Notes from the deep sea

Bhushan Bagadia would rather you just saw the video than get him to talk about it. So what if it is India’s first ‘official’ music video ever shot under sea? So what if it’s being played on VH1 day in and day out? Reticent at first, Bhushan opens up slowly and talks about how he came to shoot this video for his good friend, music director Ricky Kej’s composition — Arabian Sea, which is a part of his album, Fiery Drums. Ricky, by the way is the music channel’s India Rules Artist of the month.

“Lots of people have seen it but it really doesn’t seem like a big deal. I mean, if you haven’t seen VH1 you wouldn’t know about it,” he wryly says. Point noted. So, it’s a good thing that whosoever has seen the video have only good things to say about it.

“People who have gone diving tell me that the video has captured that world perfectly while those who haven’t gone diving want to do it now,” enthuses Bhushan. The extremely basic storyline (if we can call it that) of the 3.11min- long-video follows a group of divers as they take the plunge into the deep blue sea and very soon the video unravels into a rapid series of sequences showcasing the vivid life that exists underwater.

Recalling the making, Bhushan says, “I shot it quite a while back while I was in Koh Tao, Thailand working for Liquid Media, a company that specialises in underwater videography.” The idea of shooting the video, he admits, came after he heard the Arabian Sea track.

“When Ricky played the music to me, I felt the underwater theme would work.” The footage for the video was shot over 30 days and what you see in the video is a compilation of the “best moments from all that was shot during the 30 days.”

The dynamic scenes of the video plays the perfect foil to the fast beats of the music. “The theme of the video was to depict the vibrance and rhythm that exists under the sea,” Bhushan avers.

Talking about the shooting, he says, “Shooting life underwater is a lot like shooting wildlife. It’s dynamic and you can never be prepared enough in capturing that perfect shot.” Capturing the perfect visuals underwater, he explains, “depends a lot on visibility, sunlight,” while getting the perfect cast (of all those colourful fishes, turtles, snakes et al) depends on “the direction of the current on that given day.”

“You really need to be lucky to see some of those creatures. For instance, there’s a shot of a turtle you see in the video, I got to see that fellow only on one day out of those 30 days!” he remembers with a smile. Still discussing the technical details, he goes on, “The clarity of the visuals depend on depth, light and white balance.”

About the equipment used to shoot it, he informs, “I’ve used an HD camera  but what’s different is that the housing of the camera is almost one-and-a-half times bigger than the camera.”  And now, even as congratulatory texts continue to pour, the filmmaker’s already ideating for Ricky’s next composition. And oh! there is is “some tech-diving” that he is looking forward to. Sweet!