The long and freezing road

Arduous shooting conditions, uncertainty and finally critical acclaim...it's been a tough but satisfying journey for the crew of Frozen, writes.

When Frozen began its journey into film festivals, it looked like just another film hankering for an audience. But it was different in the sense that it cared, that it reached out for cinematic expression and wanted to tell its story differently.

The story looks at the life of Lasya, a young girl, who lives with her father and brother somewhere in the mountains of the northern Himalayas. And while all they have for company is peace, pristine mountains and a crisp blue sky, their meditative calm is shattered when an army pocket decides to pitch itself just a few yards away from their home.

It's the story of a dream-like existence that is broken, especially when the family has to come to terms with the harsh reality of the outer world.

The film, which received the special jury award at Osian's Cinefan Festival, got an overwhelming response at the Toronto International film festival recently.

"We had five screenings, including three for the press and two others, at Toronto," says Sanjay Bhattacharjee, CEO, Phat Phish Motion Pictures, the company that produced the film. "We had a packed auditorium for all the screenings," he adds. Interestingly Phat Phish stepped in to produce Frozen only at the post-production stage after the filmmaker ran out of money.

Made on a budget of Rs 4.25 crore, Frozen also sees actor Danny Denzongpa's return to the big screen after a long time. "He was always the first choice, though we briefly considered Naseeruddin Shah for the role too," says Shanker Raman, director of photography for the film.

Shot at 12,000 ft "" roughly 3,600 metres "" above sea level in Ladakh, Frozen was mostly completed in extreme climatic conditions. "The temperatures were between minus 5 and minus 30 degrees C," says Raman.

And because he and director Shivajee Chandrabhushan wanted to showcase the stark landscape of Ladakh and not a picture postcard, it was felt that reaching the higher altitudes would be better for the look of the film.

While the main location of the film was Stakmo, a 45-minute drive from Leh, there were other places where the entire cast and crew of Frozen shot for the film. The main house of Karma (Denzongpa) was constructed here between December and January "" the coldest months of the year.

The shooting continued in other places like Rizong and some monasteries too. In Rizong, the director injured himself while in another shot of ice hockey (a first for an Indian film), the ice on the lake began melting on the sides.

There were other glitches too. Diesel meant for the generators froze in the extreme temperatures while rolls of film broke just when actors readied for a shot. "While the story of the film is about characters living in harsh conditions, the cast and crew lived every moment of it while shooting for the film," says Raman.

One of the highlights of the film is that it is presented in black and white. This despite the fact that it was actually shot completely in colour. "By the time we stepped in, Frozen had already completed its shooting. But in this film's case, it was the post-production that was very critical for the final presentation," says Bhattacharjee.

He explains that while the film was shot completely in colour, the film was sent in its post-production stage to Los Angeles to be presented in black and white.

But why was this step taken in the first place, considering that it stepped up the budget to a considerable extent? "We had done tests using colour stock and yes, the landscape did look spectacular indeed," says Raman.

But he explains that for the characters of Frozen, the ambience, the coldness was crucial. For the film to succeed in its storytelling, it had to be shot, says Raman, in a manner where the feeling of warmth had to actually be missing.

"The landscape looked warm and inviting when we took a look at the colour shots, and that did not fit into Frozen's story at all," he adds. This resulted in Raman and Chandrabhushan (the director of the film) taking a joint decision and eventually presenting the film in black and white.

With a total cast and crew of 60-70 members, Frozen was completed in 35-40 days. And if shooting the film was difficult, the duo, along with other crew members, hit a severe roadblock when they ran out of money and had to temporarily stop the film.

It was a rude shock, especially because Frozen by then had been invited for the Cannes Film Festival after the jury members of the festival saw rushes of the film. It was when Phat Phish stepped in that the film went to Osian's film festival. From here came the invitation to Toronto.

"It is a project that has been travelling on its own merit," says Bhattacharjee. Frozen has already received invitations to participate in other prestigious film festivals including Pusan, London, Greece, Palms and Sydney film fests.

And though it may take a while before the film gets a mainstream release ("even though distributors have shown interest for Frozen's mainstream release, we are happy to build it as a brand through its participation in film festivals," says Bhattacharjee), this 107-minute film's journey has already begun.