Project Tiger(Memoir) paragraphs 13-16

 

 

 

 

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13 In a village called Notun Gram we found a suitable bamboo grove to film the first meeting between Goopy and Bagha and the appearance of the tiger. Mr Thorat reached the shooting location with the tiger. There were about twenty five people in the location. A few local people took our permission to go with us to watch how we tackled the tiger

14 The cage on the lorry was covered.When the cover was removed we were surprised to see not one, but two well-fed and robust tigers.

I decided to play it safe,' Mr Thorat explained.' If one doesn't get it right, we can use the other.'

15 We mounted the camera on its tripod and placed it so that it faced the bamboo grove. The audience was instructed to get behind the camera and to stand as far back as possible. We had to stay relatively close to the bamboo grove, and Goopy and Bagha too, had to be within yards of the camera, for it was necessary to have at least one shot that showed them together with the tiger.

 16 Mr Thorat's men had fixed a five foot iron rod to the ground, about thirty feet from the area where the tiger was supposed to take a walk. They took a thin, long wire and fixed one end to the collar made of tiger-skin that the tiger was already wearing. The other end was tied firmly to the visible portion of the iron rod. The door of one of the cages was unfastened and Mr Thorat called out to the tiger. It responded almost at once and sprang out of its cage to land on the open space outside. What followed was totally unexpected. One look at Mr Thorat's startled and helpless face told us that he was as taken aback as the rest of us. Instead of walking sedately in a dignified manner, the tiger started  prancing around with tremendous enthusiasm. It leapt, it jumped, it rolled about, dragging its poor trainer who was desperately clutching the wire tied to the tiger's collar in a futile  attempt to bring it under control. We stood around foolishly, watching a new and strange kind of circus which we were getting to see for free! The camera was still standing on its three legs, staring into the wood, but the tiger was showing no sign of making its way there.

Answer the following questions

 1. Why did Ray and team select Notun Gram village for the shooting?
 2. How many people were present in the location totally?
 3. Why were they surprised when the covering of the lorry was removed?
 4. “I decided to play it safe”. What was Mr.Thorat’s safe play?.
 5. Why should the actors and the tiger be close to the bamboo grove and within  yards of the camera
 6. What were the arrangements made by Mr. Thorat’s men before releasing the tiger?
7. How was the tiger expected to behave and how did it actually behave?
8. What did Mr.Thorat’s startled and helpless face reveal?
9. How did Ray comment humorously on all these unexpected and fearful incidents?

 

 

 

17 Once the tiger had calmed down, we managed to take the few shots we  needed. This should have been the end of the story. But, when we returned to Calcutta and looked at the scenes with the tiger, we realised that the camera had failed to work properly. The shots were too dark, so much so that the tiger was merging almost completely with the background of the trees and leaves. We had to shoot the scenes all over again. We spoke to Mr Thorat and he agreed to give it another go. We found another bamboo grove closer to Calcutta in a village called Boral. The lorry arrived once more, with Mr Thorat, the tiger, the steel wire, the special collar and the iron rod. And with the lorry came the whole village. We told the villagers that they should stand at a distance of seventy feet. No one paid any attention to what they were told. The entire crowd moved as close to the camera as they  could. We could not afford  to waste any more time explaining and arguing. So we got the camera ready and signalled to Mr Thorat.

18 He  opened the door of the cage. The instant the door opened with a  clang, our tiger emerged with a loud roar, and charged straight at the villagers gathered behind the camera. The crowd, consisting of about a hundred and fifty people, melted away as if by magic. After that great burst of energy, the tiger calmed down very quickly. Like an obedient child, it walked over to the spot we had chosen, paced about quietly as it was led back to its trainer. required to, and then ambled back to its trainer. Even the camera behaved this time, which we realised two days later, when we returned to Calcutta and saw the scenes we had shot.

 

 

 Answer the following questions

1. What did Ray mean when he said, 'This should have been the end of the story'?

2. Why was Mr Thorat asked to 'give it another go'? 

3. What was the 'magic' performed by the tiger?

4. What was really required of the tiger in that scene?

5." Even the camera behaved this time"what does Ray mean by this statement?

