Director Ranjan Kumar Singh tells I Kaur about showing a North-South wedding on television for the first time in Yeh Hai Mohabbatein
Decorations were up, the area was lit. On one far end there was woman fixing her make-up while on the other the production assistants were setting up the light. One woman ran up and down looking for a gajra while a man gave quick instructions to a group of men in lungis. A faint humming of a song came from the other end of the locality where a group of dancers were practising. There was commotion, chaos and uncertainty until the words ‘silence on the floor’ echoed through the studios in Andheri East. Everything came to a halt and within seconds the camera was rolling.
Wedding sequence from Star Plus’ show Yeh Hai Mohabbatein was being shot. Show’s famous couple — Raman and Ishita — will be shown getting married in, both, a Punjabi and a South Indian style today. Based on the book Custody by Manju Kapur, the two-month-old serial has reached a point where the protagonists, who dislike each other, are getting married for the sake of a child.
The director of the show Ranjan Kumar Singh said that this confluence of North and South is being shown on television for the first time. “That is what makes it so interesting. There is constant battle between the two communities during the wedding,” he added. To show this, they divided the set in two parts. Ranjan explained, “One part of the set is where the gathering will sit. We will establish the confluence of the two communities there. On the second set we have the stage for the sangeet where people will dance. So it will look like its one room on camera but it is actually two parts.”
The director went on to say that he uses YouTube as a guide while shooting such scenes. “I see 10-12 videos on YouTube and get an idea about how such scenes should be shot. They are exaggerated shots so that the viewers enjoy it,” he shared.