! Even, I loved Daud…and I felt Sanju was awesome.
Ramu did not study in a naxalite area.It is a place where lot of student politics happens,rowdys and gangsters.It is Vijayawada.Ramu studied in VR Sidhardha engineering college.Even today the college is full of gang wars. And I believe the character Satya is named after his best fried "Sathyendra".RGV believes that Sathyendra is the only intelligent person he had ever met.
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