Weekend Date

Spending a Sunday afternoon on a film set wasn8217;t a terribly exciting prospect. But Bhanu Uncle8212;Bhanu Pandya, a retired Gujarati po...

Spending a Sunday afternoon on a film set wasn8217;t a terribly exciting prospect. But Bhanu Uncle8212;Bhanu Pandya, a retired Gujarati postmaster, with a passion for theatre and literature8212;lured me with everything from the great location and weather to a home pick-up. And considering my other options8212;the weekly laundry or research notes from my fellowship at London8217;s University of Westminster8212;it was no contest.

Ten minutes after that karmic phone call, I was in the back seat of a Mini, with Alpa, a second generation British Gujarati, and her mother.

All we knew of Provoked at the time was that it had Aishwarya Rai in it. It8217;s the real life story of a British Sikh woman, Kiranjit Ahluwalia, who killed her husband after years of domestic abuse and also stars Nandita Das.

The much-touted location was The American University, a pretty red brick affair. Our first order of business was an audience with the lady in charge of extras. One glance at me, Bhanu Uncle and the others, and she nodded, 8216;8216;Fine, you will do8221;. Apparently, the agency that was supposed to cast extras for the movie goofed up and there were no Asian faces available for the shot.

A series of phone calls by an Indian casting agent to relatives and friends in the city, plus grand promises of sharing screen space with Bollywood stars brought out a motley crew of Gujarati uncles and young girls, salwar kameez-clad Punjabi ladies, turbaned heads and spike-haired boys.

And there I was, not just watching a shoot, but right in the middle of one. It also began to dawn on me why Uncle had instructed me to come attired in Western wear.

The shooting was taking place at the university chapel. The beautiful spired building, with tall stained glass windows, stood in the midst of sprawling lawns and a hot8212;by British standards8212;32deg;C sun.

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It was the second last day of shooting and inside the chapel-turned-set, there were posters of a pained Aishwarya Rai on every wall. The 8216;scene8217; was of a group listening to a speech by Nandita Das. We I was in the first row had to hear out Das8217; dialogue, then clap, stand up and continue clapping.

After half an hour, we were asked to step outside, with instructions to not talk or use mobile phones. And despite the occasional burst of excitement when we were subjected to a headcount, by 5 pm, I had had enough. Unfortunately, first row mugs like mine could not leave because it would break the film8217;s continuity, a crew member explained.

For anyone wondering about the beauty queen, Rai wasn8217;t on the sets. Almost four hours and a lot of quiet cribbing later, we trooped back in again and now shared the shot with Nandita Das. The blazing lights had turned the quaint chapel into an oven. I told myself I would never again envy the money actors make.

During the lunch break8212;way past sundown, at around 8 pm8212;I got myself an interview with the director Jagmohan Mundhra. By the time I returned to my compatriots, you could have Googled me for Provoked info8212;from how the movie happened, Rai8217;s role in getting it international publicity, AR Rahman8217;s music and the January 2006 release date.

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By 10 pm, the director was finally satisfied with our antics. Who knew that a simple applause routine would eventually take nine and a half hours to can. At least, the movie is guaranteed a viewership of some 50 families and their friends.

On my way home, I counted the day8217;s earnings8212;pound;60. My first and last income as a film extra.