6. What did Ray and his team realise two days later

 

 

 

 

 

 Activity 1

 

Satyajit Ray and his friends had to shoot the scenes involving the tiger, twice at Notun Gram and Boral. Write the events that took place in both the places in a sequential order and then describe the shooting.
Shooting at Notun Gram Shooting at Boral Found a suitable bamboo grove in Notun Gram. Found bamboo grove near Calcutta in Boral. A lorry arrived with two well-fed tigers. The lorry arrived with Thorat, the tiger, the steel wire, the special collar and the iron rod. Arranged the camera and placed it facing the bamboo groove The whole village came to watch the shooting. The audience was instructed to get behind the camera. The villagers were told to keep at 70 feet away from the scene of the shot. The cage of the tiger was opened. Mr.Thorat opened the cage and the tiger charged at the villagers. The tiger sprang out and started prancing around with tremendous enthusiasm The audience melted away as if by magic. The trainer Mr.Thorat was startled and made futile efforts to bring it under control After a while the tiger calmed down and behaved like an obedient child. When the tiger calmed itself some The required shots were taken When checked later, found that the camera failed to work and the shots were too dark. After two days when checked, found this time the camera also worked good and the shots were perfect   Shooting at Notun Gram    Satyajith Ray and his team first found asuitable bamboo grove in Notun Gram. Thetrainer of Bharat Circus Mr.Thorat broughtthere two well-fed tigers in a lorry. Then theyarranged the camera and placed it facing thebamboo grove. Before opening the cage ofthe tiger, the audience were instructed to stayaway. They fixed an iron rod to the groundand tied one end of a thin steel wire to the rodand fixed the other end to the tiger-skin collarwhich the tiger was already wearing around its neck. Mr.Thorat opened the cage and the tiger sprang out and started prancing around with tremendous enthusiasm. They were shocked to see this unexpected behavior of the tiger and even Mr.Thorat was taken aback. He was helpless to bring it under control. After a while the tiger  calmed down and they immediately took a few shots they needed. But when they returned to Calcutta and checked the scenes, they realized that the camera had failed to work and the scenes were too dark. They had to shoot the scenes all over again. Shooting at Boral   They found another bamboo grove near Calcutta in Boral. Once again Mr.Thorat brought the tiger, the iron rod, the steel wire, the tiger-skin collar etc in a lorry.There were more villagers there, and they were instructed to stay behind the camera at least seventy feet away. But nobody was ready to accept the instructions. They had no time to argue with the audience. They made all the arrangements and set the camera ready. Mr.Thorat opened the cage and the tiger fiercely charged at the crowd of about hundred and fifty people gathered there. But all of them melted away as if by magic when the tiger turned to them. In a short while, the tiger behaved gently and walked as they required like an obedient child. They soon shot all the scenes they needed. After two days when they returned to Calcutta, they realized that this time not only the tiger had behaved well but also the camera had worked in a good way. All the shots were in perfect order   Assignment   Prepare Thorat's diary entry on the day in which the shooting was held in Notun Gram.   Prepare Thorat's diary entry on the day in which the shooting was held in Boral.

Project Tiger(Memoir) pargraphs 7-12

 

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7 Needless to say, in our own country, it is not at all easy to find trained animals, although some films have been made in Bombay and Madras that involved working with elephants, horses and tigers. Their performance did suggest that they were used to obeying commands. In Bengal, it is sometimes possible to find clever dogs, particularly police dogs which are quite intelligent. If one is prepared to be patient, it is not altogether impossible to get good performances out of them as we managed to do with Bhulo in Pather Panchali.

8 Yet, a dog might be difficult, not impossible to handle. What was one supposed to do if there was need for a tiger in a film? We had to deal with this problem, too, when we were shooting Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne . In the film Goopy who is banished by the king wanders in the forest, meets Bagha who is also been banished  They see a tiger and freeze. But the tiger simply walks about in the forest, without paying them the slightest attention.

Answer the following questions

1) What is required to get good performance out of animals?
2) How did Goopy and Bagha reach in the forest?. 
3)What happens when they see a tiger in the forest?

 Paragraphs 9 to 12(Click on the highlighted word to get the meaning and pronunciation)

 9 Having thought of the scene, I simply had to shoot it.But where were we going to find a tiger? The  obvious thing to do was to look in a circus since they were likely to have trained animals. As a matter of fact, one called Bharat Circus was visiting Calcutta at the time, holding shows in Marcus Square. We sent someone to make an appointment with its Tamil manager and then went to meet him one morning. He greeted us warmly and ordered South Indian coffee for us. The  manager heard the reason for our visit, then sent for one Mr Thorat. He turned out to be the ringmaster. He, too, was a South Indian, very well built, with  features somewhat like those of a Nepali. He was perhaps no more than forty. He  showed us an old scar on his forearm, which had been caused by a tiger.

