Chander Pahar (film)

Chander Pahar
An young man with Indian origin is looking back with a rifle on his shoulder, having a backdrop of jungle, animals, mountain ranges and the logo art of the film Chander Pahar First Look Poster
Directed by	Kamaleshwar Mukherjee
Produced by	Mahendra Soni Shrikant Mohta
Starring	Dev Gérard Rudolf Martin Cito Otto
Cinematography	Soumik Haldar
Edited by	Raviranjan Maitra
Music by	Indraadip Das Gupta
Distributed by	Shree Venkatesh Films
Release date	December 20, 2013 (2013-12-20) (Kolkata)
Country	India
Language	Bengali
Budget	₹42 crore (US$5.0 million)

Chander Pahar (Bengali: চাঁদের পাহাড়, meaning Mountain of the Moon) is an upcoming Bengali film directed by Kamaleshwar Mukherjee and produced by Mahendra Soni and Shrikant Mohta under the banner of their production house Shree Venkatesh Films. The film features Bengali actor Dev in the lead role as Shankar. This is the first collaboration between Dev and Mukherjee, the latter having made only two films before, namely, Uro Chithi and Meghe Dhaka Tara. The filming commenced on April 20, 2013. The film is scheduled to release on December 20, 2013. The trailer of the movie was released at the Nicco park at 5 pm, on the occasion of Children's Day on November 14, 2013. This is the first Indian film to be extensively shot in South Africa.

Plot

Chander Pahar is the story of a young Bengali man's adventures in Africa in the years 1909-1910. Shankar Roy Chowdhury, the protagonist, is a 20-year old man, recently completed his FA(graduation) and about to take up a job in a jute mill, a prospect he absolutely loathes.

He yearns for adventure, wild lands, forests and animals. He wants to follow the footsteps of famous explorers like Livingstone, Mungo Park, Marco Polo, all of whom he has read about and idolizes. By a stroke of luck, he secures a job as a clerk in Uganda Railway through a fellow villager already working there and goes to Africa without a second thought.

There, he spends a few months laying rail tracks but soon encounters the first of many dangers of Pre-World War I Africa—man-eating lions. Later he takes up a job as station master in desolate station. Here he encounters the another hazard in Africa: the poisonous black mamba. He also rescues and looks after the middle-aged Portuguese explorer and gold prospector, Diego Alvarez. The encounter with Alavarez influences him deeply. Alavarez tells him of his earlier exploits and adventures, how he and his companion Jim Carter had braved deep jungles and mountains of Richtersveld to find the largest diamond mine. However, they were thwarted by the legendary Bunyip, a mythical monster which guards the mines which killed Carter.

Shankar gives up his job and accompanies Alvarez as he decides to venture out once more and find the mines again. They meet with innumerable hardships, a raging volcano being the greatest challenge. Eventually they get lost in the forests where Alvarez is killed by a mysterious monster, the same that had taken Carter's life, the Bunyip.

Shankar sets out to reach civilization. He finds the Bunyip's cave and the diamond mines by accident. He enters the cave but eventually gets lost. With great difficulty, he gets out, marking his way with "pebbles" and taking some back with him as memento, not knowing each is a piece of uncut diamond. He finds the remains of the Italian explorer, Attilio Gatti, and learns that the cave he found earlier really was the diamond mine. Gatti, as Shankar learns from a note by him, had uncut diamonds in his boots. The note said that whoever reads the note can take the diamonds as long as he buries his skeleton, with Christian rites. Shankar does so, and keeps the old diamonds. He becomes lost in the deserts of Kalahari and nearly dies of thirst. Fortunately he is rescued by a survey team, and taken to a hospital in Salisbury, Rhodesia, from where he sets sail for home. He ends the book saying that he will return to that cave one day with a large team, and continue the legacy of Alvarez, Carter and Gatti.

Cast

• Dev as Shankar Roy Chowdhury, protagonist of the story
• Gérard Rudolf as Diego Alvarez
• Martin Cito Otto as Jim Carter
• Paul Ditchfield
• Laboni Sarkar
• Tamal Roy Chowdhury

Production

Development

The film is about a young Bengali man and his adventures in South Africa. The story is set in 1909-1910. This time around, Kamaleswarda shot the early years of Shankar's life and for that I had to gain few kilos to look like a typical bhodro-Bangali chhele. From my getup (dhoti-panjabi and jhola) to body language to hairstyle — everything had to reflect the era Shankar hailed from. Trust me, it wasn't easy at all. Shankar loves adventure, forests and animals. The director wanted to see that passion in my eyes.

