JOIN USAdventure shot in extreme climatic conditions
Bollywood director Ribhu Dasgupta has forayed into direction for the web with the ‘Bard of Blood’, launching September 27 on Netflix. The series is adapted from a spy fiction novel of the same name by Bilal Siddiqi. Ribhu says that he read the novel and was bowled over by its characters and storyline. He saw immense potential in bringing the novel to life. In an interview with Metrolife, Ribhu, talks about the making of the series and how it changed his perspective of filmmaking.
What were some of the challenges that you faced when making the series?
There were many challenges in terms of shooting because we had to recreate Balochistan. We had to choose locations that were true to Balochistan terrain and shoot in extreme climatic conditions. These were the physical challenges that we had to deal with. It was exhausting because we had to shoot for almost 70 to 80 days at one go. But, I must say, that it has been a really exciting and overwhelming experience. It has helped me grow as a filmmaker.
Was it easy to knit these tough characters together?
The best part about working on a web series is that you can take time to write the characters over a period of time. You have a span of episodes to get into the skin of the character as compared to a frame of two hours. You can actually take the character graph much ahead. You can play with them, tweak their nuances and spend time with them. All the characters in this series have their own identities. We also wanted to cast each character in a unique way. Writing the series took more time than making it.
Any interesting moment during the making of the series?
We had to shoot in Leh and Ladakh from mid-October to mid-November. From mid- September, the locals actually start leaving the place because of the extreme climatic conditions. The place, where we shot, has thin air there and ‘Bard of Blood’ is an action-heavy series that required a lot of running and chasing — it was all tough. But the support from the cast was overwhelming and that made all the difference.
On working with Shah Rukh Khan...
The series is produced by Shah Rukh Khan’s production house. I interacted with him during the post-production phase. He comes with vast experience and he helped us in fine-tuning the product. During the interactions, I realised that he never forces his views on you, instead gives you enough space and freedom to shape the product the way you want. As a producer, he completely backed us and our vision.
What makes this series different from the other similar subjects that we have seen before?
We have seen subjects like this being made in the West. In India, we have seen similar movies being made around spy-based subjects but a series is a new thing. We have made a show with an international appeal.