Grand sets add to movie grandeur

source: TOI

Date: December 9, 2007

"Producers like to create their own sets because we have excellent technical support in our industry," says art director Nitin Chandrakant Desai, a veteran with 22 years' experience in this line. In the news for designing the magnificent sets of Mughal biopic Jodhaa Akbar (slated for a January 2008 release), Nitin maintains, "In historical films, many issues crop up like permissions (to shoot in forts etc), animals, props etc. So it's better to create your own sets where the situation is under control."

For sheer secrecy, nothing beats the closely guarded look of Jodhaa Akbar . It became such a talking point amongst art aficionados that visitors like Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, Hollywood actor Ralph Fiennes, Sanjay Dutt and Amitabh Bachchan dropped by earlier this year, unable to resist its lure.

Nitin Desai, who's known to set benchmarks in an industry which earlier mocked authenticity and research when it came to set design, started work on Jodhaa Akbar eight months ahead of the actual shooting. "I took lakhs of photographs in Agra and Jaipur which were used as reference points." As a result, he meticulously created an exact replica of the interiors of Amer Fort (near Jaipur). "Only the exterior shot of the fort was taken at Amer, the rest was all created indoor at Karjat," he says.

Nitin also created an inch-by-inch replica of the Agra Fort, along with Deewan-i-aam, Deewan-i-khas, Jodha Mahal and fully landscaped Mughal gardens. Constructed at Desai's Karjat studio, the set measures 1,600ft x 600ft x 68ft. "It's as huge as the seven floors of a high-rise," says Desai, who used concrete, fibre, asbestos sheets, scaffolding and pipes to create the structure. "It's like creating a real city, where you can come and visit."