Pre-production has always been and will always be King. Before you go on floor with your film, make sure the pre-production is sorted. And pre-production doesn’t always mean just the script. It requires those late-night sittings in your room with your script working on some details. Every scene you write contains some details. Are those details visual enough to convey what you want, what your characters want?
There are some directors in the recent years who have done exceedingly well in that. Directors like Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee, Sanjay Leela Bhansali or Zoya Akhtar, to name a few, have worked hard on their vision through their visuals.
Dibakar Banerjee’s ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’ is one of those visual masterpieces where story is as important as the visual imagery.
Let us discuss one of the scene from the film where, after having lost their plot, both K K Khosla and his son Bunty go to meet Khurana. The scene also introduces the character of Khurana, for the first time.
Visual Detailing in Khosla ka Ghosla
If you watch the introductory scene of Khurana (Boman Irani) in Khosla ka Ghosla, observe the different shots that director Dibakar Banerjee has taken in order to build the tempo of the scene. Since both Khosla and his son are waiting for Khurana for so long, the silence is killing in this scene. Also the director builds the anticipation shot-after-shot.
In Photo 1, you can see there is a painting on the wall, where a tiger attacks a deer and if you carefully observe, the tiger attacks the same way as Khurana pats his hand on Mr. Khosla’s shoulder. So you can say Tiger represents Khurana who has killed many deer. The way deer looks at tiger and the way Mr. Khosla looks at Khurana, it is the same.
In Photo 2, look how Khurana is juxtaposed against the lion figure (lit from below). This creates an evilness.
In Photo 3, you can see the positioning of Khurana in the frame. He covers the half screen alone whereas the remaining three people cover the remaining 50%. Also, he is looking down upon everyone as he is the authority. Notice how he holds Khosla’s hand throughout this scene and scolds his servant. Khosla looks mesmerised and submissive and can’t take his eyes off him. Also notice the defensive stance of Khosla’s son. His body language is too defensive. Moreover, Khurana wears “black” and Khosla “white”. It underlines their respective characters.
In Photo 4, look at the way he has been lit from below the table. This is done to give him a ghostly and evil look.
CONCLUSION
To conclude, this is just one scene in the film that we have explained. There are many such scenes throughout the film, when the director has not taken the audience for granted. That is something I really like about Dibakar Banerjee’ direction. He always involves his audience in storytelling and at times, the information is so subtle that you don’t get it the first time you watch it.