Intimate scenes in Bollywood are not a new phenomenon. Bollywood has had its fair share of intimate, or rather ‘bold scenes’ in its movies. However, Gehraiyaan brings about a paradigm shift. The movie, directed by Shakun Batra, starring Deepika Padukone and Siddhant Chaturvedi in the lead, had an intimacy director on board. Writer-director Dar Gai was roped in to choreograph the physically intense scenes for the film and it has created quite a buzz ever since her name was mentioned on the poster.
In a conversation with News18, Dar opened up about collaborating with her friend and filmmaker Shakun on the film. Without knowing much about the project, she was on board basis one phone call from Shakun. It was the director’s idea to rope in an expert and Deepika was all on board with the scenes to be performed. Read on for more from the conversation with her:
How did you and Shakun end up collaborating?
He called and he said, ‘Dar, you have to do it.’ I was like, ‘What?’ He was like, ‘You have to do it.’ I didn’t know what exactly I was supposed to do, but he just asked and I agreed. We’d been friends for a long time, we wanted to collaborate on something. We started breaking down certain films and understanding why the chemistry on the screen works. We started discussing the importance of an intimacy director and he wanted me to come on board as a director of two music videos in the film as well as the intimacy direction. I was very excited because intimacy direction allowed me to combine several things in one role, which were direction, my knowledge and experience from acting workshops, and my philosophy degree. I tried to use different psychological techniques and different exercises (to the scenes). It was very, very fruitful.
How long did the workshops last?
I think around seven days.
Oh, I thought it would be a longer duration.
Oh it was my dream, if he would have said one month, I would be jumping. Ideally, one month – great; two weeks – okay, seven days is fine. But we were spending more hours during the workshops (than we usually would).
Deepika is known to dive deep into scenes, asking doubts and questions to ensure she gets the character right. Did she have many questions for you?
When I came for the first time and presented our plan, she was extremely cooperative. She was extremely creative in her thoughts and ideas and open to trying something new. I think because she knew whatever we’ll be shooting or whatever we’ll be trying to capture has a reason to be on the screen and in the story, that helped a lot. She also shared that sometimes you shoot something and you don’t know why you’re shooting it and that places doubts in your head such as ‘How people would react?’ ‘Will people like it?’ But if you know it is a strong part of the narrative, it helps.
Intimate scenes featuring any Indian leading star come with a strong sense of prejudice. Were you and Deepika prepared for possible trolling that would follow?
I don’t think there was discussion just on that (trolling and public reaction), we just wanted to make sure that they know what we were shooting, they know what kind of shots we were taking, and I know as an intimacy director that they feel comfortable, they feel safe, and I am using enough (camera) tricks to make people feel it is realistic, though it is just (camera) tricks. Apart from that, you cannot prepare yourself for anything else. If people believe in the chemistry that you have created on screen, it means it worked.
Did the actors have any kind of apprehension?
When I came on set, it was very friendly. They were open for all the workshops, they were open for all the ideas. I think they were completely confident in Shakun’s vision and what he wanted from them. Because usually, he explains everything in a way that you know what you’re entering, you know what kind of work you would be participating in. So I guess all credits go to him. I didn’t (face) any problems with them.
Were the scenes modified to make them a little more comfortable?
It was an ever-changing process. We were taking certain scenes during the workshops to see how comfortable Deepika and Siddhant are, if some scenes were slightly adjustable, we were finding right angles, right approaches to get the best outcome but at the same time, the actors would feel comfortable. So I would say yes and no.
Intimacy on screen is not new in Bollywood but roping in an intimacy director to choreograph the scene is. What prompted Gehraiyaan to bring about the paradigm shift?
It’s a very interesting question. I’ll write it down and ask Shakun, would love to know his opinion on that. But I guess he is very sensitive and empathetic towards other people and he knew that this script requires a lot of emotional involvement. I think going through that understanding and going through several discussions, the idea of intimacy direction was just brought and it was understandable that it would make everyone’s life much easier, and it’s time for the industry to understand the need for it.
After his decision to put the name of an intimacy director on the poster, I felt inspired. Not because it was my name but because you are educating the market. You are educating young filmmakers and creators about the need for this. In a way, you are making it needful, fashionable, and igniting a conversation. I do think it is very refreshing, I got so many calls after that from different filmmakers talking about it and asking me about what does an intimacy director does, why do you need them. It has opened a new series of discussions which I think is important for the growing and evolving industry.
During the making, did you think that censorship might impact the final cut of these intimate scenes?
The idea was just to create a very strong, compelling story that people can feel, relate to and be taken on a stroll of emotions. I think for us the most important part was that it was a journey, I was not concentrating on how it will come out when it will come out, and how people will react. I just wanted to make sure my actors are comfortable, Shakun was comfortable, everything trust each other, and (everyone) is safe, and the process of the entire creation.
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