This is nice. I’m staying at a vegetarian hotel, with my room (with a balcony) overlooking Chennai, Egmont. It’s some 35+ degrees, or else it seems. I’m glad my room air is conditioned, only because It helps to get a good sleep while the Indians are busy honking away. I thought my taxi driver was playing x-box live, as in “live” in his car, with me on the back seat. Never seen so many buttons and levers pulled in my 15 min ride to the shabbiest luxury hotel in Chennai.

That brings me back to yesterday. Ever spent a whole day in a plane (12 hours)? I did. I flew at 6.30 to Brussels and soon after in a connecting flight to Chennai. The long, 10 hour flight. My seating was not an issue, as I shared my armrest with a well mannered – tech savvy Indian grandma (she found out how to operate the touch screen monitor before I did, damn). I was surprised to see some well mannered Indians too (200 of them) sharing my flight. No funny questions like “are yu Indian?”, “which i.t. company are you working with?”, or “why no hair?” was asked.  Hmm, nice.

I tuned into ‘the screening room’, ‘up in the air’, ‘lost in translation’ and two episodes of ‘lost’ on the 8 inch monitor which practically felt like 3D due to the distance it was, from my nose. Arrive india, and the ordeal begins. I get informed that my baggage with my clothes was not checked in the connecting flight (I had 4 pieces of luggage, 2 of equipment bag, a document bag and a living bag). This probably was a blessing in disguise, as i had equipment worth over 250,000 Indian Rupee, and the customs would have blown my ass to pieces with an import tax bazooka!

Leave the airport in pre-paid taxi. Well, if they rip me off, let me get a bill for it, at least. I get in to a X-box – Grand Theft Auto 4- live- taxi! Somewhere on the highway, my taxi driver breaks and swerves the car to avoid a dead man, possibly run over lying in the middle of 3 lanes. Every other following vehicle does the same. And, once again, i got to taste the food that I ate in the plane, this time mixed with bile juice.

We reach the “booked” hotel at past 2 in the morning. The “receptionist”, or the “watchman”, or “that arsehole” as i would like to call him, denies any booking. I feel a breath on my shoulder and i turn around to see my taxi driver still preying around like a hyena. Well, he knows that i have no other options at 2 am. So he drives me to the next hotel. The “receptionist” there wanted an I.D. and I showed him my Indian passport. He wanted to keep it as a security deposit, and I say “fuckin no way!” And then the argument begins. After an involvement by three other onlookers, I finally get the room. The shabbiest luxury hotel of Chennai.

I could not shit, shower or even brush my teeth as cameras are not the greatest tool to use for that purpose (maybe I should mention it to Canon). Even if I had my luggage, I wouldn’t have dared to “cleanse” myself out there. Plan was made to escape out off there the moment sun rises. I couldn’t sleep. I was scared. I tried to sleep with the lights turned on. I even turned the t.v. on for company. I guess I passed out around 4 am and woke at 8. Am, packed my bags again and checked out. I knew that the “mount Road” as closer and there were options of stay over there.

I took a long walk. Auto-taxis honking from behind to let me know that they were willing to give me a ride – to hell. “Fuck you!, I’m not getting ripped off today”, was written all over my face as I began to sweat after 4 kms in 27 degrees. There were cops all over the place. One of them crossed the street to say hello to me and asked if I was caring a machine gun in my equipment bag. I smiled back at him, even though I knew that he meant that seriously, especially after the Bombay terrorist attacks. I later withdrew some money from a bank and asked another police officer about any nearby hotel. He pointed left and shook my hand. I took a turn left and walked further in the heat, dehydrated, and loosing energy fast. There, I saw an 8 storied building that said HOTEL. “There, is where I’m gonna stay, no matter what”, I said to myself. I walked in to the hotel where the receptionist asked me if i wanted to see that rooms. I said “no, just get me an air conditioned room”, after all, things can’t get worse than yesterday.

Now here I am, in Chennai on business, at a hotel with no business facilities, no internet, and no phone call. But hey, I have a twin bed, a balcony, air condition and TV. I think I might stay here for a while!

Run with the wolves

Now i’m into the 3rd year of serious filmmaking. I have now set an extreme goal for this year. 5 projects in the year 2010. The first project has already been completed. A pilot music video for my favorite band The Prodigy. The prodigy and their PR firm, Cooking Vinyl in association with Dailymotion is running a competition to make a ‘badass’ music video for the track ‘Run with the wolves’. It is a fantastic opportunity for upcoming filmmakers like me to get something done. Winning this contest is maybe the 4th on the priority list for me, but to make a ‘badass music video’ which i can be proud of, has been the first priority.

The project was planned ‘zero budget’, but in the end of the day, zero budget projects are seldom zero budget. The Cast and crew worked for free, but the equipments were to be rented. I did save a lot by shooting on green screen though. Money was not the only factor that dictated the green screen. I had 3 young kids of age 14-16 acting in the music video. Two of them had to be barely clad, and it was -10 degrees outside. I had previously worked for 2 other projects this winter, and i know how easily your enthusiasm would drain out like a battery in the extreme cold, specially when there are breaks between shots. And so, i decided to shoot the scene with the kids in green screen and replace the background. I am very satisfied the final outcome, and i now know where and how i made mistakes and will try not to repeat it the next time.