Every film needs an army of creative professionals to bring its story alive. But the most important of them all is a production designer (PD), who skillfully creates a visual world that the characters of a film inhabit. One such creative working in the field for many years is Boishali Sinha.
Boishali has not only worked on commercial hits like 'Gabbar is Back' and 'Chalk and Duster' but also several short films, documentaries, reality shows and advertisements. She has done a couple of web series including 'Cheesecake TVF', 'Salt City' and Titli'.
Though Boishali loves her work thoroughly, she doesn't mind wearing many hats. In fact, she has been the Program Head- Visual head at Los Amigos Society as well as Advisor and Documentation officer CCRT (Ministry of Culture, GOI). And recently, she joined Aam Aadmi Party as the president of arts and cultural wing, Uttar Pradesh.
Joining politics, Boishali says, has given her opportunities to bridge the gaps…mend the differences prevailing in our society. "Moreover, working in this field gives me a much bigger bandwidth of people to work with. It also helps me connect with the ones in need and listen to their problems."
That is what further motivates her to continue in politics. "There is a lot to do in our country in the field of education, healthcare, women and child welfare, art and culture and so on. I have been a nationalist since childhood, and if I get a chance to serve our nation, there won't be greater satisfaction for me than that," adds the Dadasaheb Phalke Icon Award winner.
It's noteworthy that Boishali did a lot of work during the pandemic with the support of her seniors Sanjay Singh ji (MP) and Vaibhav Maheshwari (Spokesperson, AAP, UP) to name a few.
Boishali sees her future in politics but does not want to give up production designing completely. She says, "Since I have been multitasking for a very long time now, I have mastered the fine art of balancing things. I will continue working as a politician while taking designing projects in and around Delhi."
As a production designer, she is currently working on a yet-to-be-announced web series as well as an action-thriller film which is a south remake.
The much-acclaimed designer also walks us through the process of turning a script/idea into a film. "Production designing is basically the inception of thought and ideas, and its aesthetical representation. It all starts with several sittings with directors, cinematographers as well producers to discuss their vision. This is followed by our research – understanding of the characters, genre and mood of the film; choosing suitable colour palettes for different characters, selecting props to enhance the look of the set/real location."
Thereafter, the set is created and decorated
Boishali explains it with an example. "There is a short film 'Sax by Julius' whose main character is a former saxophone player and a loner. The house he lives in was designed in a minimalistic way. As for the colours, black and blue were chosen to convey the right emotions. Another film 'Sann Pachattar'- being a period drama - had a completely opposite (bright) colour palette."
Boishali says, from pre-production to post-production it's a production designer's job to make sure that the aesthetic value is not compromised.
However, things aren't as simple as they sound. Last minute changes, opinion clashes within the team etc create problems that a PD must know how to resolve, Sinha points out.
Apart from working on the fly, a PD needs to be good at budgeting. Boishali explains it - "Things have deteriorated in the last 10 years back. Filmmakers back then never complained about the lack of budget. However, the newer lot wants top-quality stuff but isn't ready to spend money. This, in turn, creates a problem for production designers like us."
"I feel it's all a matter of experience. Experienced filmmakers know the technicalities and are very clear about what they need and how much that would cost. Inexperienced ones lack it," she concludes.