Biopics usually have actors playing legends. But what if the subject plays herself? It has been a year since Yellow made it to theatres but the Marathi film about the rise of Gauri Gadgil, a differently-abled girl to a swimming champ continues to make headlines. Despite being afflicted with Down Syndrome, Gauri has won several medals at national and international level.
Director Mahesh Limaye, who is in the city to participate in IFFPwD 2015, says the film continues to create buzz. “She is an inspiration. Her life signifies that if you have a dream you can make it big.” Mahesh, who has shot films like Fashion and Dabangg , chose to cast Gauri in his first film as a director because he found her “lively” in their first meeting. He did a lot of video tests with actors but none could reflect Gauri’s spontaneity. “I asked her will you act in my film and she readily agreed. She is a livewire. I have played with visuals all my life but here I wanted to tell a simple story with all its simplicity. I never allowed the camera to become a distraction. When we shot her on mobile she had a tendency to come and check. So when we shot, I didn’t make the camera position too apparent. However, by the end Gauri had started directing me,” reflects Mahesh. In fact acting with Gauri became a challenge for seasoned actors like Upendra Limaye and Mrinal Thakur. “They are used to usual action and reaction methodology. They had to unlearn many things to adjust with Gauri. Upendra used to joke that the girl has made his life hell.”
“The most challenging part,” says Mahesh, “was shooting the under water sequences in Bangkok”. “The local expert cinematographer was apprehensive when I told him that he has to shoot with a specially-abled girl. He was not sure how will she react underwater. I took her coach along and Gauri followed all the instructions. She would swim 20 metres underwater and then come out. In some scenes she was required to swim close to the camera but she managed.”
All this strengthened Mahesh’s faith in the fact that ability is a relative term. “Many of us can’t even think of what she has achieved. That’s why I didn’t want even the shadow of sympathy sentiment fall on my narrative.” He recounts an experience. “She was to participate in a competition where specially-abled swimmers were supposed to cover 19 kms. On the day of the event only she turned up and when the organizers refused to conduct the event for just one swimmer she insisted on swimming in general category and ended up covering 19 kms in 2 hour 54 seconds, which is a record.”
Taking creative liberty Mahesh has shown her parents as separated but in real life they are not. “In fact the parents are the force behind her. After the film when she was being interviewed across Maharashtra, they kept on reminding her that this phase will not last long and that she should focus on her swimming. Even during the shoot she went for a competition in Australia and won two medals.”
According to Mahesh, the biggest plus is the change that he has seen in the eyes of Gauri. “For all her liveliness, she would never look into the eye while talking. That has changed now.”
Published - December 02, 2015 11:19 pm IST