— Dev, sharing his experience on playing the role of Shankar, the protagonist of Chander Pahar

Director Kamaleshwar Mukherjee mentioned Chander Pahar as his "dream project". But he even compared the project to a "double-edged sword" as he realised the challenges while looking for locations in South Africa for a month. When Shree Venkatesh Films agreed to produce the film, they wanted a big star in the lead role. As a result, it was filnally decided that actor Dev will be going to play the role of Shankar, the protagonist.

For this very special project, Kamaleshwar has a Masai proverb in mind: "If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space." He added that he was lucky enough as Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, author of Chander Pahar, had such a fertile imagination that without having visited Africa, he had a clear idea about the landscape. Even Dev said that the shooting of Chander Pahar is going to be the most happenning few days of his life.

Casting

A source close to the Chander Pahar unit revealed that the production house wanted a big star to play Shankar, the adventurer protagonist. At the beginning, Dev and Parambrata's names had come up. However, Kamaleshwar Mukherjee later said that Dev was in his mind and also in the producer's (Shree Venkatesh Films) mind from the beginning. They needed an athletic body for the role of Shankar because in the book it is mentioned that Shankar was into boxing and he knew horse riding and swimming. Dev is learning horse riding and he is also good in action scenes. Therefore, finally he was chosen to be cast as Shankar, instead of Parambrata. Dev also agreed to do that as he was brought the offer. But he was asked to lose weight because in the latter part of the film, Shankar fights with lions, walks through jungles and mountains, and almost starves. Regarding the character of Shankar, Dev said, "Shankar, the protagonist, was an athlete and a boxer. He never flinches from any challenge or danger. Be it fighting the African lion or duelling on the cliff, and that too without a body double."

Most of the cast members of Chander Pahar are from South Africa. It took a lot of time to decide that who was going to play the role of Diego Alvarez, the Portuguese explorer, who has a supporting role in the novel. It was later disclosed that, among others, South African actor Gérard Rudolf has been assigned the role of Diego Alvarez. He even has a dialogue in Bengali, where he tells Shankar, "Ishwar Tomar Mongol Korun" (meaning, God Bless You). Kamaleshwar Mukherjee said that he was sending a translated version of the script to the actors and added that, they were so professional that they had already read up about Chander Pahar on the net.

Marketing

First look and trailer

Though by early 2013, the production house had yet not released any official poster of Chander Pahar, a large number of unofficial posters designed by graphic designers were promoted in social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, featuring only Dev in the foreground and a background somewhat similar to the official cover art of the novel. It was later found out that some of these were unofficial versions and morphed screenshots from the 2011 Australian movie The Hunter.

On November 14, 2013, during the occasion of Children's Day, the first theatrical trailer of the film was released by Shree Venkatesh Films, at the Kolkata Nicco park. Upon its release, the trailer went viral on the web and managed to receive 32,000+ viewers on YouTube on the first day itself. Soon, the trailer got 100,000+ viewers in just 3 days, which was the first for any Bengali film.

Apart from these, back to back episodes were released by Shree Venkatesh Films at their official YouTube channel for promotion, under the name of 'Chander Pahar Diaries', which provided various glimpses of the filming:

Episode No.	Title	Release date	Ref.
1	Gerard Rudolf	November 28, 2013
2	Lion The King Part I	November 29, 2013
3	Columbus Vs Shankar Part I	November 30, 2013
4	Columbus Vs Shankar Part II	December 2, 2013
5	African Food Safari	December 3, 2013
6	The Tribes - Zulu & Massai	December 4, 2013

Budget

"Many directors wanted to make this film earlier. But they simply could not make it due to lack of budget. This is the reason why I want to thank Shrikantda (Producer Shrikant Mohta) for financing this film. The film is made on a whooping fifteen crore budget. The cost is a big factor for the making of this film. There is a lion in the film which was acquired for six lakh rupees per day. Hence without a good budget, making Chander Pahar was impossible."

—Dev, in an interview speaking about the budgeting of Chander Pahar.

The budget of Chander Pahar was the highest in Bengali Cinema till its release in 2013. The film is produced by Shree Venkatesh Films and is shot at locations in Africa. The film is reportedly being made with a budget of nearly ₹15 crore (US$1.8 million) - thus making it one of the most expensive movies ever made in Bengali film industry. The film will reportedly incorporate Computer-generated imagery or CGI and visual effects at par with Hollywood and Bollywood standards. For Shree Venkatesh Films, Chander Pahar marks the latest in a series of adventure films. According to the Times of India, it will be a high budget film and have computer graphics that no one has seen before in a Bengali film. It was also reported that the production costs of the film suddenly went up by ₹1 crore (US$120,000) more than that was estimated, during the second schedule of filming.

