Behind the Scene

BASHEER ALI
Refugee’s Debutant No 3!

His first film as cameraman, Muzaffar Ali’s bilingual, Zooni, is yet to see the light of day. But Basheer Ali finally makes his debut, along with Abhishek Bachchan and Kareena Kapoor with
JP Dutta’s forthcoming movie, Refugee...

For Basheer Ali, cinematography wasn’t an intended career option. Starting out as an assistant in the filmmaking department of a leading advertising agency, he stumbled upon cinematography, and soon got hooked on to the moviecam. He realised the cinematographer was a crucial player in the craft of filmmaking. And thus began the process of going through the grind till he metamorphosed into an independent cinematographer with Muzaffar Ali’s English-Urdu bilingual Zooni. The film, however, remains incomplete till date. But now with JP Dutta’s Refugee, Basheer Ali makes his debut as an independent cinematographer. The film is slated to hit the marquee in the first week of July.

But first his bio-capsule: A student of Science in a Mumbai college, Basheer gave up his studies for a career in ad filmmaking. "I was 18 then and age was on my side," he recalls. "So I didn’t mind even sweeping the floor if required as I had no ego." At Lintas, it was an apprenticeship without pay, as an assistant to Rohit Bobb and Harish Thawani in the agency’s filmmaking department. Next followed an introduction to Sumanto Ghoshal and Pooh Sayani, both leading ad filmmakers then, and Basheer began assisting them. Soon he realised ad films were not his forte, and quit his job.

He moved to Hindi films, as an assistant to the over busy cinematographer, Nadeem Khan. "I learnt the ropes with him, all about camera angles, lighting and a host of other intricate details," remembers Basheer who assisted Khan on ten films.

The turning point in Basheer’s career came when he joined the late Ishan Arya, then the cameraman for Muzaffar Ali’s Anjuman. "It was a much-talked about film then, and after Umrao Jaan, Muzaffar became a force to reckon with on the parallel cinema circuit," he says. "A good and willing teacher, Ishan taught me the basics of cinematography and gave me absolute liberty as far as lighting up the scenes went. In fact, he added a new dimension to my work. Since he gave me total freedom, I dabbled in all departments, including direction."

By the time Anjuman was completed, Ishan had passed away and Muzaffar Ali promised Basheer he would be the cameraman for his next film. Ali kept his word and asked Basheer to shoot Zooni, the story of poetess Habba Khatoon, set against the backdrop of the dynasty of Kashmir. A prestigious film financed by the then Jammu and Kashmir government, it was to be shot over a period of two years, spanning four seasons. But Zooni got stuck as Kashmir was rocked by militancy.

Obviously, the young cinematographer was disheartened. But JP Dutta had seen the rushes of Zooni with Vinod Khanna and Basheer says he was quite impressed with his camera work. Meanwhile, Basheer shot the Romesh Sharma Hindi-Bengali bilingual Bandhu, but it didn’t see the light of day either. The film was eventually converted into a TV serial.

With work hard to come by in films, Basheer returned to the world of ads, and in eight years, shot more than 200 commercials for major clients like Sony, Hindustan Lever, MRF, Siemens, Cipla, Citibank, Voltas, Wipro, Pepsi, Maruti Udyog and Air India, to name just a few. During that period he also shot the first 15 episodes of The Sword Of Tipu Sultan, as well as several documentaries with Kiran David, Rinki Bhattacharya and Muzaffar Ali.

Then one fine day, he got a call from JP Dutta. He was making Border at the time, which was 40 per cent complete. Dutta asked the young Basheer to shoot the remaining portions. But after shooting for two days, Basheer developed cold feet. He assured Dutta he’d love to work with him but would prefer to start on a clean slate. Dutta agreed and finally, he called Basheer to shoot Refugee.

"Everyone was surprised because there was no reason for him to change his cameraman," says Basheer, adding that he had heard several stories about Dutta’s arrogance and temperament. "I was told he has an eccentric person, a difficult man to work with. But contrary to all I’d heard about him, I found him a very modest, down-to-earth human being."

Basheer feels Dutta preferred a young cameraman to shoot Refugee because the film launches two new faces -- Abhishek Bachchan and Kareena Kapoor. He needed a distinctive style of cinematography and visual orientation. "There are two types of visuals," he explains.
"One which has all the trappings of commercialism. And the other, which gives you an inkling about what the film is all about. I have opted for the latter kind in Refugee."

Talking about the experience of working with Dutta, Basheer says, "He is very clear about what he wants and is simply amazing to work with. I believe a cameraman and director are like husband and wife. They either go along or fall apart. Fortunately for me, JP and I got along like a house on fire."

While he is most satisfied with his work in Refugee, Basheer has moved on to other projects. Presently, he is working on Tinnu Anand’s much-delayed film Ek Hindustani, and what’s more, Zooni, which is 70 per cent complete, may be revived soon. He says he is open to working with anybody who gives him enough "space" to do what he wants, something he’s managed to do in Refugee.

AL Chougule