1 The Writer-Director: Kishore Dang Key Qualifications: Expert in Film Direction 30-year long career in TV Shows’ Production & Film Making Conceptualizer, Imaginative Screenplay & Dialogue Writer Substantial experience with great masters in the Film World About Kishore Dang: The Start of his Journey… Kishore Dang left home when he was 19 years old to make his dream come true. Life gave him an opportunity to do so, when he met Mr. Suresh Jindal, the Producer of Rajnigandha, Katha and Shatranj Ke Khiladi, Co-Producer of Such A Long Journey & Associate Producer of Gandhi. He introduced Dang to Mr. Charles Torbett, the Property Master of Gandhi. Mr. Torbett made him the assistant of Mr. Tony Teiger who was the stand-by prop man of Gandhi. Professional Competencies… From this point, Dang’s Journey of Practical Learning in Film Direction began. Dang used to be on sets with Mr. Tony Teiger and used to observe Sir Richard Attenborough’s direction style and therefore, learnt plenty from this genius and Oscar Winning personality. At that time, Sir Attenborough was shooting with Panavision Cameras and
Transcript
1
The Writer-Director: Kishore Dang
Key Qualifications:
Expert in Film Direction 30-year long career in TV Shows’ Production & Film Making Conceptualizer, Imaginative Screenplay & Dialogue Writer Substantial experience with great masters in the Film World
About Kishore Dang: The Start of his Journey…
Kishore Dang left home when he was 19 years old to make his dream come true. Life gave him an opportunity to do so, when he met Mr. Suresh Jindal, the Producer of Rajnigandha, Katha and Shatranj Ke Khiladi, Co-Producer of Such A Long Journey & Associate Producer of Gandhi. He introduced Dang to Mr. Charles Torbett, the Property Master of Gandhi. Mr. Torbett made him the assistant of Mr. Tony Teiger who was the stand-by prop man of Gandhi.
Professional Competencies…
From this point, Dang’s Journey of Practical Learning in Film Direction began. Dang used to be on sets with Mr. Tony Teiger and used to observe Sir Richard Attenborough’s direction style and therefore, learnt plenty from this genius and Oscar Winning personality. At that time, Sir Attenborough was shooting with Panavision Cameras and
2
Dang was observing his scenes & shots, from frame to frame, LIVE. He also noticed Sir Attenborough’s involvement with Ben Kingsley and other Artistes. He showed them the original footage of Gandhi Jee, so that they could understand their characters well. Dang took this into consideration and now uses various methods to help actors understand their characters. Dang also started watching rushes in the Ashok Hotel, Delhi with Mr.Teiger. Mr.Teiger was so impressed by Dang’s involvement in the shoot & his work, that he made him the in charge of the 2nd unit with Mr. Govind Nihalani (Director). Dang observed his direction style and acquired the understanding of the unique shots he took.
After having rich experiences with Sir Attenborough & Mr. Nihalani, he experienced shooting with the masters in “The Far Pavilions”, a Historical Fiction TV Series directed by Mr. Peter Duffel with the principal cast including Ben Cross, Amy Irving, Christopher Lee, Omar Sharif & Robert Hardy. The Practical Learning experience of Dang mainly focused on the skills of a Director, even though he was working as a s/by prop man.
Dang also worked as an Assistant Director with Mr. Gino Marotta as well as a s/by prop man in ‘Kim’ Directed by Mr. John Devies and learnt a lot in this Movie with a star cast such as Peter O’Tool, Bryan Brown & John Rhys. Dang never realized that Mr. O’Tool is such a big actor. He came to know of his standing only when his boss, Mr. Torbett told him that Mr. O’Tool is very professional in his work, so Dang must be very careful, respectful and professional with him too. This incident made Dang much more professional and serious in his attitude towards films. Dang applies these practical experiences across the board in everything he does.
3
Having experienced a journey with the great masters of the film industry, Dang felt happy about his work. Although, he was not officially a part of their Direction team, by the grace of God each person from the Unit, including the Direction Department, was very happy with the attitude and effort Dang put towards his work. Not only the effort, they were also impressed by the outcome of his hard work. He learnt a handful of direction styles such as taking different shots and explaining & executing various kinds of scenes, by watching Mr. Tom Clegg (Director of ‘Mountbatten The Last Viceroy’) direct Nichol Williamson, Janet Suzman and Wendy Hillerscene.
