Tuesday 24 July 2012

Shooting at Doordarshan Kendra

The whole of last week was very hectic for Akanksha. Early morning she went to school and after school she had to rush to her dance school for rehearsals for a shooting of a Manipuri dance drama-Krishna Lila, at the Doordarshan Kendra on Saturday to be telecast on the occasion of Janmasthmi. 

On Saturday, all the not less than 30 odd participants reached the Doordarshan premises at the scheduled time of 12 noon. All the participants were accompanied by their moms and curious relatives. I alone accompanied Akanksha as her father had a working day. Yet he was humble enough to drop us at the venue.

The Kolkata Doordarshan Kendra is situated at the posh Golf Green area in the Southern fringe of the city. It is merely one and a half kilometers from our house. As soon as we entered the building the temperature became soothing as the whole of the building is air conditioned. It has lavish rooms and spacious corridors. The whole building is so large that it will take quite sometime to get acquainted. The interiors of the building is beautifully done but it lacked a bit of maintenance. We were led through a vast corridor to the green room. As we entered the green room we found it full of children getting dressed for the program. The seniors were helping the juniors to dress.




Professional make up artists did the make up and the procedure was over by 2 o'clock. The shooting was scheduled to start at around 2.30 p.m. But due to some technical problems it did not start in time. The children started playing antakshari to kill the time. 

Akanksha gives a pose after make-up
Akanksha with Raya
Akanksha with Gunja

In the mean time I somehow managed to enter the studio where the shooting was to take place. I was surprised to see so many people engaged for the particular job. There were camera men, sound technicians, director, helpers, light men etc,. All were busy with their own job. I was standing there and was bound to think so many hard works are behind a finished program presented before us, which we watch sitting at the cozy couch of our living rooms and also we never think twice before criticizing anything that we do not like. May be from now onwards I will give a thought before criticizing such work.

Though photography was prohibited inside, I managed to click a few pictures of the studio with my mobile. It is not clear as I clicked it from quite a distance.




It was 4o'clock but the shooting did not start yet. By then the children became restless. Most of them were hungry and sleepy and wanted to go home. We, the moms, fed them with whatever we had brought from home- cakes, biscuits, chocolates and somehow managed to cool them down. Few of us went to the canteen to bring something for them to eat. The canteen was again very specious that served very tasty tea and coffee and that too at a very cheap rate. Since we went there quite late most of the snacks were finished. There was only sweets(gulab jamuns) left. We ordered 50 gulab jamuns but each of us first sipped a cup of tea and than went to the green room and flashed the news of tea and coffee being served at the canteen. Within a fraction of seconds the waiting room was empty since the parents flocked at the canteen. The children were happy to see the gulab jamuns.

At 5.30 pm the children were finally taken to the studio. The guardians were not allowed to enter the studio and waited at the waiting room for another one and a half hour for the shooting to get over.


At 7 o'clock finally the shooting got over and all of us headed for home. Though it was tiring both for the children and the parents yet it was a whole new experience for all. Also, we parents got more time to know each other well, which otherwise is not possible. Now, waiting with fingers crossed for the day the program would be telecast.




27 comments:

  1. Wow must have been such a thrilling experience!

    Good on Akanksha!

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    1. Thanks Magiceye..it was indeed a thrilling experience..

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  2. What fun, your dotty looks so good. Hugs to you both :)

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  3. There is lot of work that goes behind the scenes to film the event. Multiple cameras to take different points of view. Microphones at different points to record the sounds. Lights, backdrops etc etc

    They cannot allow the parents inside due to lack of space, due to sound, also because some overenthusiastic parent may inadvertently say something and disrupt the scene.

    Good to know that your kid performed. It is not right to keep the kids waiting. Unfortunately, not all shootings are properly planned.

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    1. U r a master in this field..who will know better than u about the work behind the scenes and ur justification of parents not being allowed is 100% accepted..thanks for going through it..

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  4. Didn't know Doordarshan's backstage looked so exiting !!
    please comment;http://ajantadas.blogspot.in/2012/07/had-shopping-haul-from-united-colors-of.html

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    Replies
    1. Hi Ajanta!!!great to hear from u..How r u??I do always drop in at ur blog..

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    2. I'm good thank u :) how r u ?really ? Then keep dropping :D

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  5. A nice experience, narrated very well with good pictures. Thanks for sharing .

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  6. Yay! Moments such as these remain etched till forever in our memories. They bring much joy. Good for Akanksha. God bless.

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  7. That must have been an exciting experience for the little one. She looks absolutely adorable, Ranita.
    Would love to see her show..do let me know the date n time. It should be on DD. Right?

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    1. Thanks Panchalidi..will surely let u know..yes it will be telecast on the 9th of August on DD7..but time is not yet set..i will sure let u know..

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  8. Sounds like a nice adventure for the little ones. The pictures are really very sweet.. will wait for you to let us know the time to catch it in action:)

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  9. Must have been a memorable experience for you..

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    Replies
    1. Yes Ashwini it was a wonderful experience..thanks for visiting..

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  10. I have been to studios in NYC, it is very laborious activity. Though most of the work here is automated but we can't imagine how much effort goes into it. Please tell Akanksha that we all are proud of her and do post the youtube video after the telecast.:)

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    1. Thanks Saru..surely it looks laborious and exciting too..Will convey ur message to Akanksha and upload the video on you tube..

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  11. Thanks for sharing your nice experience with beautiful photos. Hope that the children had a fantastic time.

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    1. Thanks SVS..yes, the children had a nice time at the same time were very exhausted too..

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  12. Great to read your post and photographs.Thanks for the post.

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  13. This is so wonderful and fun! What a little beauty Akanksha is!

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  14. working in AIR and Doordarshan i can very well understand how long it takes to complete such recordings.....but you must have seen there in the studios that for the best final result whole team work so hard there.....

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