 10 We told him what we wanted. The shooting was taking place near Shiuri in Birbhoom. We wanted to show a tiger in a thick bamboo grove. All the animal was required to do was come out of the bamboo grove into an open space, pace gently for a while, look at the camera if possible, and then go back. Could a tiger from Bharat Circus do this job? Mr Thorat nodded. 'How long will you need it for?' asked the manager. 'Perhaps a couple of hours for the shooting,' I replied. 'But that would be in addition to the time it'll take to travel to and from Shiuri.' On being told that the travel itself should take no more than two days, the  manager agreed to put the tiger in its cage and send it in a lorry. He invited us to take a look at the tiger.

'Do you think it's going to be easy to set the animal free in the bamboo grove?' I couldn't help asking.
 

11 Mr Thorat frowned  'I'm not sure', he replied. 'I have never let him out of his   cage on his own, so really I don't  know.'

What! Were all our plans going to go down the drain? How could we let the tiger's trainer be seen with the animal? How could Goopy and Bagha be petrified with fear if the supposedly ferocious animal was accompanied by a man? No, we could not allow that to happen.

 

12 Mr. Thorat found a solution. 'I'll tie a wire round the tiger's neck. It will be thin, but strong.' If the wire was thin enough, perhaps it would remain invisible to the camera. But it was likely that the hair on the tiger's neck would be  flattened by the wire, which would give the whole thing away. 'What if we found a collar made of tiger skin, fixed the wire to this collar and then tied it round the tiger's neck?' I said.

 

Answer the following questions

1. How did Ray manage to get a tiger?
2. Who was Thorat and how did he look like?

3. According to Ray, what was the tiger required to do in the shooting? 

4. Why did Ray think that all their plans would go down the drain?

5. What was the solution suggested by Thorat to set the tiger free?

6. Why did Ray suggest a collar made of tiger-skin be used?

 

 

Project Tiger(Memoir) paragraphs 5-6

 5 Every animal in a Hollywood film is well-trained. It is not difficult to train a horse or a dog. But have you ever heard of trained  ravens? Not just one or two, but nearly a hundred of them? Even this was made possible in Hollywood, when the creator of some of the best suspense films in the history of cinema, Alfred Hitchcock, decided to make a film called Birds. In the story, birds from all over the world start attacking humans. Hitchcock needed a variety of birds, but what was required in the largest number was ravens. Notices were placed in the press all over the United States, asking people to contact the filmmaker if they knew how to get hold of trained ravens.

 6 Someone replied within a few days. He was asked to bring his birds, and he arrived with almost a hundred trained ravens. Admittedly, their training had not gone very bad. That is to say, they could not do anything that might be seen as extraordinary. But if as many as fifty ravens are told to perch quietly in a row on a specified spot, and if they obey this command instantly, isn't that pretty impressive?

Answer the fallowing questions.

1.“Even this was made possible in Hollywood”. What was that difficult thing    made possible in Hollywood?  

 2. What do you understand about Alfred Hitchcock from the passage?

3.. What is the main thread of the story of the film “Birds”?

4. How could Hitchcock manage to find out enough trained birds?

 

 

                                    Alfred Hitchcock's film Birds. 

                                 

Assignment

Prepare a notice advertising that Alfred Hitchcock wants a large number of ravens for his film ‘Birds'.

 From http://studentsindiajournalenglish.blogspot.com/2019/06/project-tiger.html

Project Tiger(Memoir) paragraphs1-4

If you are an ardent fan of movies, they must have certainly influenced you in formulating your decisions, thoughts, feelings, views, etc. Films are produced on genres such as action, suspense-thriller, history, romance, mystery, biography, animations and so on. We should know how to watch movies from a critical perspective.Now, answer the following questions to find out more about how you watch movies.
1.How many movies do you watch approximately a month (on DVD, TV or
in a theatre)?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
2.What are your favourite types of movies? Explain.
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
3.Rank the five best movies you have seen.
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
4.What kind of movies do your parents or guardians like to watch? How
often do you watch movies with them?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
5.What are the differences between watching a movie at home and
watching it in a theatre?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
6.What kind of movies do you watch at school?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

      


1 No one can beat Hollywood when it comes to making films with animals in them. I remember films in my childhood - and there were quite a few of them - that had an Alsatian called Rin-tin-tin. This dog's acting was more impressive than a human's. Later, we got to see three or four other films with a collie called Lassie. It seemed that the director could make Lassie do just about anything. These trained dogs were famous stars in their own rights, and the money they earned was no less than what a real film star got. Their owners could easily make as much as a hundred thousand rupees from just one film.

