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An American Interview

An Interview with Anurag and Aalok Mehta
by Anup Sugunan

When most people think of independent films, they think of gritty, raw, eclectic filmmaking. However, when an independent cinema is made with Hollywood style and polish, it is something to behold. American Chai is a heart-felt story of Sureel (Aalok Mehta), a college student who is pursuing a degree in music while telling his parents that he's pre-med. I was surprised when I saw the movie at the Visual Communications Film Festival in Los Angeles. It has the look and feel of a mainstream Hollywood movie; the colors were rich; the acting was convincing; and the direction was strong. This is what many indie filmmakers hope to achieve - the look of Hollywood production while retaining the independent control over the whole project.

The cinematographer plays a big part in setting up the visual feel of the film, please tell me a little bit about John Matkowsky.

Anurag: We had a ton of meetings before we shot 'cause he's from LA. We saw eye to eye on film look and stuff like that. So I was very pleased with his work.

When you work with a cinematographer, do you watch movies together and comment, "I like this look or I don't want that."

Anurag: Kind of; we didn't sit down together and watch movies because of the time factor, but we had discussed a lot of the same movies that we had seen. We talked about what we liked and didn't like. We had to figure out what was right for this story. We both liked Seven and Fight Club, but those wouldn't have worked for this movie. Then we had to choose the right film stock, because there are so many choices there.

What kind of film stock did you use? A lot people who are just beginning to venture into filmmaking are reading this, so please explain how this grade is compared in terms of film speed and color.

Anurag: We used the Kodak 5298. It is a little more colorful, more vibrant. It's a medium speed, so it's not too over or underexposed. We wanted it really rich and colorful because the Indian culture in itself is very colorful. It's like going to an Indian party where all the aunties and uncles there are wearing so many different colors. I didn't want to shove it down everyone's face, but I wanted the movie to be colorful.

Speaking of aunties and uncles, it's quite common for them to ask which profession you would like to go into: doctor, engineer, or lawyer. Which leads us to the overall theme of the movie about following one's dream instead of what parents and society want for you - I'm sure there are a lot Indian kids in the same boat as Aalok's character, Sureel.

Anurag: For a lot kids that became doctors, I'm sure a lot them did want to be doctors. However, about 20 percent of the doctors in the U.S. are Indians and only about one percent of the population is Indian. That's so surprising to me because I know there's no way that everybody wanted to be a doctor. You see it while growing up with Indian friends who have a lot of parental pressure. Many of them really want to do something else.

The first wave of Indians who came to the U.S. in the late sixties and early seventies were the cream of the crop as far as education was concerned. They had so many brothers and sisters and money was tight, so the parents could afford to send only one, if that, overseas. The ones that crossed the ocean and made it here had incredible determination and genetics for intelligence. This was passed on to their kids. With that extremely academic mind-set, their kids pretty much had no choice.

Anurag: Yeah, it seems like every parent has the same story of how they landed with fifty cents in their pocket. My dad, who went to England first, says he landed with eight pence in his pocket. I've heard that from so many of the dads.

Sometimes I have a feeling of inadequacy because I wonder if I could do the same thing.

Anurag: Definitely. Even for me, I moved from New Jersey to California to do this movie and it was considered a big risk. My parents were cool about it, I want to clarify that they were not like the parents in the movie. [Laughs] Once they knew we were serious about it, they understood, but they still didn't like me moving away. I kept saying that this is nothing compared to what they did. They moved half way across the world, when there was no telephone communication like we have today - were we could talk every day.

I have always wanted to go to Spain or some foreign country where I am not too proficient with the language and see if I could survive.

Anurag: Yeah, it's major what they went through. It's a huge, huge undertaking too. You're right, it's a different country, it's not like moving from New Jersey to California, where you're still in America. You must think some of that pioneering spirit passed on to their kids.

Yeah, and they're so worried, "I don't want you moving so far away. It's dangerous!"

Anurag: Yeah, look what you did. We have some of those pioneering genes in us, so why stifle that?

You said that your parents became very supportive once they knew you were serious.

Anurag: Yeah, it started with me going to every movie on Friday nights with my friends once I became twelve or thirteen. One of our moms would drop us off at the mall or multiplex. However, they'd say something like, [in a heavy Indian accent], "You're vatching too many movies!"

Then we'd spend our free time making movies. Everything we did was like a video. Whether it was a school project, or even if it weren't, we'd just make videos for fun.

