The Pool (film)

Infobox_Film
name = The Pool


caption = American Movie poster
director = Chris Smith
producer = Kate Noble
writer = Chris Smith Randy Russell
starring = Venkatesh Chavan Jhangir Badshah Ayesha Mohan Nana Patekar
music = Didier Leplae Joe Wong
cinematography = Chris Smith
editing = Barry Poltermann
distributor = Vitagraph Films
released = January 18, 2007
runtime = 95 minutes
country = USA
language = Hindi English (subtitles)
budget =
website = http://www.thepoolfilm.com
imdb_id = 0911024
awards = Special Jury Prize, 2007 Sundance Film Festival|

"The Pool" is a 2007 drama film co-written and directed by Chris Smith. Besides Bollywood veteran Nana Patekar, the film starred non-professional actors - Venkatesh Chavan, Jhangir Badshah and Ayesha Mohan.

The story revolves around a young janitor working at a hotel in port city of Panjim, India, who sees from his perch in a mango tree a luxuriant garden and shimmering pool hidden behind a wall. In making whatever efforts he can to better himself, Venkatesh offers his services to the wealthy owner of the home. Not content to simply dream about a different life, Venkatesh is inquisitive about the home's inhabitants and his curiosity changes the shape of his future.

Though filmed in Hindi, a language Smith didn't know,cite web|url=http://www.nowrunning.com/news/news.aspx?it=12859|title=Cross-cultural productions make it to IFFI 2007|publisher=Nowrunning.com|last=Noronha|first=Frederick|date=2007-11-26|accessdate=2008-09-03] the film earned good reviews. Besides winning a Special Jury prize at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival,cite web|url=http://www.sltrib.com/sundance/ci_5105045|title=Sundance: Winners span the Earth and beyond|publisher=The Salt Lake Tribune|last=Means P.|first=Sean|date=2007-03-07|accessdate=2008-09-03] the film won accolades from Geoffrey Gilmore, director of the Sundance Film Festival. In the same year, it was screened at the Vienna International Film Festival and International Film Festival of India.

Production

After "American Job" (1996), "American Movie" (1999), "Home Movie" (2001) and "The Yes Men" (2003), Milwaukee-based director Chris Smith read a story, written by Randy Russel, about a person from a graduate school in Iowa. This person, who is out running, sees a swimming pool and gets obsessed with swimming in it. He follows around the people who own the place and tries to befriend them. However, Smith clarified that the film's story evolved from it in a "completely different way from there".cite web|url=http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=663703|title=Milwaukee director goes to India for 'Pool'|publisher=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel|last=Dudek|first=Duane|date=2007-09-18|accessdate=2008-09-03] He said that though they had a draft in hand while beginning the shooting, his goal was to let the environment (the actors, their experiences and observations) shape the story.cite web|url=http://www.thepoolfilm.com/thepool/THEPOOL_faq.doc|format=DOC|title=Frequently Asked Questions with Chris Smith, Director|last=Noble|first=Kate|work=Press Kit - The Pool|accessdate=2008-09-03]

The film is a collaborative result of a crew that was half-based in India and United States. The crew included producer Kate Noble, creative consultant Xavier Leplae, whose film "I'm Bobby" was shot in the Goan state of India. Xavier's brother, Didier Leplae, who composed the score with Joe Wong in Milwaukee, had it arranged by a Bollywood composer, and recorded by a small orchestra in Mumbai. The film also credits independent film representative and producer John Sloss, who has handled all of his films, as being his "conduit to the rest of the world," and said that it was Sloss' work on his behalf that "has allowed me to stay in Milwaukee." Barry Polterman, who edited "The Pool" and "American Movie", continued his association with Smith with this film.

