Regular readers of Bollywood news simply shrug when they come across the latest saga of treacherous Mafiosi sticking their fingers into the film industry. They read a story about Sanjay Dutt and his weapons cache, and think: business as usual. They are inured to tell-all “based on true events” movies like “Shootout at Lokhandwala,” which in pure Bollywood style feature blood-soaked mayhem interspersed with song and dance.
But as ordinary as all that may seem to Indian readers, the nexus of crime and entertainment is a fascinating topic to those outside India; sometimes it takes an outsider to turn the spotlight on something and make you see that it’s very special indeed.
Liz Mermin, an independent filmmaker based in London and New York, decided to explore the complicated web of crime, fame and Mumbai’s violence in her new documentary, “Shot in Bombay,” which will screen April 26 at the ArcLight Theater in Hollywood as part of the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles.
Mermin, whose past works include the docs “The Beauty Academy of Kabul,” “Office Tigers” and “On Hostile Ground,” said she started out just wanting to make a simple documentary about Bollywood. It turned out to be much more.
“Since I generally make observational films where you see the big picture through a smaller one, I proposed following one production and meeting different characters, from all levels of that production, and thereby painting a portrait of life in Mumbai today,” Mermin told India-West in an email interview.
“So Nahrein [producer Nahrein Mirza of Little Bird, an independent British production house] and I went to Mumbai looking for a film that would have us. We found a few, fairly typical big-budget Bollywood productions, but then a friend told us about ‘Shootout at Lokhandwala,’ and we were hooked.”
“Shootout at Lokhandwala,” produced by Sanjay Gupta and directed by Apoorva Lakhia, starred Sanjay Dutt and Viveik Oberoi in a tale based on the true story of the famous 1991 police massacre of two of the most notorious aides of gangster Dawood Ibrahim.
For Mermin, shooting a documentary about a film based on such a sensational topic proved irresistible “for a few reasons,” she explained.
“A) everything about it ran against “Bollywood” stereotype (it was gritty, violent, fast); B) Apu — the director — seemed like a fabulous character, mixing his Western film training with the realities of filming in Bombay; and most importantly C) it opened a window onto a slew of fascinating issues one could never approach head-on,” Mermin said.
“By following this film we could ask questions about the underworld, terrorism and Sanjay Dutt’s insane story, all within the context of the struggle to get this one film made. It suddenly became a much more interesting documentary.”
If that sounds complicated, it is. Watching the film requires the understanding of layers of Indian recent history, though Mermin does her best to make sense of it.
“The narrative of this film is very complicated,” she told India-West. “It basically tells three stories simultaneously: the making of ‘Shootout,’ the story of the real-life shootout, and the story of Sanjay Dutt. Each of these stories could have been a film on their own, but we wanted to show how they were all woven together in this incredibly tight and bizarre fabric.
“Figuring out how to tell that story, how to get all the necessary information across without losing anyone, how to balance the fun of the set with the seriousness of the backstory, was a huge challenge.”
Another challenge was in gaining access to the film’s shoot in the first place, Mermin recalled.
“It was very difficult,” she said. “First of all, no filmmaker in their right mind wants another crew on their set, unless they think the publicity will help them. But in the case of the Western media, most docs just make the Bombay film crowd look ridiculous — they’ve all been burnt and are very suspicious.”
She credits her cameraman, Vikash Saraf, for breaking the ice. He was recommended by the “Shootout” crew, and was friends with a lot of them, which helped enormously.
“I did the same thing in my last film, ‘Office Tigers,’ in Chennai — worked with a guy who was the same age and background as a lot of my characters. This breaks a lot of ice. I rarely come in with a big foreign crew; I think that’s asking for trouble.”
Despite the bloodiness and violence of “Shootout at Lokhandwala,” “Shot in Bombay” has a lot of humor in it, such as a memorable moment in which a production assistant named Laxmi dryly comments on Dutt’s chronic tardiness.
“The cast and crew often waits 10 days, on a huge set, with 500 people waiting” for Dutt, says Laxmi. A moment later, she gives an Indian head shake and adds, “… but once he comes, he’s very fast!”
Mermin recalled another moment — “We ask the stunt guy, after watching Apu beat him up with a dead fish, what the film’s about, and he says ‘I’ve no idea.’
“Oh, and of course, I absolutely love it when Guru — the cameraman — declares, after a day of shooting and reshooting a rather over-the-top fight sequence between Viveik Oberoi and Sanjay Dutt, that ‘filmmaking is a waste of time.’”
As the shoot dragged on, Mermin was surprised to find herself falling for the legend that is Sanju-baba.
“I went through a strange process making this film in relation to Sanjay Dutt,” Mermin told India-West.
“I didn’t really understand what the fuss was about, why my line producer was in love with him, why everyone cared so much whether he went to jail or not ... and over the course of filming, and watching his old movies, and watching him, seeing how he soldiered on while everyone was trying to act like nothing was wrong, I realized that he really DOES have a pull.
“There’s something incredibly compelling about him — even if you know in your head he’s probably reckless, and shouldn’t have had those guns, and doesn’t deserve special treatment, it’s hard not to be seduced.
“I have, despite myself and to my astonishment, become a Sanjay Dutt fan.”
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Slug: shot in bombay 1027
CAPTIONS
Shot in Bombay-1
Viveik Oberoi, one of the stars of “Shootout at Lokhandwala,” is captured in a new documentary about the dark underside of the Hindi film industry called “Shot in Bombay.” (Mermin Films photo)
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Actor Sanjay Dutt (r) and producer Sanjay Gupta appear in the documentary “Shot in Bombay.” The film screens April 26 at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. (Mermin Films photos)
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Liz Mermin (second from r) directs an interview with a leading stunt man in “Shot in Bombay.”
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Liz Mermin is a cultural anthropologist whose filmmaking focuses on global social issues.
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