Desert was created in Film City on Shahrukh’s request: Sand worth Rs 2 crore came in 300 trucks; Tank was made from broken bus in Gadar-2

This time in Reel to Real, we will talk about production designing and its process.

The production designer designs the look and mood of the entire film. What will the set of the film be like? What clothes will the actors wear? What will be the theme of the scene according to the screenplay? All these things are decided by the production designer. The art director constructs the set of the film under his supervision. In this episode of Reel to Real, we will talk about production designing and its process.

To understand the whole process of production designing, we spoke to production designer Munish Sappal, who has worked as a production designer in many big Hindi films like Gadar-2, Paheli, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Bhootnath. Apart from this, he has also done many international projects.

Munish told that he had shot the desert sequence in Shahrukh’s film Paheli in Mumbai’s Film City. For this, he had ordered 300 to 400 trucks of sand from Rajasthan and made a desert set in the Film City. Its total cost was Rs 2 crore.

Production designers hire art directors under them
A production designer first works with the director, then the art director and costume designer. The production designer understands the director’s vision, then visualizes it. After this, he designs the set of the film accordingly.

The production designer decides what will be the theme of the scene according to the set, costumes and screenplay. A production designer can hire many art directors under him.

The production designer prepares a budget and gives it to the director-producer, then money is allotted from there
The director first narrates the story of the film to the production designer. After this, the production designer designs the set and the look of the actors accordingly. Where the film will be shot, how the sets will be made there, how many people will be required, how much will be the budget, the production designer prepares a complete blueprint of this and hands it over to the director.

The director sits with the studio or production team with that blueprint. Now the director and producer decide how much budget they have to pass for it. Once an agreement is reached, a budget is allotted to the production designer.

It takes 3 to 6 months to design the entire film
How many days does a production designer need to design a film after receiving the script? Munish said, ‘If it is a simple film, then it takes 3 to 4 months. On the other hand, period films take more than 6 months.’

The production designer decides the clothes of the actors according to the script of the film. Munish explains how important the role of a production designer is in any film by taking the example of his own film Paheli. He said, ‘This film was made on the background of Rajasthan. The director told me that the story of the Baniyas of Rajasthan has to be shown in the film. Then I visualized how the Baniyas would have dressed in those days. I made a sketch accordingly. Costumes were made by looking at that sketch. Shahrukh Khan was seen in the same clothes in the film.’

Shahrukh was made to wear a turban in the film, Rajasthan has its own history behind it
You must have seen that Shahrukh is seen wearing a turban in the film Paheli. Munish was the brain behind this too. He told that earlier men in Rajasthan used to wear such big turbans. This was so that in adverse circumstances, if they felt thirsty, they could put the turban in the well and get water. Shahrukh had also asked during the shooting that what is the meaning of wearing such a big and thick turban. Then Munish had told him its importance.

Munish shared the sketches of the characters of Paheli with us. A sketch is made beforehand to determine the look of the character. Then, their clothes and styling are worked upon accordingly. The sketch of Shah Rukh’s character can be seen in the photo.

A sketch of the lead actress of the film Paheli, Rani Mukherjee, was also prepared.

Amitabh Bachchan also had a small role in this film. He played a shepherd in the film. His look was imagined like this (left), which turned out to be like this (right) in the original.

Munish told that the film Paheli was not shot at the original location. The entire film was shot in Mumbai’s Film City. Munish said, ‘We first went to Rajasthan. There we thoroughly observed the people’s attire, streets, markets and havelis. Then we built the set in the film city accordingly. We even planted trees inside the film city. Two big trees were uprooted and planted in the film city. None of the havelis, markets and villages shown in the film were original. All those sets were built in the film city.’

Through this sketch, an idea of ​​how markets would have been set up in earlier times was envisaged.

Sketch of the havelis was made first. Later they were constructed in the film city.

Desert created in Film City, sand worth 2 crores was ordered
There are some desert scenes in Paheli. Its entire sequence was shot in Film City. For this, 300 to 400 trucks of sand were brought and dropped in Film City. This was not ordinary sand but desert sand.

Actually, Shahrukh Khan did not want to go to Rajasthan to shoot in the scorching heat. He gave Munish the idea of ​​making a desert set in Film City. Shahrukh said that take as much money as you need, but make the set in Film City only. You will be surprised to know that only Rs 2 crore was spent in making that desert set.

The big desert seen in the background of Shah Rukh Khan and Big B was actually just a set built in Film City, Mumbai.

Gadar-2 had a low budget, couldn’t make many sets
Munish also handled the production design of Gadar-2, the third most successful Hindi film of 2023. He said, ‘The budget of this film was very low. We did not have enough money to build many sets for it. I discussed with director Anil Sharma and started looking for locations. After a lot of research, we finalized some locations in Lucknow, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.’

The bus was renovated and converted into an army tank
The tanks shown in Gadar-2 were made by renovating a broken bus. The top canopy of the bus was removed, leaving only the wheels. Tank-like fibre was installed on it. An iron chain was installed below it. It was installed in such a way that the original wheel of the bus was not visible and the chain rotated when the bus moved, so that it looked like a tank.

This tank seen in the background of Sunny Deol was made from an old bus.

Munish said that as a production designer, he looks at every detail of the film. Suppose we have to show the army in a film, for this we will bring real army men on the set.

Whether the artists are carrying the army dress properly or not, if there is a scene of a gun or tank then whether they are able to operate it properly or not, all these things are guided by the army officers present there. This is done so that we do not make any mistakes and the scene looks real. ***

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