Ganesh ustav special: Dhol, taasha and dance: All the prep that goes into shooting Ganesha songs

Lord Ganesha songs in Hindi films have a history of being shot on a grand scale, complete with dance, colour, dhol-taasha and the works. The filming of these elaborate songs requires a lot of prep and detailed planning. And often these devotional and high-energy tracks lead to the film’s climax, elevating the drama and its visual impact on screen. We delve into the making of some of these beautifully shot Ganpati songs in cinema.

WE SHOT DEVA SHREE GANESHA FROM AGNEEPATH OVER FIVE DAYS ON A GRAND SCALE: Chinni Prakash, choreographer
Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra and Sanjay Dutt starrer Agneepath was the remake of Amitabh Bachchan's 1990 release. Deva Shree Ganesha from Agneepath went on to become one of the most popular Ganesh Chaturthi songs Don's (2006) visarjan song Mourya Re remains a favourite with Ganpati pandals. Talking about one of the most popular Ganpati songs, Deva Shree Ganesha from Agneepath, choreographer Chinni Prakash says, "Agneepath was Karan Malhotra's debut directorial. An entire chawl set was erected on an open ground in Mumbai's Versova for the film. We began the shoot with a Ganesh pooja of the huge idol. We shot the song over five days on a grand scale, with Hrithik playing the dhol, performing aarti and lots of dancers around. People were screaming, dancing and all of us had goosebumps. We had trials over four days to decide how the kumkum would fall over the idol. We toppled a tank filled with kumkum with six cameras rolling to capture that moment, and everyone including Hrithik Roshan and Priyanka Chopra stayed back to watch the shoot. "

WE MERGED SHOTS OF REAL CROWDS FROM GANPATI VISARJAN FOR MOURYA RE: Aradhana Seth, production designer

Don's (2006) visarjan song Mourya Re remains a favourite with Ganpati pandals. Aradhana Seth, production designer of the film Don, recalls, “Most songs take five days to shoot on a big budget film, Mourya Re took six days, if we count the real-life visarjan day. This particular shoot day was filmed much in advance as we decided to capture the real-life Ganesh visarjan. We sent out five camera crews across Mumbai to film it, viewed the footage and then decided on the idol that director Farhan Akhtar and I wanted to recreate. We also merged a couple of shots of the real crowd and the visarjan into the song. We created an 18-foot idol to match the one from the footage, tracking down an artisan who could do it. Pulling off a song as grand as this using live locations requires detailed planning and collaboration with the choreographer (Rajeev Surti) along with the director. The chawl gateway was not tall enough to take the Ganesh idol out on the truck, so there was lots of loading and unloading while moving to Juhu beach for the visarjan sequence. The shoot of the Ganpati song for SRK’s Don took place at a chawl. Multiple props were created and sourced, like an ektara, 90-100 instruments like dhols and cymbals, flags, coloured powder, flowers and pinatas.”

I ENSURE I HAVE A GANPATI SONG IN EVERY FILM: Remo D’Souza, director

Sadda Dil Vi Tu, the song from ABCD: Anybody Can Dance has the leads, Lauren Gottlieb, Dharmesh Yelande and others participating in a dance competition. Director and choreographer Remo D’souza who is a great believer of Ganpati says, “Since the time I first became a director, I ensure I have a Ganpati song in every film, and ABCD: Any Body Can Dance had two such songs in it. I've been a huge believer of Ganpati Bappa since childhood and after I got married, we started bringing Bappa home every year. In ABCD, the first song was with the typical dhol taasha, but music director Sachin-Jigar and I got rapper Hard Kaur to sing the second song Sadda Dil Vi Tu, which leads towards the climax, because it was a dance-based film and we wanted to try something different. There’s a portion in ABCD where the dancers wear Ganesha masks and form 7 tiers to create Ganpati with their bodies — every time the dancers tried, they fell and got injured. My wife Lizelle suggested they don’t consume non-veg on the day of the shoot and eventually, we wrapped up in two days."

WE SHOT VAASTAV'S AARTI SONG SHENDUR LAL CHADHAYO IN ONE DAY: Shivaji Satam, actor
Shivaji Satam played father to Sanjay Dutt in Mahesh Manjrekar’s crime drama Vaastav: The Reality. The aarti from the film, Shendur Lal Chadhayo, is popular with Ganesh pandals even two decades after the film’s releaseShivaji Satam who played father to Sanjay Dutt in Mahesh Manjrekar’s crime drama says, “The utsav of 11 days is celebrated in a grand way in chawls and director Mahesh Manjrekar wanted the celebrations to be a part of the film. We shot the aarti sequence Shendur Lal Chadhayo at Parleshwar Ganesh mandir in one day. Although it may look like a simple, non-glamorous song compared to others, it required a lot of work, filming mid-shots, insets of Sanjay’s entry scene and so on. Reema Lagoo and I did not need glycerin while shooting the aarti, as our eyes were filled with tears for real."

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