No CHILD’S PLAY this

With rules in Australia hugely in favour of children,the shooting of We Are Family revolved more around the children's needs instead of the stars

With rules in Australia hugely in favour of children,the shooting of We Are Family revolved more around the children’s needs instead of the stars

Even though the cast and crew of a film is sensitive to the needs of children while shooting with them,director Siddharth Malhotra balked at the rules laid out when he started the shooting of We Are Family in Australia where the story is based.

“We were not aware that Australian laws were so stringent when it came to shooting with children. There is a rule that there has to be a nurse and a teacher always present on the set. That was fine,but what shook us were the working schedules. Children are not allowed to shoot for more than four hours a day! Since all the three kids,Aanchal Munjal,Nominath Ginsburg and Diya Sarecha are there in every scene of the film, we quickly rescheduled our shooting plan. We had to pack in a lot during that time so that they could be free after the stipulated time. It was tough at first,but thanks to my production team and my cast Kajol,Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Rampal who were very understanding,everything went off smoothly,” says Malhotra.

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There was no question of cheating,he adds,because there are officers to monitor that rules are adhered to,and even report the day’s proceedings to the State.

Throughout the 25-day schedule in Sydney and Melbourne,every day was planned around the children instead of the stars. Probably,a first for the actors! There is also a turn- around time,meaning that a child has to be given a minimum of 12 hour break. “So if I finished shooting at 12 in the night I could not shoot with them before one,the next day. So when the children had to be let off I shot with the adults,” continues the first-time director.

The restriction on working hours was not the only woe. All children are very moody and tend to go into a sulk. So during the workshops conducted before the shooting,the crew had to understand their pschye to extract the best in front of the camera. “There was no problem with Aanchal,who is 13. Diya’s passion in life are vada pav,so we had to dangle one in front of her to get a perfect shot! Nominath,on the other,loved his video games and watching cartoons on TV. Any small break and we would send him to play or watch TV. Both Arjun and Kajol are parents and they were happy that the children were so well looked after. Kareena is also very fond of her niece so she too understood the children’s needs. We were really like one big family on the sets,” smiles Malhotra.