What's the age difference between you two?

Anurag: I'm two and a half years older.

That's pretty tight, so you two hung out together while growing up?

Aalok: Yeah, we were very close growing up together.

You didn't beat him up or anything did you?

Anurag: Ahhh… yeah, when we were young. [Laughs]

Aalok, when did you decide on going for music?

Aalok: I'd say sometime around December '94. I decided that I wanted to learn sitar, so I went to India and got a sitar teacher. Then it wasn't official until mid '95. I knew that I wanted to pursue music. I always had a feeling that I'd eventually do that.

Anurag: He's been showing musical talent since he was seven! So, he's always been a like a musician. Then he went to business school. [Laughs]

Aalok: Then I decided that it wasn't for me. Then I started pursuing music full-time in '95, so it's been about six years now.

Have you released a CD yet?

Aalok: No, I've never released anything. I've been on a couple of studio recordings. Quite a few guest appearances here and there. I did a demo CD, a home-recording a couple years back and I'm actually recording a record right now.

Is this the soundtrack or completely separate songs?

Aalok: Four of the songs on my record will be on the soundtrack as well. We're also trying to do the soundtrack with other music we've licensed from other bands along with some of the score as well.

This is going to be my first full-length album and I'm really excited about that. It will have ten tracks on it. I have some more songs, but only ten made the cut. I'm recording it in Media, Pennsylvania, which is about 20 minutes south of Center City Philadelphia. It's a full-blown studio called West Orange Laboratories. It's very electronic music oriented. So, I'm taking my the singer-songwriter stuff and filter it through the electronica sound very subtly, just to add some touches, color, and Indian music. It's essentially a singer-songwriter album, similar to the music in the film.

Now going to the film, Anurag, how did you get your brother into the project?

Anurag: Actually, I had him at gunpoint. [Laughs] I was working on jobs the first four years I was in LA on other independent movies and those kinds of things. Basically, just doing what a lot of people do when they move here. I was also writing on the side and I sold a couple of scripts to a few independent producers. They tried to do something with it. They tried to get Tim Allen attached. Once that didn't happen, they just gave up on it. So, these [scripts] are just sitting on people's shelves. It was great to sell them, but it's a little frustrating that you can't go beyond that.

I've always wanted to direct from the beginning. Four years ago, I was at the point were I felt like I've learned a lot between schooling and four years of working. I was thinking that my writing was improving a lot and I thought that I should just go for it. So, I quit my job, saved up a little money and started writing scripts. I like to listen to music the same time I'm writing. Aalok had a four-song demo and some other stuff he had done, to which I would listen. Also, the lead character was a musician. So, I slowly, subconsciously started picturing him in it and still not thinking he'd be in it. But the main character would have his type of look, his type of…all that stuff.

Aalok, did you know this while it was going on?

Aalok: No, not really. [Laughs] I still don't know it. It's all news to me.

Anurag: Half-way through the script, I'd gone to New Jersey for a week and the idea just came up and I suggested it to him. He was excited, but didn't know if he could do it. Basically, at that point, I was just going to proceed on. I told him that at some time in Dec - Jan 2000, we would probably start auditioning. At that point, if you think you could do it, then we'll see where you are. At that point, he just dedicated himself to it. He studied acting tremendously with three or four different teachers. Everything got pushed back, so we didn't really cast until February or March. He came out to LA for a month and studied with a private acting coach. At that point, he'd just come so far; I just couldn't imagine anyone else playing the part. We did audition other people. Whatever the reason was, he was the character, for me.

It was also in your mind while you were writing it, correct?

Anurag: Right, it was in my mind while I was writing it, but it was also the fact that he dedicated himself and could actually act was just amazing.

Yeah, I was very surprised. It was very natural acting, Aalok. It was very well done. I was thinking that this couldn't be just some musician who jumped into acting!

Anurag: Yes, he's got a knack for that and he's good at vibing off of other actors, too.

Aalok: We had a great cast and that was really helpful.

Anurag: He had really good exchanges with all of them

What about the other actors in the film? How did you get them?