Filming

Chander Pahar was filmed for 45 days in South Africa. Before the filming of Chander Pahar, Kamaleshwar Mukherjee threw a party on March 31, 2013 at Kolkata, much before April 20, the day on which the shooting was scheduled to start. Upon questioning, he said, "Before the shooting of the film which contains a large amount of risks, team Chander Pahar wanted a party with the presence of all the crew and artists. Who knows if anyone doesn't come back forever! Everyone's life is at stake." It is the first time in Bengali Cinema that a film is made with so much of risks and challenges. Even actor Dev said, "Chander Pahar is going to be the biggest challenge in my life and I'm not afraid. Being afraid will mean no shooting for the project." Some of the curious facts about Chander Pahar have been discussed below.

Sequence with African lions

The film consists of a sequence in which 6 African lions chase Dev. Though a lot of scenes involve risks, the crew was very much tensed about this particular scene. This chase sequence was filmed at an animal farm for 3 days. During this scene, the director and cinematographer stayed in an open cage with three sides closed. The distance between Dev and the lions was measured by the examiner of the lions. Pieces of meat were used to tempt the lions. Dev had to run as the director said "Action", with 6 African lions chasing him. Then he had to enter the cage while running and the opening of the cage was shut immediately. According to the director Kamaleshwar Mukherjee, lions are very lazy and don't even get up for 4 days after having a meal. That is why, the lions that were used in this sequence, were not given food for 3 days. After the filming of this shot, Dev said, "During my shoot with the lion, I went closer than what director Kamaleswar Mukhopadhyay had wanted. And he reprimanded me on this count."

Sequence with Black mamba

The novel of Chander Pahar consists of a story where the protagonist Shankar has a face-to-face experience with Africa's most deadliest snake, Black mamba. Even in the film, this sequence will not be excluded. In fact, shooting will include a real Black mamba. Director Kamaleshwar Mukherjee said that the local people were telling the pre-production team that how the Black mamba had bitten at least someone of the crew of a film in 80% shooting cases. The most threatening fact was that the venom of Black mamba cannot be taken out. Thus, shooting of Chander Pahar has a life-threatening sequence with a venomous snake. Mukherjee added that the largest risk in this sequence will be of the cinematographer, Soumik Haldar, who confidently said that he will be positively doing his work since he had already decided to do that, even though one bite of the historical Black mamba may mean death. It was later revealed that, to prevent risk, a glass sheet will be present over the snake and the camera such that if the snake attacks, the glass sheet will be dropped over the snake.

Shooting spot

Along with Dev and cinematographer Soumik Haldar, there will be life-threatening risks with the other 35 artists also. The grassland in Africa, where the shooting will take place, is full of snakes and most of the crew is quite afraid regarding this matter. Abhishek Daga, the executive producer for this film said that carbolic acid will be used in all the places wherever the shooting will take place and everyone will have to wear ankle-high boots. Also, during the chase sequence with the lions, the entire shooting spot will be fenced with electric fences so that giraffes or deer don't enter the set as that can prove dangerous. Small base camps are being made for the shooting, where all the crew members will stay. They will be surrounded by electric fences because lions may destroy them if angry and it has occurred previously. Other than lions and Black mamba, shooting will feature even other wild animals such as Python, hyena, crocodile, cheetah, hippopotamus, Puff adder, viper and wild scorpions, some of which are extremely venomous. "Every animal will be shot real and alive with no use of computer graphics!", said Dev. A 22-year old Bengali boy named Sundar will train the hyenas. There is so much risk in the shooting that the crew is bound to keep mobile phones and ambulances so that crew members can be taken to a big hospital in case of an unexpected danger. Even it is said that helicopters will be kept so that no time is wasted.

Sequence with African elephants

The film will even feature another chase sequence with 6 African elephants. "The local people said that the sequence with African elephants is even more risky than those with African lions and Black mamba. If the elephants somehow get angry, no one will return alive!", said Kamaleshwar Mukherjee. The most favorite thing of African elephants is oranges and that is why, oranges will be thrown towards the sky from a distance at the time of shooting in order attract the attention of the elephants. As the elephants will run to get the oranges, Dev has to run preceding them. Kamaleshwar added, "The local stuntmen assured us that there is nothing to fear. Once they raise their hands and tell the elephants to stop, the herd of elephants will stop immediately".

