Cinematographer Sujith Vaassudev might have been cranking the camera for a few years now, but when Major Ravi approached him for 1971 Beyond Borders, a war movie, he was in a fix. Forget ever being in a war zone (fortunately), there was not even a proper reference material in Malayalam film history which he could depend on.
He, then, embarked on watching the maximum number of war movies to learn how the elaborate and crazy sequences can be shot. “We did a lot of research. I collected all the raw material that would help with this. Lal sir has a huge collection of war movies which he happily gave me. We wanted the sequences to be at par with any Hollywood movie, despite all the budgetary and technical limitations,” Sujith says.
The team was so keen on carving out a perfect product that they invested a lot in state-of-art cameras. Over six cameras were used, of which some were purchased exclusively for the Mohanlal-starrer.
“We used cameras like Ronin hand-held Gimbal and Osmo gimbal for the purpose. Gopro and tele cams that are used in the smallest of trenches were also used,” says the cinematographer.
The expenses were borne by the production team and Sujith as well. “We didn’t want viewers to complain that Beyond Borders didn’t do justice to its story. Viewers don’t want to be reminded of our limitations,” he says.
But, the travails didn’t end there. The shoot, based on the 1971 war between Pakistan and India, was supposed to happen in an uninhabited desert, 70 kms away from Suratgarh in Rajasthan.
“We were put up at Suratgarh. So every day we had to travel, with all the equipment, to the location. All the cast and crew, including Lal Sir, would wake up at 3 am to reach the location. We had to wind up before sunset because the place was so dangerous,” says Sujith.
And, what was the biggest challenge? “To save ourselves from snakes and scorpions. At sunset, all the creepy crawlies would come out,” he adds.
And, has he managed to capture the wilderness? “On a personal front, the wilderness of the desert didn’t attract me much. I was thinking about how our soldiers fought that war with zilch facilities in 1971. If the situation is so pathetic in 2017, I shudder to think of what our brave jawans would have faced then. In fact, we would hear real life stories from the soldiers who had camped there. It is then that we realise how much they give to ensure a happy life for all of us,” he adds.
Sujith says the whole stint has been very rewarding. “Its not just a few of us. Every single person in the crew put in that much effort for the movie,” he adds.