Shows Rained Out!!

Too much of everything is bad and it came true again, when heavy downpour in Mumbai left actors and directors of shows stranded!! But their never-say-die spirit won and shows reached our living room on time! Read on!!

Every Mumbaikar’s dream of getting respite from the scorching sun came true as heavy rains that started in the wee hours of Saturday morning refused to die down or bring down its shutters and continued for more than 48 hours!!

But Hats off to the dedication and determination of the actors and production houses, as in spite of this heavy downpour they continued shooting to bring our favorite shows on time! After all, ‘Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain’…Isn’t it?


The scene to be shot in Humari Devrani was at the Borivili National Park wherein Bhakti and Mohan get lost… While the entire crew was busy shooting in the thick jungle, rain God smiled at them, as a result of which the over-bridge got flooded and they were stranded in the jungle for more than 3 hours. Says Mayur, EP of Hamari Devrani, “We had to stay put in the jungle till the water on the over-bridge got cleared. Our whole schedule got disrupted and we will now be shooting the same sequence elsewhere”.

Grihasti was a show that got hit very badly due to the rains last weekend. The Monday episode had to have a dramatic entry of the new hero Shaleen Bhanot. The unit was supposed to shoot this on Saturday morning at Film City, but they eventually packed up at 2 in the afternoon as the downpour continued. Sunday morning, the cast and crew assembled at 7 in the morning to finish off the scene, but again they were forced to remain under cover. When the weather condition did not improve, a shuffle was made in the telecast and the entry of Shaleen was postponed to Tuesday. Talking about this experience, Rizwan, EP of Grihasti says, “After losing 2 vital days due to rain, we finally convinced the channel and the creative people to shoot the scene in pouring rain, but the problem did not end here; as it was dangerous for the light men to handle the lights and other equipment in the rain bare handed. So they were provided with rubber gloves and footwear to protect against any electric shock. Special arrangements were made to shoot the sequence in the rain and the team went ahead. Shaleen himself who had just recovered from viral fever very sportingly agreed to shoot in the rain and the sequence was finally shot on Sunday evening”.

Moving from the Park scene to Veera Desai Road, the edit suites of Amul Star Voice of India were flooded the whole of Monday, and the EPs were panic-stricken as the Friday episode was not yet ready. Courtesy rains, work got halted for 12 hours..

In the case of Raja Ki Aayegi Baaraat, the huge downpour of rains messed up the tight cut-to-cut schedule. A major fight sequence that had to be shot where Yudhishter saves Rani from goons could not be shot, as a result of which the production house could not meet telecast deadlines.

In Sangam, a very important scene was to be shot in Film City where Ganga tries to commit suicide to unite Saagar-Kaveri. But after the non-stop downpour, the cast and crew could not even reach the shoot point as the approach road had disappeared and the location got inaccessible. Kanksha Jain, Script Supervisor, Sangam says “We had no other way out but to change the venue and shoot the scene in the caves of Chandvili where a temple was set up in real quick time. Later, we shot the scene wherein Ganga tries to kill herself with a dagger when Saagar reaches there and rescues her. The high-intensity drama scene was finally shot after many a hurdle”.

Last but not the least, if rain caused havoc and disrupted the shooting schedule in the above cases, the crew of Sapna Babul Ka Bidaai coincidentally was shooting a song sequence in rain where Parul Chauhan aka Ragini remembers her phone friend and gets romantic. Says Rajan Shahi, Producer and Series Director, “Ironically, we were shooting a rain sequence on 27th when the huge downpour happened. It was a complete nightmare for the production house as we had to shoot in the midst of natural rain as well as the five artificial rain machines too. We could not switch off the rain machine as we need consistency in the rain fall to capture the right image. But the whole cast and crew including Parul enjoyed shooting for the sequence and we actually had a picnic out there”. Cameraman Neeraj Balyan says, "It gets bit difficult to shoot a rain sequence, as we need to take extra care when it comes to lights, the camera position etc. Also, we were shooting in real as well as artificial rain and this made the task tougher. But at the end of it, we are glad to have made it".

Reporter: Binita Ramchandani, Ranjini Nair
Author: Nishtha, Srividya Rajesh

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