Children’s Day 2024: Shooting with children is not children’s play, climax had to be changed, someone got hurt.

Whether children are at home or on screen, they win the hearts of the viewers with their innocence. Bring a smile on people’s faces. But just as it is not easy to raise a child, similarly shooting with them is also not child’s play, because children are the kings of their own minds. In such a situation, we learned from the actor-director who has worked with children, how was his/her experience of working with children.Climax changed according to the child: Monica Panwar
Actress Monica Panwar, known as Gudiya in the web series ‘Jamtara: Sabka Number Aayega’, had to shoot a lot with her child in her very first film Dukaan. In the film, Monica played a surrogate mother who falls in love with the child. There are many scenes in the film with Monica’s child, shooting which Monica considers a very challenging experience. She says, ‘There were many challenges during the shooting, like the costume was very heavy, there was a fake stomach. Shooting on it with children is a different experience. Children themselves become directors, we have to shoot according to them because when they are supposed to laugh, they are crying. When he/she has to wake up, he/she goes to sleep. It was the part of our climax, when the child fell asleep. Now where will you pick him/her up at 3:30, so we let him/her sleep, the script changed accordingly.

Tusshar Kapoor Exclusive: You can lose yourself on social media, there is a lot of negativity, I just post and leave.
Shooting according to child’s sleeping and waking hours: Sumit Vyas
Actor Sumit Vyas, famous for series and films like ‘Permanent Roommates’, ‘Tripling’, ‘Veere Di Wedding’, ‘Parched’, has directed not one but three children each in his/her first series as a director, ‘Raat Jawan Hai’. Did, which Sumit calls his/her biggest challenge.

‘Shooting with small children was a challenge’
According to Sumit Vyas, ‘The biggest challenge for me in this series was that we had to shoot with small children, including an 8-9 month old child, a one and a half year old and a three year old girl. We were also a little serious about not making them do too much work. Shoot their scenes when they are in a good mood. But how? The question was, what should we say to them so that their reaction seems natural and not acting? It is very difficult to get all these things done.

We were also a little serious about not making them do too much work.

Sumit Vyas

‘Patience is required, the cameraman used to stand with the camera for hours’
‘A lot of patience is required. Our poor cameraman used to stand with the camera for hours to get the shot. When shooting inside the car, the poor guy remained stuck in a corner with the camera so that the child’s attention does not go there. We used to keep the timing of the shoot according to the sleeping and waking hours of the children, the youngest child or the middle child used to sleep at 12:30, so when he/she is in deep sleep, then take his/her sleeping shots or shoot at 6-7 in the morning. If it had to be done, I made the child sleep early at night so that if he/she gets complete sleep by morning, he/she will not cry during the shoot. All these things had to be planned.

A lot of patience is required. Our poor cameraman used to stand with the camera for hours to get the shot.

Sumit Vyas

Child’s casting done after wife check: Anjali Anand
Anjali Anand, who has left a mark with her acting in the TV show ‘Dhai Kilo Prem’ to the film ‘Rocky and Rani Ki Prem Kahani’, has also shot with children in her TV show as well as the web series ‘Raat Jawan Hai’.

‘Children learn by watching, if you tell them too much they will not listen’he/she says, ‘My experience has been that children learn by watching. If you tell them too much, they won’t listen, but if you leave them open, sometimes they give amazing shots that you haven’t even written. In As Raat Jawan Hai, my daughter was three years old. She was very smart. She used to know what to say. However, the set of this series was very kid friendly. When children used to come, there were very few people on the set so that they would not be disturbed or distracted too much. Secondly, our vibe was checked before casting my daughter in the show. I remember, my look test was going on and six-seven parents were waiting, so first our vibe was checked with those children to see how we looked together, whether those children were getting along with us or not. It made a difference to everyone. Still, shooting with kids takes a lot of patience. Like in the show ‘Jo Meri Bachchi Hai’, she used to say, ‘I will do it right here, I will go potty in the middle of the shot’, there used to be such fun moments too.