Anurag: I've always wanted a big Indian star to play the dad and I thought of a bunch of people. I'm not too knowledgeable about Bollywood [the Hollywood of India, located in Bombay. India produces the most amount of movies a year in the world, over 800 per year!], but I know a little bit about it and I didn't know how to get in touch with them. One of my dad's friends is a guy who sponsors Indian plays that come to America, which star Indian actors. He was going to India to talk to three or four of them and Paresh Rawal was one of them. Anupam Kher was another. He asked if I wanted him to mention my project to them. I told my dad to definitely see if any of them are interested. This occurred in January of 2000 and we shot in May. He came back and said everyone seems very interested, especially Paresh. So, I emailed him, told him what the project was all about and what I wanted him to play. He said he would be interested, but first wanted to read the script. So, I FedEx'd the script to him. He emailed me back three or four days later saying that he really liked it and would love to be a part of it. At that point, we just worked out the details. He was coming here for a play anyway. He was going to be in America, so we just borrowed him for five days. [Laughs]

These Bollywood guys, they put out thirty movies a year each!

Anurag: This was a very low-budget production, but he was still so impressed by the organization and the fact that we had walkie-talkies for the crew to speak to each other. [with a thick Indian accent] No valkie-talkies in India!

Aalok: [also speaking with a thick accent] I feel like I'm in NASA, ready for a lift-off!

Anurag: [continuing with an accent] In India, vee just yell! So, he was just totally amazed by the whole thing.

He got a lot of recognition in Raja, were he played the older brother.

Aalok: Raja Hindustani?

No, just Raja, with Madhuri Dixit and that other guy - that's the only movie in which I've seen him. But Paresh played the older brother who was mentally handicapped.

Anurag: Oh yeah, yeah yeah!

Aalok: Are you… you're Indian, right?

Yeah.

Aalok: This whole time I was picturing like a Korean guy who knew way too much about Bollywood, apparently. That changes everything! [Laughs]

Anurag: [Laughs] At first I didn't know what to expect. I only met him the week before and didn't get to do any rehearsals with him because his schedule was so tight. So, I was a little bit nervous just imagining it not working out, what was I to do? He was the only person in the cast that had been in a 100 movies. How am I going to get through to him? I don't want to create a situation or anything. He came to the set for ten minutes and we talked about the character. We'd talked the week before over dinner, but we'd talked a little more and just explained to him my idea about the character and he just… starting take-one, he got it. He became the guy! It was just a big relaxation. He knew what he was doing. He was just so talented that everyone in the crew was like, "He's so professional." I mean, he could just snap in and out of character like that.

He's got some serious experience.

Anurag: He didn't have the "I'm a big star attitude."

Now what about Ajay Naidu? I loved this guy in Office Space!

Anurag: I had no connections with this guy, really. I sent his agent the script. Somebody I knew knew the agent. I got the script to the agent. I just thought he'd be perfect for the role of Hari ever since I saw Office Space. For two months, we didn't really hear from him and then in March, two months before we shot, I got an email from the agent saying that Ajay read the script. He loved the part and wanted to play it. I was just like, "WoW!"

[SPOILER ALERT: POSSIBLE MILD SPOILER IN THIS PARAGRAPH] The first time you see Hari, he's just a convenience store guy. It's not until the second scene with him that you get into him a little bit and he becomes a real character. So, my big worry was that he would just read the first scene and think, "Oh yeah, I don't want to play this guy." So, I specified in the letter that he's a pivotal character who's introduced comedically, but ends up having a bigger part [later in the film]. I just tried to ensure that he'd read the whole thing. That's how we got him and Aasif Mandvi.

Sheetal Sheth I got early on too just because I had met her a couple of times in college. Then, I heard that she had become an actress and one of my friends was still friends with her so we got together and I explained to her what I was doing. When the script was done, I got it to her and she liked it. I auditioned a bunch of actresses, but she was definitely the best. She suggested Aasif just because she had done that movie, ABCD , with him and she was friends with him. Also, he was in that play, Sakina's Restaurant, where he won two Off-Broadway awards. It's a total one-man show, he plays every character in it and he was brilliant. Anyway, he was in LA and Sheetal asked me to go check it out. So, I went to see it in LA and it just blew me away. At the end of the two hours, he had me in tears - it was just one guy acting. I thought to myself, "What can he play? I can't think of anything he could play in this movie… he could play everything!" I met him after the show, we went and had a drink and I had a copy of the script. The more I talked to him, the funnier he seemed in real life. He was just extremely funny, so maybe he could read for the character, Engineering Sam. Even he took his sweet time and after two months he said he'd like to do it. The rest of the people, I just auditioned.

Now going back to Sheetal. She was in ABCD. Did that help or did it hinder?

