Fighting against odds

The process

It wasn’t easy. It took me almost five years to turn my dream into a reality. It was a difficult journey that I went through right from conceptualisation to execution. Though I wrote the story, I had no idea how to take it forward. Even my mom, Nishi Prem, who is a journalist, was unable to understand the concept as the dance that I was talking about was an alien concept at that time. But once she read my script, she thought it had potential and that’s when we started approaching the studios. But since it was a very new concept and usually people in the industry are averse to the idea of taking risks, it became tough to find a producer. Eventually however, we collected money and began the project for which I had hired a director and cinematographer – Abraham Cherian and Arvind Kannibaran respectively. Unfortunately, differences with them cropped up and after they left the project, it became necessary for me to step in as the director.

Take-off point

The real take-off point was when we reached Sheffields with the cast and crew and within a day of shooting, we were not happy with the work of the director and the director of photography (DOP). Since I had worked hard for four years, I could not let my film be ruined so I decided to helm the project and hired a DOP from London.

First shot

Once I took up the director’s role, my first priority was to make every member of the team feel comfortable on the set. I also had to make sure that the script translates in the way I had imagined on screen. We had fun on the first day, with good music and dance and I turned a DJ for a while.

Stumbling block

Each day was a challenge as many things kept happening throughout the shoot – from managing finances to the problems I faced when the director and DOP left the film. I had people from the UK who were supposed to co-produce the film, but they backed out. The weather too played truant all the time. Besides this, there were many other hurdles we had to overcome, but we sailed through.

The take away

The entire process has been a big learning experience. The most important lesson being that people will always discourage you, but you have to carry on with what you have to do. You can’t depend on anyone else, you have to make things work on your own.

Role model

There have been many people who have shaped my thoughts and influenced me as a professional actor and director. My parents will always remain the most important people, but I have also got immense support from Farah Khan and Shah Rukh Khan.

Future plans

Right now, my entire concentration is on Mad About Dance. There are few other things lined up, which I shall announce later.

priyanka.bhadani@expressindia.com