Other risks

Other than these sequences, there are other scenes regarding which the crew members were worried initially. These are the scenes which were shot at the Kalahari Desert. The production team of Chander Pahar said that the place in the Kalahari Desert where the film was shot is nearly 300 kilometers from their hotel and the team had to cover 600 kilometers regularly during the shoot. "The most dangerous thing is that we have to return in the presence of daylight. Otherwise, we cannot return once there is darkness over the red desert. The place is so impassable that there is no sign of roads. We will get lost. Over that, the day temperature there is 50 degrees. And the night temperature is 4 degrees", said Kamaleshwar Mukherjee before the filming. Other than the Kalahari Desert part, the film also features actor Dev in a rock climbing sequence. This sequence was shot at such a mountain that if one fell down from there, he would be 500 feet down straight. There is also a sequence of Dev inside an old cave with a Python.

It was also reported that the Chander Pahar team had to face a Mozambique spitting cobra while shooting a scene.

Some facts at a glance

• For the full shooting, a life insurance of ₹5 crore (US$600,000) has been made for Dev.
• Use of sunglasses, deodorant and aftershave is strictly prohibited at the time of shooting as it may disturb the wild animals.
• Smoking hither and thither is strictly prohibited as a preventive to forest fires.
• The weight of the lions will be over 150 kg and their height will be 3 feet.
• No wild animal can be used for shooting for over 2 hours.
• Eating any sorts of non-veg food items and even using tomato sauce is forbidden as their scent may distract the wild animals.
• Electric fences should surround every shooting location.
• Carbolic acid should be used in every shooting location to prevent the entry of snakes.
• The film will use original models of various weapons like Springfield Bolt Action, Winchester Repeater, Gewehr 88 Mauser, Colt Six Shooter, Boot Knives and Axe, among others.

Locations

For the filming of Chander Pahar, the team camped at various places in South Africa for a month. Some places near Johannesburg were finalised. Other places where the filming took place include the jungles of Mpumalanga, Elands River valley, Blyde River Canyon, Kruger National Park, mountains of Drakensberg and the Kalahari Desert. The film was also shot in Kenya and Uganda, besides South Africa. Shooting locations within West Bengal include Bolpur, where the portions of Shankar's village and home were shot.

Director Kamaleshwar Mukherjee said, "Near Johannesburg and the province of Mpumalanga, there are forests, streams and game parks that are quite spectacular, which would be great on screen. Once we'd decided on the locations in and around Kruger National Park, my directorial team set out for the mountains of Drakensberg and the deserts of Kalahari. Drakensberg has numerous valleys, water bodies and trails that could serve for the famous Richtersveld Mountains described in the novel. The Sentinel peak and KwaZulu-Natal offer brilliant vistas, but visually, the Kalahari is the most stunning. Like all deserts, the temperature varies from 51° Celsius in the day to 5° Celsius in the evening. About 17 years ago, an Italian film was shot there and since then the furious desert hasn't witnessed a camera. There is one single lodging facility about three hours away from the core area. But we will shoot there anyway."

Tribes

A number of tribes of Africa will be shown in this film. They are: Swahilis, Somalis, Maasais, Matabeles and Zulus.

Computer graphics

Some special scenes of the film will be made with the help of computer graphics. The most notable of these are the eruption of the volcano and the sequence featuring the monster called Bunyip.

Music

"Kamaleshwar had asked me to do the music. And I really don't know what went wrong since he is currently in South Africa. It's not that Rituparno Ghosh's Satyanweshi is my first film with the production house (Shree Venkatesh Films). I've known them for very long. Strangely, neither the producers nor the director gave me an explanation. Work was done on the background score and I had a few thoughts about the songs. Maybe, when Kamaleshwar is back, he'll explain to me the reasons for this change."

—Debojyoti Mishra, in an interview speaking about his cancellation as the composer of Chander Pahar.

Initially, composer Debojyoti Mishra, who had earlier worked in Kamaleshwar Mukherjee's Uro Chithi and Meghe Dhaka Tara was signed to compose the film score for Chander Pahar. But just before a few days of the film's release, he was replaced by Indraadip Das Gupta. Producer Shrikant Mohta stated the reason that Debojyoti's music didn't quite suit the film well and that's why, they were bound to approach Indraadip.

According to Indraadip, the producers did approach him and asked him that how long he would take to compose the film score for a film, to which he replied that it could be done in 4 days. He added, "Then, I was asked to work on Chander Pahar. I was astounded, since it's a big-canvas story. While Mishawr Rawhoshyo was quite a challenge, this is an even bigger task. I will have to work on the background score and the title track apart from a few other pieces of music. I spoke to my team and they gave their nod. I'll have to work extra hard to complete the score as the film's release is nearing."

External links

• Chander Pahar at IMDb
• Official Website of Chander Pahar Movie
• Chander Pahar Theatrical Trailer on YouTube