Anurag: No, it definitely helped because she had already done three movies by the time she had gotten to American Chai. She had a good amount of experience and I think the vibe on our set was pretty cool so she was comfortable. It wasn't her first time or anything. When it's someone's first time, like Aalok, it requires a certain attention. It was great, she was very professional, she knew her stuff. She and Aalok were the best when it came to knowing their lines. Also, she choreographed that dance by herself. She might've had a little help from somebody, but it was basically her doing.

It had a nice blend of an East-West thing in there.

Anurag: Yeah, Aalok did the music first and gave it to her and then she put the dance together. She's coming to LA too and will most likely make it to San Diego.

Now, going back to ABCD and American Desi. You guys are all from Jersey, right? Did you know each other from high school?

Anurag: Yeah, actually, I'm from South Jersey, about ten minutes from Philadelphia. I didn't know them. I only met them each once. I've never met the American Desi director, only the producer. Actually, that director went to Rutgers and graduated six years before me, so I never knew him.

Was there any rivalry because they all kind of came out at the same time?

Anurag: No, theirs was shot a long time before mine but they all just came out about the same time. It's just that these things take time because it's independent and you're looking for the best possible distribution. In terms of rivalry, there really wasn't any. I always thought my movie was different enough, especially from ABCD. In terms of American Desi, the setting is sort of similar, but I don't think the stories are that similar at all.

They got distribution with one of the largest distribution companies for distributing Bollywood films, Eros International. Did you get that same offer?

Anurag: We're working this out right now, so I can't talk too much about it. We didn't want to be locked in the Indian movie circuit only, because only Indian people are going to go. Which I think for American Desi, it's fine. That was a focused appeal and it wasn't going to appeal to too many non-Indians. For them, that was a great way to go and it shows that there's this great audience out there. They did pretty well. I think the Indian audiences will go, as long as it's close by, even if it's not in the Indian distribution chain. You got to give yourself the shot of getting the crossover audiences as well. So, that's the thing with some of the Indian distributors. Plus, there's so much piracy going on, we have to curb that as well. In terms of rivalry, I wish American Desi had a different name. [Laughs] But what are you going to do? [Laughs] I think when people see the movies, they will see that they're all different enough. Yeah, it'll be kinda cool that there will be a wave of Indian movies coming out.

Let me get some film-oriented questions in. You submitted to Slamdance, which kicked off your festival tour. How did that help you?

Anurag: Yeah, that was the first festival. That was tremendous. I literally picked the film up from the lab and went to the airport to get to Utah. Only certain people close to me, like friends and family, thus far, had seen the movie. The reactions from them were pretty good. When you're in the editing room for six months, you lose perspective. This was funny when I first wrote it, but then wondered if it was still going to work. I felt like it was pretty good, but just didn't know.

We got accepted to Slamdance, which was fantastic. My first viewing was extremely nerve-wracking. I just didn't know what I was going to do. As I was watching it, people were laughing, and they were not Indian people. The reaction at the end of the movie was tremendous, just tremendous. That changed everything in terms of whether or not this movie would appeal to people. I wanted it to, but I didn't know that it would. Then that week, we won the audience award and that was the catalyst for everything. I owe a lot to Slamdance.

What other festivals did you submit to besides Slamdance and Visual Communication (VC)?

Anurag: We were in the Wisconsin Festival and the Gen-Arts Festival in NY, in which we won the audience award; in the Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema we got "Best Feature" and "Best Technical Achievement Award".

Did M. Night Shyamalan [Sixth Sense] show up for any of the screenings in Philly?

Anurag: They were trying to get him to come and he said he was going to, but then ended up with some script commitment or something.

Aalok: He was busy golfing. [Laughs]

Anurag: Then we were at VC and then at Maryland. So, we've been to about six or seven. We're taking a break now and yours is going to be the next one.

You're very supportive of the film festivals. Now, do you think they really help the filmmakers get distribution or is it just a calling card?

Anurag: I think they definitely help, because when you make the movie you ultimately want it to be seen. And film festivals give you that opportunity and you get to see the reactions of the audience. With a lot of these low budget movies, it's not like you can go out and organize these big screenings. It's a thrill to have your movie seen by an audience. When you're making a low-budget film, you just don't know if that moment's ever going to come. So that in itself is very satisfying. Then, it definitely helps you with tons of connections you make at these festivals. I've made so many connections; I've met so many great people and it's done great things for the movie. So, I would definitely recommend the festival circuit to anybody.

