The TV and the Babble Fish.
We finally decided it was time to create an opening for the BBF reel, and figured the best place to do it was our favourite place in the world – Manori beach. Ahem, well, a beach in Goa or the Andamans would’ve worked way much better but hey our budget was 100 rupees (which paid for our ferry ride there and back) so Manori beach it was! Ameet Mallapur (one of our favourite photographers) was (yes you guessed it!) the photographer, Sam directed, and let’s not forget OML’s Nikhil Raj who was our weight lifter for the day while Goolshireen decided to go picture crazy (she just bought a new still camera and welcomed it to the world of Babble Fish by taking it to a beach)
After a day of pre production, which included creating the babble fish out of thermocol (note to the reader : a heated knife completely does the trick), and going to Chor Bazaar to buy a television, we were ready to begin the journey of the Television and the Babble Fish.
The expedition to the beach, which involved almost all modes of transport including a car, ferry and tempo and a bit of a walk, was fun (except for poor Nikhil who had a 20 kilo tv to take care of!) The swealtering heat was no match for our enthusiasm. The television looked strange and stark against the backdrop of the beach and our fish (though falling to pieces) managed to do its job by looking bright and colourful.
After 3 hours of intense shooting, a couple of fish related emergencies, and a ‘friendly’ visit from the Manori Police, we managed to capture enough footage to create what we hope will turn out to be an honest and holistic documentation of this rare and never before recorded phenomenon of the TV and the Babble Fish.
We are excited to begin editing it and will keep you updated on the progress. Till then, have a look at some of our ahem production stills. We’ve put up only a few. If anyone wants to see more, Goolshireen has a few 100 she’d be happy to share.
Last but not least, we’d like to thank the stars of this shoot, a very patient (and heavy) TV and and a very colourful (and falling to bits) fish.
