Article by Rolling Stone India
It isn’t everyday that bands with massive international followings pick India as the location for their music videos. And when they do, star-struck India responds in the most overjoyed ways, mostly on social media, and by means of hastily hash-tagging, compulsively sharing leaked pictures on their profile, and expressing regret at not spotting the band themselves.
We spoke with a crew member from production team that worked on the video that Coldplay shot in Mumbai’s Worli village last week and got him to spill the beans about it. Here’s what he said:
“First of all, it was thrilling to be part of this massive international project. The video is being produced by Mumbai-based companies The 120 Media Collective and Bang Bang Films, and LA firm Black Dog Films. Ahead of the three-day shoot, we [the crew] spent around 15 days and went through sleepless nights doing research, scouting locations, finalizing the background cast and getting all the logistics in order. The basic idea of the video was to showcase the vibrant Indian culture and the people.
It took us the entire night to set up the performance space as per the brief from the director; the video features a gola cart, pani puri stall, rangoli, flowers as well as a fishermen’s settlement. On the shoot day, before the band arrived on the set, we populated the space with the junior cast that comprised mostly of women, kids and fisherfolk from Worli village. As the director wanted them to be in most of the frames, the shots show the people cheering for the band when they start performing. Production-wise, it was very difficult for us to control the chaotic crowd and direct them to take their positions for the shots. But we managed somehow!
There was also a kite-flying sequence that we shot on a terrace for which we used GoPros and Alexa cameras. But one of the best parts of the video is when vocalist Chris Martin and the other band members (Jonny Buckland [lead guitars], Will Champion [drummer] and Guy Berryman [bass]) attempt a few stunts with a bunch of kids, which received a thunderous response from the crowd, with women waving out their hands and throwing Holi colours on the band. After the shoot got over, Chris thanked all the people who were part of the video. It was quite heartwarming to see that sight.”
As told to Nirmika Singh
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