Production Diaries:
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
Recent Entries:
HUNDREDS GATHER TO PAY TRIBUTE TO THE LATE MAKO IWAMATSU IN CAGES!
Wed, 14 Nov 2007
A SPECIAL TRIBUTE SCREENING OF MAKO!
Tue, 16 Oct 2007
Perles Acquires Cages Distribution!
Wed, 01 Aug 2007
"CAGES" RUNS 4TH WEEK IN THEATRES!
Fri, 13 Apr 2007
IT'S MY TURN TO FLY!
Mon, 09 Apr 2007
"CAGES" SURPRISES MANY AS IT ENTERS THIRD WEEKEND IN THEATRES!
Fri, 06 Apr 2007
"CAGES" ENTERS THIRD WEEK IN THEATRES!
Tue, 03 Apr 2007
LOYAL FOLLOWING TO THANK, AS "CAGES" ENTERS THIRD WEEK IN THEATRES!
Mon, 02 Apr 2007
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A Little Trip
07/07/04
When I left for Bollywood – the land which produced the most number of films in a year – I had 2 main goals: the first was to meet and secure a veteran Bollywood actor, Asrani – known as the “Arani”, who plays the character LEO, the comedic best friend of TAN, and the second was to check out post-production facilities in Bombay (now known as Mumbai), and Madras (now known as Chennai).
After a tiresome flight, I finally arrived in Bombay on Sunday afternoon, and drove to the hotel via streets flooded by the Monsoon rains. Our hotel was, of all places – Sun and Sand. This being my first trip to India, I did not get the opportunity to experience the Sun, colour and vibrance of India behind the heavy Monsoon downpour and grey skies. And I never expected to be cold in India.
After cholesterol laden delicious Samosas and Pav Bhaji, Hari, my business associate and I met up with Asrani and his agent Suchil. Asrani was very well-groomed, even though we were meeting in our hotel room, he wore a black and white printed shirt, had sleek back-combed hair and wore a little more make-up than me! But what really created an impression was the fact that this star who has appeared in 212 films (according to IMDb) was a humble, straight-talking, easy-going person. And he could not remember the exact number of films he has been in!
The next day, Monday, I went to Prasad Film Laboratories to check out their facilities with particular interest in their video to film transfer “Arri-Laser” Reverse Telecine process. CAGES will be shot on High Definition Video and we intend to transfer the final video master onto 35 mm film. It was a huge outfit with major amount of processing, film negatives, and release prints all ready to be delivered all over Bombay.
On our way to Prasad, we were stuck in Bombay traffic and rain, and was a good half hour late. We passed by huge traffic junctions with major potholes accumulating pools of rainwater. Two boys were in the middle of a major highway, at a uncompleted highway construction, sawing off and stealing steel supports from the concrete. Above them was an older man supervising the job.
As Hari and I were traveling in a taxi on the way back to the Sun and Sand hotel, a young 5-6 year old boy knocked on our window begging for coins. Hari gave him some money and he went away. Within seconds, another boy knocked on our taxi window. And we shooed him away.
Later that day, Asrani, Suchil and his wig maker came by to the Hotel again to discuss creating a wig and a “look” for LEO. Our character LEO was inspired by the snazzy, hip, bleached-blond owner of the actual bird-shop we are shooting at. The wig-maker, who came from a line of wig-makers for the motion-picture industry, showed me countless photos of wigs and facial hair, and utterly convinced me that LEO can look bleached and bearded with a skillful wave of his wig wand. I was beginning to realize that the way to do business in India, is just to get everyone to come to your hotel room… one does not even have to step out of the door!
After the meeting with Asrani, I packed and hopped on a plane to Madras. This trip was to check out Prasad’s sound mixing facility in Madras, as the Bombay office does not provide such a service. And to welcome and host me at Madras, was a friend who worked at the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board in Madras.
Madras was a real change from Bombay. Even at midnight (my arrival time) it was vastly hotter than Bombay. The next morning, Tuesday, we went to Prasad film Laboratory, a smaller and older outfit from the Bombay facilities. We toured the huge studio set, which had an indoor garden pond, the digital editing facilities with the Da Vinci colour grading for the Digital Intermediate, DVD authoring sections, and the Sound Mixing Studio.
In the afternoon, we went to a film set where they were shooting a hospital scene of gangsters pretending to be patients. There were so many crew, cast, and assistants on set.
After a nice Korean dinner with my friend, I proceeded to board the plane – to head back to Singapore.
Reflecting on the poverty in India, I am forced to consider the number of people who are physically handicapped in India – caused by neglect, diseases or lack of health care. And upon arriving to Singapore, I too consider the people who are underprivileged in our small country. Singapore, too, have many people marginalized – by poverty, by physical limitations, by lack of access. India is a land of the free – where there are no rules, and one can steal anything to get by. But in Singapore, the land of the law-abiding, the place of efficiency, of great health care and technology, I feel that it is even more imperative that we, as people of this nation, provide access to the people who are limited. Because, of all the technology and infrastructure in place, it is a great place for people who are physically abled. Most children and adults in Singapore get to go to school and find employment, and bus and rail and taxis are cheap and reliable. But if one is physically disabled, then even their schoolbooks become expensive, because it has to be translated to Braille. Adults who are deaf cannot watch the news because it has no subtitles, and transportation is still a challenge for them.
All I wish for is that every child is given the same education, the same nurturing, and every adult is able to find employment opportunity, have access to transport, money, restaurants, and entertainment as any other adult in the community.
This is the ultimate Singapore.
Tania Sng
Executive Producer
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