Bijish Babu - Kaala Paani Was on the Top 10 Most Watched Shows on Netflix Globally for 2 Weeks and It Was on Netflix’s No. 1 in India for a Long Time (Assistant Director / Film maker)

Rain flooded the costume base, 4-hour delay + missing junior artists + police miscommunication -> 5-day early finish! Teamwork saved the day.

1. Tell us about your background and journey.

I was born and brought up in Gwalior, but my roots are in Kerala, ever since I was a kid I was very much fascinated with films, that’s the only thing that I ever took an interest in, rest all academically I just put in just enough effort which would help me pass the exams, and like most of the family in smaller cities, my parents wanted to get a degree which they feel would help as a backup career option, so I did my MBA and the place I chose was Pune as I thought it was closer to Mumbai.

Finished my MBA in 2008 and then came to Mumbai to try my luck in films but didn’t know anyone in the industry so started to struggle to get an assistant director job anywhere, around the same time my mother was not keeping well, so I shifted my base to Delhi so that I could be home anytime my family needed me, and since I was not aware of the film industry setup in Delhi, I started working as an HR in a startup where I remained till 2012, as my mothers condition worsened I left my job and shifted back to Gwalior, finally January 2014 I told my father that I would like to pursue filmmaking as I don’t have interest in any other profession so since Feb-March 2014 I have been in the Hindi film industry, and after spending 6-7 years made enough contacts that now I have started getting regular projects.

2. Your work includes projects like Sense8, Kaala Paani, and Rana Naidu. Can you share your experience working on these projects, and what unique contributions did you bring to each?

Sense8 was my first project, I was an intern assistant director on that so I was mainly handling junior artist, Sense8, even though it was shot in India for just 10 days, was a great experience where I worked with the great 

Wachowskis, I was a huge fan of The Matrix so it was an unbelievable experience, post that I worked on a movie called Ribbon, Bose Dead or Alive and then eventually CAT (Netflix project) on which I worked as a 1st assistant director due to which I got Kaala Paani, Kaala Paani was mainly shot in Andaman which was a great learning experience as it’s a logistical nightmare, everything has to be either flown down or sent via ships and once the ship leaves from Chennai you never know when is it going to land in Andaman, it could be 3 days or 10 days, so considering we managed to shoot there for a month I feel that was an achievement in itself, Rana Naidu I only did patchwork so I don’t have much to add as I did it only for the money involved, 

As a 3rd Assistant Director and a 2nd AD, I was handling ART, locations, weapons (if required), picture vehicles, and forward setup, so my job was making sure every requirement was fulfilled and the next setup in terms of shooting was always ready when the director arrived.

3. Can you share a memorable behind-the-scenes moment from any of the projects you've worked on, something that might not be known to the audience but reflects the camaraderie or challenges faced during production?

 

As a 1st AD, i am responsible for handling the entire set, making sure the shoot starts and ends on time as there is a big cost involved in running the shoot and any delay would end up costing more money, so the 1st day on set of CAT we were shooting in Amritsar and the night prior it rained heavily and since it was so unexpected that we we reached on set we realised the base location where we keep all the costumes was filled with water, so the costumes got all wet and because of that our shoot got delayed by 4 hours

The next day the junior artist missed their train as they were coming from a different city and they arrived 5 hours late, the 3rd day, due to some miscommunication with the Police out shoot got stopped midway and there was a 4-hour delay, that was my introduction to being the man in charge of running the set, even after such a horrifying start we managed to finish the entire shoot 5 days early tells about the effort everyone involved in the shooting process did to make sure the series ended with the producers saving money instead of spending more.

Even with Kaalapaani, due to the inaccessibility of the jungles of Andaman, we had to create a main base, then a mini base, and then outshoot locations which would be deep inside the jungle so our base location would be setup in a place that would be 2 kilometers from the mini base and once every one including actors and lightmen and cameramen reached the mini base we then used to walk 4-5 kilometers deep inside the jungle with all the heavy lights and equipment, but since we had so much belief in Kaala Paani everyone of us didn't mind the hardships and because of the collective effort of everyone involved the show came out so beautiful. It is always the collective effort of the crew that ensures a film is made.

There was one time when we went for a location scouting and the day before we were supposed to fly back to Mumbai, there was a cyclone alert and all the flights got canceled and we had to stay back for a week, we just partied.

4. Which film(s) do you appreciate the most for their cinematography?

The films I have worked on are Kaala Paani for sure, other than that there are so many of them but to name a few Dunkirk, 1917, The Assassination of Jesse James, Dil se, Roja, Parinda, Raavan, Premam, Jaalikattu, etc. its a huge list but these are on top of my mind.

5. What has been your biggest learning from your job?

The biggest learning has been how to try to remain calm in a super hyper and hectic environment and people management, it's still a learning. process and every film teaches you something new

6. Kaala Paani and Rana Naidu are being released on Netflix. What can audiences expect, and what made these projects stand out to you? What was the audience's feedback and reaction after watching these?

Kaala Paani and CAT's feedback has been really good, everyone who has watched loved it thoroughly, Kaala Paani was on the top 10 most watched shows on Netflix globally for 2 weeks and it was on Netflix's no. 1 in India for long time, i think only after The Railway Men came that it slipped 1-2 places down. The story is what i always look for whenever i take a project and that is what stood out, the Way each storyline in Kaala Paani was written and the way each episode ended, it was a privilege to be a part of the show.

7. Looking ahead, are there specific genres or themes you would like to explore in your filmmaking career or any dream project that you aspire to work on?

I would love to work on psychological or generic thriller films (like the ones Sriram Raghavan makes), or huge action films (like Shankar or Rajamouli makes), i would though love to make travel or journey-based films, where a character travels or goes through a self-discovery.

Bio -

I am an aspiring film maker working in the film industry since 2014, apart from film making the other two genuine passion I have is travelling and coffee

Interviewed and Edited by - Arunangshu Chatterjee