 "The man who made the German ambassador dance")
Last month, India’s former foreign minister and Congress leader Salman Khurshid became the talking point of the capital’s chatterati. He had made his acting debut in the video Lebe Zetzt-Kal Ho Naa Ho that went viral on social media. Khurshid essayed the role played in the original film by Saif Ali Khan, while German Ambassador Michael Steiner took over Shah Rukh Khan’s role and his wife, Eliese, Preity Zinta’s.
The German couple’s innovative soft diplomacy was brought to life by newspaper man-turned-digital story teller Sumit Osmand Shaw. “The idea of this music video originally came from the ambassador,” says Shaw. “He wanted to project modern diplomacy which is about connecting with people. He was quite confident that the song Kal ho na ho would work because even the Germans say, ‘Lebe Jetzt’, or live right now.”
As a journalist, Shaw worked with various publications before joining the BBC World Service Trust in 1999. “Although it was great to be associated with it and learn from it, I wanted to fly free as a creative person. So I formed a company called Baanyan Tree Productions. The idea was to bridge the gap between creativity and what clients wanted,” says Shaw.
Shaw describes Khurshid as a relaxed, spontaneous actor and the Steiners as very hard working ones. “Shooting with Zara, Khurshid’s German Shepherd, was really good. Zara’s parts were finished in a single take, while the shots of the rest of the actors had to have retakes,” the film maker says. People associated with the video say several prominent people, including TV anchor Barkha Dutt, were approached for roles in the video.
Shaw remembers the warmth of the German embassy staff who played various roles in the video. He also has good memories of the tea and dance at the Embassy on a rainy, chilly night. Except for filming at India Gate towards the end, almost all of the video was shot on the embassy premises on a shoestring budget. “They had amazing locations but we shot 99 per cent of the film within the embassy complex. The biggest challenge was to match the frames of the original with the location we had, and I guess we achieved it quite well,” beams Shaw.
Steiner and his wife, both not well-versed in the language, had to pretend to be singing when the Hindi lyrics played in the background. “The lip sync, the expressions and then the dance moves — we needed this from a pair who didn’t even know the language,” laughs Shaw. “But the Steiners proved that music and emotion are beyond boundaries.”
Banyaan Tree is in the final post production stage of its first feature film, Iski Uski Sabki. It features actors Sanjay Mishra, Prashant Narayanan and Anjali Patil. “I enjoy working with both kind of actors — the professionals and the amateurs,” says Shaw after his German adventure.
In the meantime, Shaw is already working on his next feature film, with which he “hopes to put some meaningful smiles on the faces of people”.
The German couple’s innovative soft diplomacy was brought to life by newspaper man-turned-digital story teller Sumit Osmand Shaw. “The idea of this music video originally came from the ambassador,” says Shaw. “He wanted to project modern diplomacy which is about connecting with people. He was quite confident that the song Kal ho na ho would work because even the Germans say, ‘Lebe Jetzt’, or live right now.”
As a journalist, Shaw worked with various publications before joining the BBC World Service Trust in 1999. “Although it was great to be associated with it and learn from it, I wanted to fly free as a creative person. So I formed a company called Baanyan Tree Productions. The idea was to bridge the gap between creativity and what clients wanted,” says Shaw.
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In the past 12 years, Baanyan Tree has produced television commercials, public service announcements, documentaries, short films, music videos and corporate films. But the Steiners’ project was a different ball game altogether as none of the three lead actors had any meaningful acting experience. “Steiner called himself a piece of wood, but I have been called a man who can carve out of wood,” quips Shaw. “I convinced him that he would be able to pull off the acting convincingly.”
Shaw describes Khurshid as a relaxed, spontaneous actor and the Steiners as very hard working ones. “Shooting with Zara, Khurshid’s German Shepherd, was really good. Zara’s parts were finished in a single take, while the shots of the rest of the actors had to have retakes,” the film maker says. People associated with the video say several prominent people, including TV anchor Barkha Dutt, were approached for roles in the video.
Shaw remembers the warmth of the German embassy staff who played various roles in the video. He also has good memories of the tea and dance at the Embassy on a rainy, chilly night. Except for filming at India Gate towards the end, almost all of the video was shot on the embassy premises on a shoestring budget. “They had amazing locations but we shot 99 per cent of the film within the embassy complex. The biggest challenge was to match the frames of the original with the location we had, and I guess we achieved it quite well,” beams Shaw.
Steiner and his wife, both not well-versed in the language, had to pretend to be singing when the Hindi lyrics played in the background. “The lip sync, the expressions and then the dance moves — we needed this from a pair who didn’t even know the language,” laughs Shaw. “But the Steiners proved that music and emotion are beyond boundaries.”
Banyaan Tree is in the final post production stage of its first feature film, Iski Uski Sabki. It features actors Sanjay Mishra, Prashant Narayanan and Anjali Patil. “I enjoy working with both kind of actors — the professionals and the amateurs,” says Shaw after his German adventure.
In the meantime, Shaw is already working on his next feature film, with which he “hopes to put some meaningful smiles on the faces of people”.