Through the Lens | Sudeep Chatterjee on Working with Sanjay Leela Bhansali for 'Gangubai Kathiawadi'

For Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022), I tried to artificially light up an entire set — not just for night lighting, but for the day scenes, too. Which means, instead of using the real sun, you create your own sun and you create your own daylight ambience. In Bhansali’s Bajirao Mastani (2015), we did not do that. We did it for parts of his next film, Padmaavat (2018). Now, with Gangubai Kathiawadi, I wanted to shoot the whole film with artificial lights.

But several things had to be taken care of. Firstly, the entire set in Mumbai’s Film City needed to be covered with a ceiling from where you could bounce lights. I did not use a green screen for the sky. I used a white screen that we call a luma key; when you are replacing it with the sky, the halation that you get from it looks far more real, because normally when you shoot, the sky is always a little burnt out.

Then, there were certain parts of the ceiling that needed to be able to open up for a light to come through via an external crane. Then, to protect the set from rain and other weather elements, you needed to completely cover it.

One big hassle on the sets of Bajirao Mastani and Padmaavat was air conditioning, because the set becomes very hot and that comes with a lot of fire risk when you are bouncing lights off the ceiling covered in white cloth. The whole set could burn down in no time. Fire safety is one huge issue. So, the set needs to be accessible to firemen, and there needs to be water connections in case something happens. That apart, we needed air conditioning.

All this engineering took over four months. For the first two, the scaffolding, iron structures and roof construction took place. It was so exciting that I would end up going to watch the set being built every day, part by part, just to make sure things were okay — because I was the one who asked for this, and it was a big onus on me.

The set held on for a very long time because the pandemic happened in between. The set was just idle. It survived two lockdowns. Since I stay very close to Film City, during the lockdown I could slip out of my house and come to Film City. At the gate they would let me enter, because they know me. Inside, there was absolutely nobody. I would just walk in and then video call Sanjay from there.

I did this artificial lighting to get the exact light I wanted. What happens in India is that most of the months are summer months, and you get a lot of top light — where the light source is above the subject. Sanjay’s films have so much atmosphere and so many junior artistes — sometimes, there will be 300 junior artists that you have to get ready. So ideally, if you want to catch the morning light — because the pretty light is only in the morning and the evening — then it is impossible to get people ready by seven o’clock in the morning. By the time you are ready to take the shot, it is almost noon with some lousy light. So you wait for the light at 3:00 or 3:30 in the evening. It just becomes very unproductive.

Also, a lot of Gangubai Kathiawadi was shot in twilight, because that is the business hour of the sex-worker characters. Twilight just lasts for a few minutes here. Besides, even with regular daylight, I would have more control over the sun — to make it slightly warmer, more orange, to make the shadows a little cooler, to add a little green in the shadows. I wanted that kind of complete control over the specific colour temperatures of the shadows, mid tones and highlights. And that is only possible when you are lighting artificially.

The producers might be a little hesitant initially, because it sounds very expensive — the lighting budget goes up. Then, slowly they will realise that it is actually a very smart, efficient way to shoot films.

- As told to Prathyush Parasuraman

To read more exclusive stories from The Hollywood Reporter India's March 2025 print issue, pick up a copy of the magazine from your nearest book store or newspaper stand.

To buy the digital issue of the magazine, please click here.