Working in Merchant Ivory Productions’ ‘The Deceivers’ Directed by Nicholas Meyer, was a wonderful experience for Dang. The Film was shot in Khajuraho with the star cast including Pierce Brosnan, Saeed Jaffrey & Shashi Kapoor. During the shoot, Dang grasped a lot of life skills from Mr. Ismail Merchant, the Producer of the Film. One of the most important life skills that he learnt was that the show must go on and one must never give up… Even though the shoot and the production was going through immense amount of problems and various situations that caused the film to be delayed and almost stop, Mr. Merchant didn’t give up and crossed all the hurdles and completed the film. Thus, this Production experience made Dang very strong in competency, tolerance
& problem solving.
Dang observed the direction of a lady for the first time, on the shoot of ‘Young Indy’ in Banaras. The director was Ms. Deepa Mehta. He was surprised to see Ms. Mehta shooting such a long walking scene on an unsteady and unbalanced road with a steady cam even though it was difficult for the cameraman to shoot it. Dang realized that such a difficult scene was shot only due to Ms. Mehta’s determination and this is the skill life wanted him to learn from this experience. He understood that nothing is impossible if one is determined to achieve his/her goal. Dang still appreciates her hard work and determination.
4
When Mr. Ismail Merchant was directing the film ‘In Custody’, he invited Dang to join the film as a Property Master. Dang came to Mumbai and then went to Bhopal by train with Mr. Merchant to see the locations for the film. That journey in the train, from Mumbai to Bhopal, became very special to him. Why? Well, because Mr. Merchant shared his personal experiences with Dang in the train. He shared his experiences of direction, production and mainly about how he dealt with people in critical situations. Those experiences shared by Mr. Merchant are now the backbone of Dang’s professional work. The Film was soon completed and also received the National Award.
The happiest moment arrived in Dang’s life, when Mr. Yash Johar (Dharma Productions) personally signed him for the film ‘The Jungle Book’. The learning experience of Dang continued with Mr. Stephen Sommers (Director), Jason Scott Lee, Cary Elwes, and Lena Headey (Star Cast). He started noticing Mr. Johar’s actions, his humbleness, his love and sometimes - even anger. Dang felt wonderful working with Mr. Johar and the Jungle Book Team. He was inspired by Mr. Johar’s work and decided to produce & direct his own work after the completion of Rudyard Kipling’s ‘The Jungle Book’.
Dang learnt even more when he first produced his own T.V. Series. He took a team of 110 people to Purnia (Bihar) for the shooting of the T.V. Show “Maila Aanchal”, which was based on a Novel written by ‘Phanishwar Nath Renu’. Dang received the Award for the ‘Best Show’ from The Honourable Union Minister of Information & Broadcasting. Dang treasures the most pleasant moment of his life in his heart and that moment was the time, when he first saw his name and work on the silver screen.
The headlines went up: ‘A Serial by Kishore Dang!’
5
After the success of Maila Aanchal, he directed several T.V. Series that included shows such as Nooriee, Uttarkatha, Humsafar The Train, Detective Karan, Faujji The Iron Man and the list still continues…
Kishore Dang also got two Awards for the Best T.V. Show ‘Karan The Detective’ in 2005 & in 2007 respectively.
6
Kishore Dang’s Documentary Films were also well received in public. Some of those are: Sugalis/Lambadis, The Yaravas Of Coorg and Kab-Tak.
His Documentary Film Kab-Tak (35mm Cinemascope Duration 2 Minutes) was a Competition Film of ‘MIFF-2012’ - Mumbai International Film Festival.
Dang has also directed a short Movie called ‘Aakhri Dastak’ for and in respect of the Indian Army.
Dang was The Member of the Jury of the 53rd National Film Award by the Government of India.
He was also Associated with the Theatre Group “Ank” for four years that was led by Mr. Dinesh Thakur. “There are many people who struggled; however, life is not about what you could not do so far… It is about what you can still do”.
