Kiran Rao's Dhobi Ghat showed us a Mumbai very few of us have actually seen, even though many of us may have lived here.The film took us through the most crowded bylanes of the city, in festival time, and rain.
The man who got it done was Tushar Kanti Ray, the Director of Photography. This was his first film.
After graduating in Kolkata, Tushar did his post graduation in Cinematography at the Film and Television Institute of India. He then made a short film Shor which won him the Best Cinematography at San Francisco Shorts. It is now being converted into a full-length movie, produced by Balaji Productions, and starring Tusshar Kapoor.
Tushar tells Sonil Dedhia how he shot Mumbai. Watch the videos for a deeper understanding.
Shooting at Dhobi Ghat
Shooting at Dhobi Ghat was physically difficult because there was hardly any space there. The place is full of ditches, and of course, the area where the dhobis wash the clothes. So it was very difficult for my assistants and me to place the lights or move the camera. Many of my assistants and other people fell into the ditches! Luckily, nobody was injured.
This place is naturally so beautiful that there is no way one can shoot it badly. You can shoot the place from any angle and you won't be disappointed. It's like a picture postcard. The clothes line, the loops, the narrow lanes, different colours and its proximity to a railway station makes it an amazing canvas.