User:Ketal patel 123/VARANASI

'' FEAST OF VARANASI' is an upcoming Indo-British crime thriller film written, produced and directed by Rajan Kumar Patel. The film is based on the novel FEAST OF VARANASI. The film stars Adil Hussian, Holly Gilbert, Tannishtha Chatterjee and Judi Bowker with Ashwath Bhatt, Prashant Prakash and Neha Mahajan. The first trailer of the film will release in January 2015 accompanied by an original score from the opening film sequence. Holly Gilbert, grand daughter of 3 time James Bond film director Lewis Gilbert will be seen in her debut lead performance for an international feature film.

Cast
Characters
 * Adil Hussain as CBI Officer Arjun Das
 * Holly Gilbert as Helen
 * Tannishtha Chatterjee as Rajveer Saxsena
 * Judi Bowker as Agatha
 * Ashwath Bhatt as Nana
 * Prashant Prakash as Kasi
 * Neha Mahajan as Maya
 * Amar Talwar as CBI Asst Director Singh
 * Sanghmitra Hitaishi as Sunita Rao
 * Utkarsh Mazumdar as Professor Sharma

Plot
Summary

Helen, a young English teacher with a troubled past arrives in India’s ancient and holy city of Varanasi to spend a few weeks with her aunt Agatha who works at a local missionary. Her arrival follows the recent suicide of her own mother Sarah, and a letter she left along with a pendant to bring back to her twin sister. As Helen arrives in Varanasi she learns about a serial killer who's kidnapping and killing local dalit (low caste) girls in and around the city, unaware that her own future is tied to the desperate acts of the killer. India’s domestic intelligence agency, the CBI send in a quite analyst from New Delhi to head up the case. CBI officer Arjun Das, himself a dalit, finds himself returning to the city of his birth and to a home he had left well behind. As the Indian festival of Holi approaches, the killer strikes at the heart of the city, fearless and sparing none in his quest for Moksha.

Pre-Development
Production

The film was first conceived as a novel idea but later the author Rajan Kumar Patel decided to turn it into an independent feature film with a self financed budget of $150,000. Having never made a film before or been to any film school, Rajan set out to build a team of trusted and experienced senior crew members. The first to join was James Aspinall as Director of Photography. James subsequently introduced Rajan to Caroline O’Reilly to join the team as a Producer. Both Caroline and James had already worked in India on the BBC Sharpe series. Following an on/off hunt for a director Rajan met up with Raj Acharya (1st A.D. Slumdog Millionaire) in Varanasi for a week to see if he direct the film. However Raj Acharya felt Rajan was so immersed in the film’s narrative and visual’s that he recommend he stop looking for a director and take on the role himself.

Besides the role of debut writer and producer Rajan then took on the role of debut director and with the help of his senior team and advisors put the film’s production together with his long standing friend and film maker Ashutosh Singh who was based in Varanasi. After multiple recee’s the film’s budget grew. The decision was taken to make the film with all the technical needs of a feature film but with careful planning and scheduling, use of real locations and a mix of experienced and less experienced crew members the project was green lit to shoot in the summer of 2013. The producers had originally planned to shoot the film in two schedules, one in Wai, south of Mumbai and the second in Varanasi. Following further reviews of both locations the director felt strongly that the entire film should be shot in Varanasi itself to capture its unique setting, architecture and place that were absent from Wai.

Casting was held both in London and Mumbai with a wide range of new and established actors reading for the various parts. After several re-casting sessions the lead female role was given to Holly Gilbert. At the same time Judi Bowker joined the film. InItially all the characters were cast in London, however the director felt the need to capture the authentic indian voice demanded, a re-casting in Mumbai. A wider range of established and rising indian film stars were approached and read for the various parts, including Richa Chhada, Rajkumar Rao, Vineet Kumar Singh and Atul Khulkhani, with the roles of Arjun Das being offered and accepted by Nawazuddin Siddiqui and the role of Rajveer Saxsena to award winning actress Tannishthta Chatterjee. However Nawazudin dropped out soon after due to other project commitments. A few months later the casting director approached Adil Hussain from Life of Pi and after he and director talked over the film Adil Hussain agreed to join the project as the lead actor.

Casting for the part of Nana, a reclusive priest who lived on the outskirts of Varanasi was the most challenging of all casting. The director had a specific visual idea of the character and felt that the audience had to believe in the character to such an extent that it would stay with them long after the film’s screening. After a long search the casting director Romil Modi approached Ashwath Bhatt a theatre and independent film actor as well as a clown performer. Ashwath travelled to Varanasi and stayed on the ghats to immerse himself with the aghori priests. He also stopped shaving, cutting his nails and at times stopped bathing to live the character he would perform. The director had a single costume idea for the character of Nana. That his shawl would be his single clothing, worn, torn and served multiple purposes. At one point he even asked the costume assistant to chase a roaming vagabond to buy his clothes of him as they matched Nana’s clothing concept.

Principal Photography
Shooting and Post Production

Due to the restrictive budget the film was shot non stop over a period of 27 days in and around Varanasi in september 2013. Prior to principal shooting, Varanasi suffered extensive floods with boats floating through city roads. Key forest and historic ghat locations were under several metres of water and inaccessible. The film’s shooting schedule was rearranged to shoot all internal locations first and then moved to external forest and ghats when the monsoon rains stopped and flood waters dropped half way into the shoot. When shooting on the various ghats, the production reduced its crew size down from a high of 70 at the start of filming to 20 only all re-located to hotels on the ghats to allow for pre-sunrise filming. The film was extensively shot on Assi, Tulsi and the main burning ghat of Manikarnika. Although the film was shot on a 35mm Arri Alexa with location sound recording this did not hinder the film’s shoot as the local residents of the ghats had become familiar with the film and crew over a number of weeks and accommodated the productions needs generously. The film’s director Rajan Kumar Patel nearly died during the shoot when a blood clot check up by a local doctor was incorrectly assessed, however after a 2nd and 3rd consultation with doctors in London and a former professor from BHU (banaras hindu university) a fatal injection was avoided and the director was able to return to the shoot soon after.

Post filming James Aspinall introduced the director to Sean Barton to edit the film. Sean agreed after seeing the shooting footage. Sean previously edited big hollywood blockbuster films such as STAR WARS – RETURN OF THE JEDI and the thriller JAGGED EDGE. During the 4 month edit the director Rajan Kumar Patel developed a further blood clot in his leg, a result from inactively whilst siting in the edit room. The film’s original score has been composed by Irish born and L.A. based Amie Doherty. The score was later recorded in Prague. In August 2014 the producers approached India’s National Award winning sound designer Shajith Koyeri who’s film included Vishal Bharadwaj's Omkara & Haider as well as Barfi. Shajith’s team re-visited Varanasi to fully capture atmospheric sounds that were distinctively found in the temple city. A special screening of the film is being planned for London and Varanasi, India for March 2015 prior to wider international release including Hindi and Tamil versions.

The novel on which the film has been adapted “FEAST OF VARANASI” will be published in 2015