Exclusive: Homi Adajania talks about the song ‘Bootiyan’ and its making

Mumbai: The latest track from 'Homi Adajania's 'Finding Fanny', 'Shake Your Bootiyan' has caught on among the masses. Its unique, funny and perhaps a new concept not used in Hindi films before. In an exclusive chat with Deccan Chronicle, the director tells us everything about the song and what went into making it.

If we are not wrong, it’s first of its kind video in Hindi film industry....

I have no clue about that, but if it is that’s pretty cool.

How did you think of this mad concept of placing the entire cast in the premise of a doll house?

It wasn’t some creative epiphany. I was told to shoot two music videos to promote the film in 6 hours as this was the only date and time I could get for the entire cast together. So really, I had to improvise and I came up with this idea that I’d shoot their reactions to something they couldn’t see and they had no idea what it would look like. For me the idea of the dollhouse had a metaphoric implication to the film in terms of the lives and the world my characters inhabit.

Did you not think of adding a disclaimer like ' None of these characters behave like this....' like you did for Fanny Re song?

No. I can’t keep disclaiming this bizarre conduct. These guys aren’t kids anymore and they’ll have to take responsibility for their inexplicable behaviour!

Could you elaborated on the technology used in the song?

Red Chillies did my VFX in record time and Shilpa Hingorani from their team executed it brilliantly. I did not want face-replacement and wanted a 2D cut-out look to give it a tacky puppet feel. Shiamak’s (Davar) dancers wore the actor’s clothes and had track marks on their faces. So the small dollhouse that you see in front of the actual actors just had a green-screen across the front and later in post we shrank all the shots of the life-size dollhouse and stuck it in there.

What is the kind procedure that goes into making a song like this...like making them look short?

Actually that’s the impression one gets because I have increased the size of the stuck-on heads to slightly larger in ratio to the bodies so it has a comical feel. (laughs) The dancers are regular people ya, they aren’t shrunk!

How many days to capture the song and the time taken to implement everything on post production?

I captured the entire song in a cumulative of 6 hours over two days. One hour for the actor’s expressions to what they are seeing and the next day I shot a life-size version of the dollhouse with Shiamak’s dancers in each room.

For Naseer Sahab or Pankaj sir, if you would like to admit, are that really them dancing or it someone else?

No. That’s Ranveer doing another cameo and busting some moves. I’m kidding… They are Shiamak’s dancers.

Any referencing or creative ideas you got after watching Tyler, The Creator?

I don’t know what that is?! But there’s nothing original about this concept. I got the idea from the Elf Yourself app on my phone where you can take a picture of anyone and stick their face onto these elves that do Christmas carols in various music genres. It’s damn funny.