Though the story was originally set in Iowa, Smith chose the port city of Panjim, Goa due to his long-time fascination with the city, especially the contrast between the rich and the poor.cite web|url=http://specials.rediff.com/movies/2008/sep/02slde1.htm|title=A tale reminiscent of Satyajit Ray|publisher=Rediff.com|last=Pais J|first=Arthur|date=2008-09-02|accessdate=2008-09-03] For the 65-day shoot, Smith and his crew moved to India for a five month period.cite web|url=http://www.nysun.com/arts/chris-smith-american-director/84858/|title=Chris Smith: American Directory|publisher=The New York Sun|last=Rapold|first=Nicolas|date=2008-08-29|accessdate=2008-09-03] While referring to this cinematic endeavor as an experiment, he felt that the journey to India was crucial in clearing up his creative space to work.

Smith once thought of aborting the project because they were unsuccessful in locating a bungalow with a pool. Eventually, they managed to lease one from a New Zealand-born India-based person.

Casting

Saying that this film was the hardest he ever worked on in his life, Smith added that casting for the film was quite a challenge. The crew lost three lead actors due to various reasons. While one of them went to Mumbai on the pretext of buying karate uniforms and never returned, a young girl could not obtain permission for leave from school. The actor, originally chosen for the father's role, left them for a television series. These unfortunate incidents happened three days prior to commencement of the shoot.

After a casting director, who had previously worked with Ayesha Mohan, sent them her details, she was chosen to play the main actress. Speaking about how they identified Nana Patekar, a veteran Bollywood actor, Smith said:

When you're trying to cast, you will look anywhere and everywhere. At dinner, we would look at the waiters. And one day, this newspaper came (to their hotel room) with a story on Nana (Patekar). And it said that he takes his time between movies and likes to do interesting projects. And Kate thought he looked perfect. We liked his eyes and the way he handled himself in the interview. And he seemed a kindred spirit to what we were trying to do.

Smith was convinced that if Patekar agreed to play the role, the film would get a boost. Actress Mohan helped him approach Anurag Kashyap, who directed her in the Bollywood film "Black Friday" (2004). Initially, Patekar was not interested to do the film. But Kashyap urged him to take a look at 45 minutes of the film's footage. Upon watching it, Patekar remained quiet for some time and then he said, "this reminds me of what we used to do before we got corrupted." According to Smith, Patekar not just played his character, but also helped out in various scenes while filming.

20-year old Venkatesh Chavan, who played the role of the young boy fascinated by the pool, originally hailed from Mundargi town in Gadag district of Karnataka. Chavan’s parents left for Goa in search of work. While Smith was in the process of casting, Venkatesh was helping his parents to sell scrap. In January 2006, when he was roaming on the streets of Vasco da Gama, Smith met him, introduced himself and asked him to act in his film. Venkatesh took his parents’ permission and agreed. His mother and sister were asked to play the role of his mother and sister in the film as well. He received INR 60,000 as compensation for acting in the film. While filming, Chavan thought it was a documentary.cite web|url=http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Aug232007/scroll2007082320920.asp?section=frontpagenews|title=Tanda boy turns English movie hero|publisher=Deccan Herald|date=2007-09-18|accessdate=2008-09-03] Jhangir, on the other hand, worked as a janitor at a Goan hotel, was selected to play the 13-year old character.cite web|url=http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/009200711281021.htm|title=Star-crossed boys grab screen-share at IFFI|publisher=The Hindu|date=2007-11-28|accessdate=2008-09-03]

Filmmaking

Both of them, couldn’t read and hence they couldn’t really prepare their scenes in advance. They had to rehearse on the spot and once they got it right, shot was taken. Another complication was their language. Since neither of them spoke English, it was difficult for Smith to directly convey detailed direction. Hence with a translator in place, it could easily get translated in the wrong way. Another challenge was that the film was being shot in Hindi, which was not the first language of either of them. In addition, Smith had absolutely no knowledge of Hindi. Effectively, they were being directed in a language they did not understand and having to shoot complex dialogue scenes in a language alien to them.

In this film, Polterman was editing while the filming was in progress. Smith thought that this process had a huge impact on the finished film.

References

External Links

* [http://www.thepoolfilm.com Official Website]
*imdb title|id=0911024|title=The Pool