The morning we had to leave for Banaras, to shoot Kastoor’s launch of its first range of spatial scents – The Air of Banaras, I gave a general logistics call to my videographer, just to see if everything is in place for tomorrow as I leave at 6 AM.
He picks up the call in groaning pain.
He had just met with an accident and broke his finger and was being rushed to the hospital. After making sure he has reached the hospital and is getting the right treatment, he whispers softly “ I don’t think so I will be able to shoot this tomorrow.”
“Duh! I said. Just rest, we will be fine.”
Sitting on my couch at 12 AM, I was thinking how we would shoot this tomorrow. So I gave a call to my friend, an established photographer in Delhi. In my head, it was clear, I will command him to come with me and shoot this. He didn’t pick up. I texted him “Emergency” and he called back immediately “Are you okay?” he gasped. I said, “Yes, but there is a crisis”. I need you to shoot my campaign from tomorrow. He said he is already shooting but the smartest thing to do right now would be to call someone from Banaras.
“I don’t know any videographers in Banaras,” I said.
“I know a photographer,” he said. I have worked with him on a short project, let me give him a call.
12.30 AM I gave a call to Piyush Singh from Banaras, a renowned city photographer who brings the joy of Banaras to the forefront. The first thing he asked me was “Can you postpone this”.
“Impossible, ” I said. Everything is booked. Kaustav & Harish are on their way from Bangalore, our Styling team led by Hardik Puri is on their way from Delhi tomorrow too. I can’t orchestrate this again.”
He said it’s the first Monday of Sawaan (the onset of monsoon). Lakhs of people will be flooded to Banaras, where we will shoot as most places to shoot would be inaccessible and we need a videographer because I will only do the photography. Wait a minute, I know a friend, he said. Let me ask him if he is free. Enter Girish, who had plans to shoot a few weddings that weekend, and with trust in Piyush, he canceled it to shoot #TheAirofBanaras.
2 AM on a call to Piyush, when I asked him for reassurance, he said “You are coming anyway right?”. I said, “ I am coming anyway”. “And there is no way to cancel it?” “Nope”, I said.
“Then come”, he said. “ ‘Dekh Lenge’ (we will see)”
On that last note, we headed to Banaras. With complete uncertainty on how it will turn out but in hindsight, we realised something, this campaign was now completely led by Banarasis. Banarasis in the frame – me who was born there and Kaustav Dey who worships Banaras as his soul city and Banarasis behind the scenes with Piyush and Girish. It’s like Banaras said – You want to show my Beauty? No one else will touch me”.
It’s hard to describe how to move ahead with just surrealism until you have stepped in Banaras. The city floats on surrealism. A city in complete surrender to the unknown, the only place in the world that celebrates Death in parallel to Life, where there is no fear found even in the darkest times and where a common man just sings and dances and floats on the sea of faith.
If you ask me, I myself am not a very logical person. I stopped being logical a few years ago, and I started being more intuitional. One thing I realised, the strongest form of logic is your intuition. Your internal guiding compass. The desire to bottle Banaras in spatial scents came from the same intuition. Banaras is my birthplace, I was born in this magnificent city and while I grew up in Gwalior, a visit to Banaras was on our lucky stars every 8 months to visit our grandparents. By the time I grew up, the galis (lanes) of Banaras, the indestructible faith, the unbeatable banter and humor, and the spiritual chuckle, had dissolved into my blood like a true Banarasi Paan would dissolve into your mouth as soon as it hits the tongue.
The scents created to depict Banaras have their own unique stories. The first spatial scent is a combination of Paan (Betel Leaf) and Rose, honoring the Paan culture that sweetens every Banarasi’s tongue. The second one is combination of cardamom and clove combined with orange, cardamom, and clove depicting Shiv and Shakti, the two forces that balance Kashi (the ancient name of Banaras), and the third spatial scent of spiced camphor as the evening in Banaras gets filled with camphor because of the hundreds of aartis that takes place on the ghats to awaken the gods and signaling the mortals to rest.
#TheAirofBanaras Scents
#TheAirofBanaras was shot without a script or a mood board with locations decided the day we entered Banaras, and hair and makeup joyfully done by Kaustav and me ourselves. The idea was that we will live the philosophy of what we are depicting and the camera would just keep on rolling. Every shot was brought to life on the moment as if the scene came alive as soon as we entered it.
If you ask me how I did it, my answer would be “I don’t know “. Things have been too surreal for me to ever take credit for that, but I can just say one thing as a true Banarasi, “Believe and know it’s going to be alright even before it is and it will be.
Thank you for the love poured on #TheAirOfBanaras and Kastoor. Means the world to me.
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