Mani Ratnam's Dil Se is fucking amazing and what happens when a film genius has ADD.

Sound familiar? Chaiyya Chaiyya was made alarmingly popular by its inclusion onto the OST for Brooklyn’s favorite troublemaker, Director Spike Lee, and his rather clever 2006 heist film Inside Man. However, long before American audiences were privy to this catchy Hindu riff, it was the centerpiece to one of the most ingeniously constructed musical set-pieces in cinema history. Released on 21 August 1998, Dil Se (From the Heart) is a sweeping, magnificently-conceived socio-political epic set during great strife and  turmoil in modern-day India. It is the third film in maverick Director Mani Ratnam’s trilogy (after Roja and Bombay) that depict the human condition and its struggle against a sometimes oppressive Indian political machine and its military. Ratnam, the source of a blog post all its own, is a God-like figure in Bollywood circles, he almost single-handedly revolutionized Indian cinema - he made a quantum leap in Hindu film-making with his lofty ambitions, grand scope, and visionary, albeit radical techniques. One of these is on display below – this “on the train” sequence from Dil Se is fucking spectacular. It’s achievement is absolutely unparalleled – considering the extreme difficulty of navigating multiple units on the moving Ooty train (the Nilgri Mountain Railway) in the rugged, mountainous Tamil Naduin section of Southern India. In this sequence popular Indian star Shah Khan proves how far a young man will go to get laid; he will assume command of a sleepy, rural train of rural farmers, teach em how to get jiggy with it in lockstep with dozens of other bandits and political dissidents with virtually no formal dance training on board on a moving train. Now to appreciate this set-piece properly one must understand how famed Indian DP Santosh Sivan and choreographer Farah Khan went about splitting up the 6 and a half minute sequence. By employing 8 units over the course of 11 days (5 days for the group choreography master shots)  the Dil Se team was able to complete over 650 camera setups, impressive considering the trek between Point A and B for the on-train stationary camera units was 7 miles, this round trip was made an astonishing 24 times. That is 48 sweeps through rocky, turbulent, and sometimes violently unpredictable terrain during the rainy season mind you. Here are those units:

1   1.)    Unit 1 was the helicopter APU unit, aerial photography or “sweeps”. Most notable the brilliant composed right to lefts at 3:40 and 4:00.

2   2.)    Unit 2 was composed of the stationary tunnel unit, these sequences were  captured utilizing tripods mounted to the train superstructure, aka shooting on “sticks.” The most impressive example for this unit is at 3:00 mark, where we have some fluid movement through the tunnel without cutting, the lighting unit bringing up keys and fills during the 4 second voyage through darkness. Positively amazing. 6:10 you have a group exit into the tunnel and to finish. Ridiculous.

3   3.)    Unit 3 was comprised of a smaller band of operators capturing 9 different tracking shots on the sides of god damn mountains, they utilized over 2500 feet of track although only one of these shots is utilized in the current cut of the film at the 5:28 mark. This is ridiculously complicated on a flat surface, try accomplishing it on the side of cliff while a train whizzes by you at 40 mph.

4   4.)    Unit 4 was the group choreography unit, the most notable bring 1:51 and 5:58, these sections took 4 and half days to complete according to Producers.

5   5.)    Unit 5 was composed of all the stationary C/U’s and Medium shots, the most impressive being some of the stunt work at 1:06, and 1:45 we see the rare match cut C/U, these were most likely eliminated from the final cut as these actors are obviously lip-syncing and the proper coverage was easier to obtain from distance.

6   6.)    Unit 6-8 are what American crews call 2^nd Unit, that is coverage not involving the primary actors – best examples of these are 4:22, :42, 4:10, and 4:59.

7   7.)    Unit 7 – distance crane work. :44 second mark. (These are the vast majority of your set-ups, approximately 215 of the 655 employed). 3:25 is jaw-dropingly amazing.

8   8.)    Unit 8 – proximity crane work. 2:22 keep an eye on this slick piece of cinematography, the crane comes up 60 feet vertically to make a 180 follow through. Unbelievable. At the 6 minute mark you have up and over and reverse as the train moves under the crane system and its operators at 40 mph.

Keep in mind that the vast majority of these individual shots were done at least once for a minimum of a full 35mm magazine, that is a little under 20 minutes or 4 miles. Please note that there were over 650 camera setups. Give Dil See Editor Suresh Urs and his team of 44 assembly men and apprentice editors credit – combing through the 1.4 million feet of film shot for this 160m epic was a tremendous undertaking (although to put this in perspective, my still-in-post-production epic Ashley is 66 hours long stretched out on a timeline, that is roughly 1.2 million feet of film and I am cutting it single-handedly because I am mentally ill). I think the current cut of Dil Se shoes incredible restraint considering there are only 142 cuts (trust me) during the 6 and half minute running time. Incredible patience considering the almost 700 camera set-ups. That is a fuckload of coverage. A fuckload. And keep in mind there were no special effects employed in this scene, no rear or front projection, no practical camera tricks, no post-production SFX, nothing. Old school hubris and bravado. Gangster film-making; the Bollywood Michael Cimino at his most resurgent. If you’re not gonna risk your life shooting the fucking thing, why bother? Beautifully fucking illustrated.

Keep an eye out for the shot at 1:09, Ratnam stealing a page from my playbook (wink, wink).