Mazaa Aa Gaya (This was Fun)!!

Now that line is usually not expected from a Property Host who has had a film shoot at his/her Property. But Mr. Ankit Srivastava totally surprised us when he exclaimed "Mazaa Aa Gaya!" after the end of a TVC shoot at his beautiful bungalow in Noida (India).

The credit for a smooth shoot at the Property does go to the Film Team as well - Garage Productions, with Pramod Singh & Shahbaz Alam holding the fort on behalf of the Production Team. But what stood out remarkably was the ice-cool attitude of Mr. Srivastava.

We have had Mr. Srivastava's bungalow listed on Filmapia for quite a while. The bungalow & its interiors have been carefully and artistically designed by the Woman of the House, who is an Architect herself - Mrs. Nimisha Sharma! Due to the unusual design with its tall ceilings, huge french windows, aesthetic furnishing, this bungalow had seen quite a few film-shoot enquiries over the last year or so, but none materialized for various reasons. 

In spite of the no-success-of-shoots for some time, Mr. Srivastava has always been supportive of our work and has been encouraging us at Filmapia. And through the multiple enquiries, the conversations I had with Mr. Srivastava during the follow ups have been most interesting, ranging from entrepreneurship to politics to life! 

Rather cool-headed, Mr. Srivastava was almost philosophical whenever we spoke about the issues that shoots typically have - "That is just fine. If 'n' number of people work at a place, there is bound to be some wear and tear. Nobody intends to damage a property/one's work/etc. And anyway, all of these are material things - we can always get it all back to the way we want. I am just looking to have new experiences in life. So why not this!!"

Now, I have interacted with a lot of Property Hosts as part of our work @ Filmapia, but the talks with Mr. Srivastava rank among the most interesting. Almost every conversation, I pick something up to learn and imbibe in my own thinking and attitude.

Coming back to this shoot at his bungalow, both the Film team & Mr. Srivastava were aptly prepared with the movements, the usage of the Property, facilities, etc. And Pramod Singh (the Line Producer) on the ground took care and avoided the usual issues that happen when shooting at a location. I, Pramod and Mr. Srivastava had regular conference calls to iron out any doubts or queries each side had. So indeed, a well-thought and well-chalked out project works out better on the ground, always.

During the day of the shoot, Mr. Srivastava spoke with the team including the Director, Producer, and Pramod on the ground and provided every support required.

In all, a pleasant shoot for everyone involved. And to hear that line from Mr. Srivastava, made us exclaim too within our team - "Mazaa Aa Gaya!"

- Benjamin Jacob