One problem that I noticed at the VC festival was that ninety percent of the people in your audience were Indians. The people who run film festivals, including us, are always complaining that not enough non-Asian come to see the films. So, how can you break stereotypes when you're just preaching to the choir? I think that having the opener and the feature from the same ethnicity propels this segregation amongst Asians.

Aalok: At other festivals it wasn't like that.

Anurag: Yeah, at other festivals, there were hardly any Indians there; the same with Maryland and Wisconsin. Madison, WI was the big shocker. There were no Indians. Those screenings were sold out, they responded really well. The audience laughed at all the right parts. Indian people are going to get a little bit more of the subtleties, but overall the humor is general enough.

Aalok: It was on a college campus, so the students responded really well to it.

That's my main goal behind this festival - to cross promote cultures. Instead of pairing the Indian films with other Indian films, I'd like to have a Chinese film opening for an Indian feature or vice versa.

Anurag: That's a good idea. Have you seen Bean Cake - a Japanese short; it was with us in Slamdance. It's really good and it won the Palme d'Or at Cannes.

No, but I'll try and get it for next year. Let's get back to filmmaking methodology. How long did it take you to write the script?

Anurag: My method of writing is that I brainstorm and take a lot of notes whenever an idea comes to me. So, I have a lot of those ideas going on at the same time and have been brainstorming this thing for about five years before I started writing it. Ever since college, anything that I thought would fit into this story, I'd make notes about it. I would enter these into my computer whenever I got home. Then, I finally had about eight or nine pages of notes and so at that point I decided to just do it. The script took me about three months to write. I was revising it all the way up until the time we started shooting. I revised some of the scenes the night before the shoot based on location restrictions or capabilities of the actors at that moment.

Did you see the John Woo seminar at VC film fest? He shot Hard Boiled without a script. He just went to various locations and started shooting.

Anurag: No, I didn't see it. Yeah, it's crazy. A lot of people do that. And to me, the script is everything.

Did you storyboard the production of your movie?

Anurag: Yes, I did. Once the script was done and, knowing that we had enough money to shoot the movie, I started storyboarding. In these indie projects, you have to do so many of the things yourself. You have to finish one task before getting to the other. It's tough to do everything simultaneously. So, I storyboarded half the movie before we shot. And the rest of it, I would storyboard the night before - just to make it efficient for the next shot.

So, that's the main purpose of storyboarding right, just to make sure the crew is on the same page?

Anurag: It helps big-time in terms of keeping things moving on the set, because you don't want to sit there and try to figure out how to shoot it. Invariably, especially on a low-budget, you're never going to get the locations to match what you're thinking exactly, like the way you can in a Hollywood movie. Hollywood can spend the money to create or find the right location that's perfect. In this case, you often times have to deal with what you have. You have to alter it a little bit. If you want something shot a certain way, you might have to reverse the angles. For example, the camera might not fit in the dining room, so you'll have to alter a couple of things. There's enough to think about and you have to be quick on your toes as it is. So, the more you're prepared, the better it is. Preparation is really crucial.

Did the fact that you wrote your own script help while wearing the director's hat?

Anurag: Yeah, definitely. There was no question as to what the shot was to be. I know what the original impetus was and what the original vision was when I was writing the movie.

When you're directing a movie are you thinking, "Oh, I should've done this or that" in terms of writing your next script for future projects?

Anurag: It's not a hundred-percent conscious, but I'm definitely taking into consideration the things that went right and wrong.

What's the most challenging thing about writing and directing? As opposed to just writing it or just directing it?

Anurag: One: it's definitely time-consuming. Two: especially for a low-budget movie like this, you have to do a lot of the things yourself even besides writing/directing. You have to deal with paperwork and other things that you wouldn't have to do in a big-budget project, even raising the money. So, for all the different jobs you have to wear different hats and you have to be focused on that part. When I was writing, it was all about the script. When I went to go see movies, all I saw were the scripts. Then, when I was storyboarding, all I could see were the shots. While directing, I didn't really watch anything; we were all so busy. You have to focus on the task at hand. Once you're done writing the script, you're directing and once you're done with that, you're editing. Then, you have to think like an editor. It's sort of challenging to wear different hats and to just be thinking 100 percent about that task. And in this case, we had to raise the money. So, there were lots and lots of different things to do.

