EXCLUSIVE: Kedarnath Producer Pragya Kapoor Talks About Making Kedarnath In A Chat With Sandip Pal

Directed by Abhishek Gattu Kapoor, the film Kedarnath will showcase the massive destruction that took place in the Kedarnath valley due to the cloudburst and the flash floods in the year 2013. Much has been said about the scale of the film and the VFX incorporated in the film. However, until I delved deeper into the meshes of the film; all of this noise sounded pretty unconvincing to my prying soul. That is why, I got in touch with Pragya Kapoor who happens to be one of the producers of the film alongwith Ronnie Screwala.

Well, just before I got on the call a thought that ran across my mind was nothing can be better for a director husband to be supported by his own wife in the production of the film! And especially when the wife has so much conviction in the story and a transparent soul and a clear thought process !

Pragya, are you listening?

Abhishek (Gattu) Kapoor has made the film of his life and his wife stands as the backbone of the film. I had to know how the film came into being especially because personally I am so one with the place at hand - This made the conversation even more than mandatory!

Excerpts from the conversation -

Pragya, since the flash floods and the upheaval that the valley faced, a lot has changed. I had been to Kedarnath before the flash floods and therefore I am completely aware of the terrain and how things were just washed away. For instance, Rambara was earlier a bustling market and now Rambara doesn’t even exist. So, tell me, how many people went up there for the shoot because unlike the time prior to the destruction, now whoever visits or undertakes the trek has to get duly registered. What was it like to shoot up there given the fact that the climate over there is also not consistent at all. Was it really an uphill task (Pun intended)?

You are very right and you know a lot! I was having a detailed conversation with some of the media people about the inconsistent climate because people do not really know much about this. To answer your question, about 200 to 220 people had been there, and yes, we all had to get registered. Having said that, it was very systematic and easy. It wasn’t a difficult process. We had to go through the whims of the climate there. We were well prepared with what we wanted shoot there. We were there for more than a month. We just moved with the weather. Everyone was on their toes. We had to go according to the weather. Just before our shoot started, we had built a little bit of a shoot over there. The entire thing just gave away due to the rains and some landslide in the area. But the fact that we were prepared really helped us.

We are talking about a far-flung stretch of the country where people are not quite accustomed to see a shoot happening on a daily basis unlike here in Mumbai or the other metropolitan cities of the country. How difficult was it top manage the crowd and yet keep shooting?And given the hilly terrain, how was the camera manipulated? Was there a lot of handheld and drone shots or you got enough space for a tripod or a jib? - We all know the place doesn't have broad roads like Bombay.

We couldn’t even get vanity vans out there. It is not a shooting friendly area at all. We had to hang costumes on the tree to make sure that they aren’t wrinkled. Yes, that's right - a lot of shots were handled, some were done by Steadicam, drone shots were obvious and a lot of it was live. If you see in the background, the yatra was going on and the shooting was on. But there was no interference as such. The yatris were on their own journey they were not much interested in the shoot. People were very accommodating and helpful there. It is tough, my light men were running up and down, my costume people were running up and down. There was barely any internet in the hotel we were staying in. People really gave it their all.

As I said earlier, the entire terrain is completely transformed post the flash floods, did you shoot on the 16 kilometre stretch between Gaurikund and Kedarnath Dham? It’s not what it used to be prior to the calamity and the film shows the area before the cloudburst happened, so how much of the originality was retained?

Yes, a lot of the film has been shot on the stretch you are talking about. We shot it in the new yatra marg, but it will look like the old yatra. We shot in Chopta but everything as you said is changed. It doesn’t look like what it used to look before. We shot of it there, we shot a lot of it live. Smaller portions were shot in Bombay. We had tried our level best to recreate what it would look like. Because you have been there personally, it will surely give you a nostalgia of what it was like.

Pragya, I don’t know whether you were there right from the time the script was being written and the screenplay was being done. But didn't the fact that the film is so similar to Satyam Shivam Sundaram and its main nuances, ever cross your mind? The fact that in both the films the woman cursed and the catastrophe befell, in both the films, logic is well-defined behind the calamity that occurs, in both the films the ending too is similar as in how the couple manages to hold on to something religious to get saved.

I have been there since the seed was sown in Gattu’s head. I have never thought of it. This is quite a revelation. It is such a beautiful parallel that you have drawn, I have been taking to different people, journalists, no one has drawn this parallel. It is quite commendable that you saw the similarity and in such a beautiful manner. We made the film but we never thought of it. Now, when you are drawing this parallel, I think it is quite beautiful. But let me tell you it is not inspired from Satyam Shivam Sundaram. It is inspired from whatever happened in Kedarnath. But from what and how you have narrated it. It is really looking similar!

Tell me, what were the parts that you shot in the real locations and how much of the valley or the temple had to be recreated in the Bombay sets because in my knowledge, shooting is probhibited near the temple premises.

Yes, shooting is prohibited in the temple premises. But having said that we didn't even want to seek permissions to shoot in the temple area. We didn't want to disturb the aura of the place. We have shot on live locations in Kedarnath and as I have said earlier, it is a lot of live action that has been mixed with VFX. Since you have seen it, it will sound a little unrealistic in anyway. However, having said that, I think it will merge very beautifully. We haven’t been there before the floods. It has completely changed. It is different now. As you said Rambara doesn’t even exist now. It has been recreated to a certain extent. It doesn’t look the way it used to look like. The temple had to be recreated. There was no other way to look before. Like I said, it is a mix of real locations, mix of VFX. The KEdarnath temple as I said was recreated and when the localites used to pass the set, they used to fold their hands in reverence! To them that was their Kedarnath darshan.

So how many points would you like to give to your art director? How did he recreate PRe-flood look of Kedarnath in a Bombay studio? Did he ever visit the place before the calamity? Or did he take references from the internet or he perhaps studied a place of a similar topography?

I would give my art director a 100 out of 100. His name is Mayur Sharma, I have a soft spot for him because he did my wedding as well. I am very biased but he is incredible and you will see it on the big screen. I don’t think he has visited before the calamity, we all went together after the film was planned. However, he has done a lot of research work and if you meet and speak to him, you will realise that he has a very keen eye. He has done a fabulous job.

Pragya, we are talking about a place where the sunlight and the intensity of it is quite different from what we have in our part of the country. The sunlight quality over there is very dazzling. How was that managed on the camera?

So, another person who has a soft spot in my heart is my gaffer. You are talking about all my favourite people. His eye for light is incredible and of course my DOP Tushar Kanti Ray. They just know their craft!

How were Sushant and Sara, given the fact that the place has a different aura to it and it is not your regular shooting friendly locale. Did they have any issues there?

Our actors Sushant and Sara are very passionate people and are very dedicated. They just overlooked any problem that came their way. And I am not sugar-coating things at all. I am being absolutely honest with you. The people that I have worked with are incredible human beings, they are so supportive. It happened because all of them. They weren’t there for themselves, they were there for the film. I am so lucky that I have these people around me.