2 I realised how reverently these animal-actors were treated when I happened to see the shooting of a film twenty years ago in Disney Studio in Hollywood. The main character in this film was a large dog. I reached the studio to find that the shooting had not yet started;the camera man was getting the lights ready. It is customary for actors to be present when the lights are  arranged, for they have to show the cameraman how they'll walk, or where they'll stand, in a particular shot. In the case of very famous stars, this job is done by their stand-ins. A stand-in is usually a person who is physically similar to the real star. The stars themselves arrive only when the lights are ready and it is time to take a shot.

3 Here, in Disney Studio, I noticed that a few actors were moving about in the set, and on one side, standing quietly, was the protagonist - the same large dog. The cameraman shouted to everyone to take their positions but the dog remained where it was. This puzzled me. Could it be that it was not required in the next shot?

4 Before I could ask someone, a strange thing happened. From nowhere appeared a little dwarf, followed by another man carrying a hairy dog-skin. Then, to my perfect amazement, the dwarf went down on all the fours on a chalk mark on the floor, just like an animal, and the dog skin was draped over him. Then he crawled and the dog-skin was draped from one mark to another, and the cameraman got busy with the lights. It finally dawned upon me that this dwarf was paid to be the dog's stand-in!

Answer the following questions

1)How does Hollywood excel others in making films?
2)How does Ray remember Rin-tin-tin?
3)“The trained dogs were famous stars in their own rights.Why does Ray say so?
4)Pick out the word which is opposite in meaning to the word ‘notorious’.
6)What did Ray realise when he saw a film shooting twenty years ago in Disney  studio in Hollywood? 
7) Why is it customary for the actors to be present when the lights are arranged?
8) Who is a stand-in?
9) What puzzled Ray when he was watching the film shooting?
10). What was the strange thing Ray witnessed in the Disney studio?
11) What was the role of the dwarf in the shooting?

Assignment 

 

Prepare a short profile of Satyajit Ray using the hints given below.

Born : May 2 1921, Kolkata 

Known as : Indian film Maker
Famous : Writer producer, Screenwriter, lyricist, composer.
Awards : Academy Honorary Award, Dadasaheb Phalke Award,Bharat Ratna
Education : Viswa Bharati university, Presidency university,
                    Bally gunge Government High School
Died    : April 23 1992, Kolkata

 Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray was an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter,lyricist and composer , widely regarded  as one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century. He
was born on 2 May 1921 in Kolkata.  Ray won many prestigious awards including Academy Honorary Award and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India’s highest award in the field of cinema.He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1992. The great Indian legend Ray left this world on 23 April 1992 in Kolkata.

Ray begins his article with the topic sentence, ‘No one can beat Hollywood when it comes to making films with animals in them’. How does Ray substantiate his arguments?(Taken from the study material prepared by englisheduspot.blogspot.com)

Ray substantiates his arguments that no one can beat Hollywood in making films with animals by citing examples from his personal experiences. He remembers certain films in which the main characters were dogs. He says that there was an Alsatian dog named Rin-tin- tin whose acting was more impressive than a human actor’s. He also remembers another collie dog called Lassie. The directors could make Lassie play whatever role in a film. These animal actors were famous stars and had human stand-ins. The money they earned was not less than what a real film star got. In Hollywood what we think impossible has been made
possible - making trained ravens act in films – as in the film ‘Birds’ by Alfred Hitchcock.

 Satyajit Ray saw a dwarf was paid to be a stand in at Disney Studio in Hollywood .He jotted down this incident in his dairy.Prepare the diary entry.

20th June 1978

Monday

It was really a strange experience that I witnessed in Disney studio today morning.The camera man was shouting  to every one to take their position.The protagonist was a large dog.I was really confused when the dog remained where it was.To my perfect amazement,a dwarf went down on all the fours on the floor ,just like an animal and the dog skin was draped over him.Oh my God!A dwarf was paid to be the dog's stand-in! It would  happen in Hollywood only.It is a great fact that animal-actors are treated reverently in Hollywood.