READ MORE ABOUT AlsO fEATURED fOCUs ON - Kodak

2
cover STorY
gone are heavily choreographed,
tracking movements, jib, crane
– all that is fast disappearing…
gone is the way of breaking down
a scene beforehand, into multiple
shots, the conventional long
shot, mid shot, complimentary
over-the-shoulder shots, leading
to close-ups… now as far as
possible, the approach is to do a
few long continuous shots, where
the camera follows characters,
weaves in and out of them, a
chemistry happens between the
actors and the camera, creating
something much more endemic
to a scene, much more organic
and real-natural… it is not only
non-restricting, it actually helps
the actors perform. Boring
old grammar is broken, and a
new film language is created,
which is much fresher, dynamic
and natural.”
The film has an aura of a novel
unfolding before our eyes, the
rich, dark or even awesome
eye-level shots, or shots taken
from unusual angles create the
inherent drama or conflict within
the minds of the characters. In
the scenes between Susanna,
played by Priyanka Chopra,
and her first husband played by
Neil Nitin Mukesh, the shock
or even impulse that we are led
into feeling is at the same time
erotic, yet frightening to some
extent. This brings us to another
aspect of the film that is deeply
compelling – the handling of
eroticism, physical love between
a man and a woman. The
sensuousness of a woman’s body,
her relationship with a man, is very effectively
brought out without using sheer bare-bodied
shots. “Our approach, both of the director and
mine, was never to use plain, sheer eroticism.
You may have noted, in this first part where
Susanna engaged in a tango dance with another
man while her first husband looks on, is quite
erotic, it is charged.” says Palit. “I have used a
flare in these shots – Neil watches on, he is angry,
it takes us to the bedroom sequence where she
is tormented by her husband. Here I have used
unusual camera angles,” he adds.
Palit’s camera takes peculiar, almost low-angle,
toppish shots where the husband looks very
sinister while the woman is vulnerable, quick
The camera is like a
character, interacting
with the actors. My
camera is reacting to their
movement spontaneously
– that is an outcome of my
documentary background.
to break down. Palit’s lighting in
these shots also use a very lowkey
light-and-shade pattern which
enhances the unhappy feeling of
the shot. “You will note that even in