What's it about Wai!

Think of a rural landscape near Mumbai and Wai seems to be the preferred terrain top of the mind for most television producers these days!

Wai, with its unscathed rural locations, is a six hour drive from Mumbai, just off Panchgani, is suddenly turning out to be the best window to rural India through the TV screen.

Many would like to believe that Ashutosh Gowariker' Swades started the trend of shooting in this little talked about village, where infrastructure is surprisingly well developed. It is a marginally costlier option to shoot in, but Wai is also somehow a cheaper proposition, given the ready and available rustic ambience ,the relatively cheaper 'extras' and the natural scenic beauty. And if at all one needs a posh indoor setting, the unit can rush to nearby Panchgani or Mahabaleshwar, which are just an hour's drive from Wai. The actors and the technical unit are the only essential requisites to take along for shooting in Wai for the production house.

Suhasini Mulay has recently come back from Wai where she was shooting for

Tony and Deeya Singh's Jab Love Hua and feels its a give and take as far as Wai is concerned.
"Wai is a rural area with no industries there and has a clean atmosphere. The picture quality is commendable which comes out without any haze so technically, production wise it is definitely a viable option besides the sound quality is clearer too. The spectacular river, old houses or the rich big 'vadas' (huge havelis), the fields and mountains... one can shoot all this in one place.

There are enough hotels in Wai, to put up the unit members in, besides the star actors can put up at Panchgani as well. Wai also has many respectable hospitals and there is no running to other sets when you are shooting there. The Wai citizens have become very smart and savvy, thanks to all this activity," says Suhasini who has shot in Wai earlier for Hu Tu Tu (in 1995) and Jab Love Hua.

Wai can be hellishly hot in the months of April, May and June while the preferred months to shoot there are October, November and December. Shooting away from Mumbai also seems to bind the unit members and allow the actors to concentrate on their work away from any kind of distractions.

Producer Tony Singh has had all kinds of experiences shooting in Wai and feels it costs twice as much to shoot there.

" Wai is an extremely pretty place and its proximity to Mumbai is an advantage for us as they don't get stuck away in a far away place. It is definitely costly to shoot out of Mumbai, but if one wants a different location then one will have to pay the price for it. Besides, most of the locations in Mumbai are exhausted and there is no space to shoot, so Wai has become a film city on its own now. The moment one steps out of Mumbai, you have to spend on everything possible, starting from a pin to paying up the surpanch of the village, the land we use for shooting, all of which becomes expensive for the producers.

For instance there was this guy who supplied property to us and cheated us so badly that I had to throw him out. We have the added cost of keeping the whole unit, arrange for their food (we take a caterer along), production guys, generator, a co-ordinator, traveling (read AC Taxi and bus),"says Tony Singh who shot in a place in Wai where the road was extremely muddy.

He adds "We have listed doctors in case of an emergency. We have had bad shooting experiences there and people can be very unprofessional there. There is no place quite like Mumbai to shoot in. The beauty and serenity of the place draws people to shoot there, I guess," he surmises.

Kaushik Ghatak, director of Pyaar Ke Do Naam Ek Radha Ek Shyam is struck by the natural beauty and authenticity of the village.

" We wanted Wai for the look of the place, the ambience is very authentic and we wanted the 1960's village look for the show. We wanted mountains, river and the natural beauty as a backdrop. When we had an emergency, when my executive producer and another unit member had hurt themselves, we could send them back immediately to Mumbai.
Prakash Jha had tapped Wai earlier in his films before Swades. The extras might be cheap, but they are not trained enough; they have no idea about the camera angles but are still very co-operative. We shot in Wai during winters and I am looking forward to shoot there during monsoon, but personally I think every season Wai would have a different kind of natural beauty."
Himanshi Choudhary who plays Chamkee in Jab Love Hua feels Wai is not a

dead village and is a convenient place to shoot in. " It's a breathtakingly beautiful place and very cool in the mornings and evenings. We could go to restaurants even at 11.30 in the night, besides we had a cyber cafe there too! I go to Wai with a few of my friends from the unit or the production guys in a car or bus and its quicker to get back to the city from Wai if you travel at night,"chirps Himanshi who has her shooting schedule well planned out in advance if she has to shoot in Wai.

There are lots of hotels in Wai and but there is a tremendous amount of load shedding due to which the actors complain endlessly. The producers vouch for the place which looks exotic during winters and hot during summer months. Wai to go, we say!