#Neerja
- MY SHOOTING EXPERIENCE
Have you ever thought of what you would do if you had to choose between saving 379 lives or saving your own life? Would you go to the extent of saving lives of strangers at the expense of your own? I could never really answer that myself. But, being a part of this inspiring movie Neerja has made me want to share my experiences of shooting for the movie. When I heard Neerja Bhanot's story for the first time I was left emotional and inspired. So inspired that I decided to take upon the challenging role (of Rahima Muhammad) in this unique project, full of emotions and dangerous stunts in spite of my back problem!I know I could probably never feel what the passengers in that hijacked aircraft were experiencing during those hours of trauma, but putting myself in their shoes as a passenger, I could sense the fear and pain they would have felt during this tragic time. So, I decided to pen down my experience of shooting for this movie.
It was the month of May 2015, and most ur shoot times were in the night as the director wanted to keep it as real as possible. It was a very different experience for me as it was an adventure like none other. One day before the shoot a special workshop was conducted to show all the actors the details of the 'stunts' that we were supposed to perform. I immediately understood what I had to do.
On the count of 52 I was supposed to push two terrorists and run, by count 58 I had to hide, at 64 I was to run and at 94 I had to jump on the wings before the bomb blasted. As I couldn't hear the counts I only jumped at count 97! I screamed out of real fear as the faux-blast happened. I could feel my body reacting to the blast as my heart beat soared peak high and my body went numb. This gave me a moment to empathize for the passengers who had to face this in reality back in 1986. If this is what a faux-blast could do to me, I can never imagine what a real one did to them. Thanks to the stuntman who grabbed my hand and prevented me from getting hurt as I slipped off the wings.
All the artistes who played the roles of passengers worked extremely hard in the night shift. All we did in the first two nights was to climb the stairs of the aircraft! It was not easy keeping up as I recently had episodes of pain in my back.
The actors who played the roles of terrorists were so real that even days after the shoot when I flew to meet my son and daughter-in-law in Singapore, the fear of a hijack was at the back of my mind.
I recall the time when the tarey zameen par song "main kabhi batlata nahi , Teri parwah karta hu main Maa" was played to help the passengers emote and cry after the hi-jack of the plane. This was the song that was playing when I lost my Mati, my lovely mother. I was watching this very movie in Bangalore when I got a disheartening call from my brother giving me the saddest news of my life about my mother’s sudden demise and on hearing the same song that day at the shoot I broke down completely. Memories of my mother filled my senses and before I knew, my tears were unstoppable and sobs uncontrollable. Mere co-actors ne mujhe sambhala(consoled me) 😄😄
Even though the movie made our hearts cry out aloud in pain, we had our fun moments during the shoot. I recall this incident with Alex Kozyrev, a sweet Russian guy, who played the character of Ronnie Huston. I clearlyremember the date, it was 9th May and we were sitting in plane, tired and exhausted, when Alex starting singing a Russian song (I am a soldier). It is a song about how a country could never forget their hero, their soldiers. In my opinion Neerja was/is a soldier, a HERO who sacrificed her own life to save many innocent lives which were at the hands of dreadful terrorists.
https://youtu.be/KJqpQ7xdNLs (link to the song)
I then told Alex that as he was doing a Hindi movie, he should sing a Hindi song and to my surprise he sang a beautiful song from Satyam Shivam sunderam, "Ishwarsatya hai Satya hi Shiv hai , Shiv hi sunder hai.” He is now my friend forever. This movie gave me an opportunity to meet new people and forge long lasting friendships, and of course it was fun to get to know so many people.
This movie also had a lot of learning experiences for me. One such was Shabana Azmi’s performance where she had to cry looking at Neerja’s (Sonam’s) dead body. When she was told of the scene, all she took was 30 minutes to prepare herself and deliver a natural and extra ordinary performance without using glycerin. This inspired me to not use glycerin for the scene as well. Another learning experience on top of my mind is the scene in which Sonam had to do being inside the coffin. Even though there were many retakes, her perseverance to shoot without complaining left an impact on me.
We constantly had workshops during the period of shooting for Neerja During these workshops, many stars were invited to boost our motivation. Ram Sir himself also reminded us on a daily basis that the supporting cast was more important than the lead and by doing so he kept our morale and energies high. When Boma nIrani addressed us, he too emphasized the importance of the supporting cast. Anil Kapoor danced on “aey ji o ji” and put a jhakkas smile on our faces! Aamir khan, Raj kumar Hirani, Vidya Balan, Diya Mirja, (just to name a few) kept us going with their strong words of encouragement.
But, the highlight of all was when I saw Neerja’s beautiful and cute mother, Rama Ji along with her son's Akhil and Aneesh Bhanot Ji, I got so touched and was filled with emotionsl. She shared Neerja’s childhood memories with us.That’s the moment I will always cherish, being so lucky to have met this brave woman, mother of a brave girl Neerja who saved the life of 379 people. I salute this brave girl. I would sincerely like to thank Neerja’s family for their support to this movie.
- MY PERSONAL VIEWPOINT OF THE MOVIE
I feel that showing the passengers just a little more would have brought more heart to the movie as these were the “people” Neerja fought for so bravely. But nevertheless, thanks to Ram Madhvani sir for his message which he sent to us through Atul Ji. N all the people in theater clapped when Atul read that You ( Supporting cast )are the back bone of Neerja .
I did this movie for my inspiration Neerja Bhanot. The smiles, the tears, the sweat and toil, everything was for her.
- ABOUT MOVIE SCREENING
I thank my wonderful son Kashyap Chandhock for always being there by my side. For my happiness, he arranged a movie screening of Neerja. I managed to get my co-actors numbers’ with the help of Ishita Dave and Elvira D'souza. Me with the help of my co actor Rajan Chabra made a group named "Neerja’s Stars." on Whatsapp. I invited everyone for this movie screening on 23rd February at PVR City mall, Andheri.
I want to thank all my co actors who supported me n bought their tickets from me ..N we all saw the movie together. n thank God for blessing me with such a lovely family who can do anything just to see a smile on my face, thnx my angels, God bless you all.
I also sent an invitation to the DA(Director's Assistant at Equinox Films Pvt Ltd. )of Ram sir, Rhea Prabhu. She tried her best to get Ram sir for the screening, but due to his busy schedule he was unable to make it.
My deepest gratitude to Atul for his presence. I gifted him a photo frame along with my poem which I wrote on the sets of Neerja for Sonam, Ram and Atul. We were heartbroken by Sonam's and Ram's absence:;( I am proud to be a part of this wonderful movie which is declared a super hit ( Hope to work with Ram sir soon for another movie. We all love you sir, Stay blessed.
In the end i want to thank my elder n very caring son Chitvan chandhock and my beautiful and talented daughter in law Pooja Chandhock for their support and always helping me in all my endeavors ( even if they are in Singapoore) and their suggestions. Love you my Angels ChitPooKash ( Chitvan, Pooja , Kashyap. Stay blessed always.
Written by Madhu Anand Chandhock ( Me)
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