How did you go about financing the film?

Anurag: It was all privately financed. My producer and I came up with a business plan and I first went to a few of my friends who had done well on tech stocks. I lucked out; this was the right time in the stock market. They put some seed money in, not really that much, but they opened the doors to their whole crew of people and business contacts. So, I went up to San Francisco and got a couple of venture capitalists to invest. So I had all these people who had done really well with tech stocks.

Especially, all the Indians right?

Anurag: Actually, a lot of the biggest investors were not Indian; they were people I didn't know. The biggest investor invested solely on the basis of the script. It was shocking. At the time all these people just had a lot of money and they had gotten it very fast. So, they were into doing fun things with it. Now, I'm sure they're all wishing that…

They're wishing, "Hurry up and get distribution man!"

Anurag: Yeah, when it first started they were like, "Hey this is cool, we're investing in a movie! This is fun. Now, it's the only thing that didn't work out." So, it's more pressure on me. [Laughs] This was a whole new experience for me as well.

What is some advice you'd give beginning filmmakers?

Anurag: Tell them to not work with their brother. [Laughs] There're two things: one, there will be a million reasons and a million people telling you that it might not be a good idea. You can't give up because there will be a million opportunities to give up. Not just from other people telling you that it's not going to work, but just problems and challenges that come up. If you have your mindset to make this movie you'll find a way to solve it. The second thing is to be extremely prepared. Be as prepared as possible. I wasn't the one who did a lot of homework in high school, but for this, there was tons of homework to be done. Then you'll still show up and there'll be tons of things that you have to figure out. So, if you're prepared you won't have to figure all of it out. There's just so much to do. The more you prepare the more it helps your confidence. By preparing, I mean, having the schedule done really well, knowing the script really well, inside and out. If you wrote it, that helps, but if you didn't, just knowing [the script] and storyboarding it [is a crucial preparation step]. Make sure you know the shots you want and be able to communicate that to the rest of the people. Because when you show up on set, there are about twenty to thirty people that are waiting for specific tasks. So, if you're prepared when you show up and know exactly what you want to do, it makes it a lot easier. Then, they have a lot of faith in you and you can get it done.

Did you go to film school?

Anurag: I went to Rutgers. It wasn't a film school, but I studied film there. Meaning it was limited in terms of resources compared to USC or NYU, but it still had the basics.

Would you recommend schooling for filmmakers?

Anurag: I would definitely recommend taking some kind of classes, whether it's in school or after, just learning the basics. The stuff I learned on, we didn't use: 16mm instead of 35mm; we didn't have AVID, in my school. You learn everything conceptually. Then you apply it to the newer, better stuff you get to use when you make a movie.

What are some of the biggest films you grew up on?

Anurag: Star Wars and all the Lucas/ Spielberg stuff were my favorite while growing up. I love Rocky as well, Jaws. All the big, kids' movies, I love all of them. Lately, I like Cameron Crowe movies a lot. Jerry Maguire was one of my favorite movies ever.

The concert footage in Almost Famous was intense. It felt like you were the rock star on stage. So what are some of the must-see movies if you want to direct?

Anurag: It's weird…

Aalok: Shaving Ryan's Privates...

Anurag: I don't know for everybody, it's probably different you know. Just watch your favorite movies and figure out what it is about them that you like so much. I don't know what to recommend as a must-see for everybody.

What about the AFI (American Film Institute) Top 100 list?

Anurag: Yeah, watch every one! [Laughs]

So what's your next project?

Anurag: I can't exactly say, well, I don't want to say just yet.

You've got the whole Shyamalan secrecy going on, huh?

Anurag: Well, it's not going to that much of a secrecy, it's just that I'm working it out. I'd like to have the script done by the fall. That's my goal, but we'll see what happens.

I hear about shaved heads and cows… what's that all about? What were some of the weird things that happened during the shoot?

Anurag: [Laughs] We were trying to work a cow into a scene. One of the ADs [Assistant Director] really wanted to do it, so he went and researched to see if we can bring a cow… It just wasn't working. The cows here are not like Indian cows; they're two-toned here. [Laughs] So, that provided for a lot of humor on the set.

The second thing, the shaved-head, was… sorry, I can't say... it's off the record.

Oh, and one last thing. One of the other staff members wanted Sheetal's phone number.

Anurag: He'll just have to wait and ask her. I'm not pimpin'!

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