Photo Essay: Working With Imagined And Real Spaces For Characters To Inhabit In Hindi Cinema

In her evocative photo essay, Aradhana Seth gives us a glimpse of her creative world by showcasing some of her works in films like 'The Darjeeling Unlimited' and 'The Bourne Supremacy'

Aradhana Seth

Updated on: 2 January 2023 1:30 pm

Photo Essay: Working With Imagined And Real Spaces For Characters To Inhabit In Hindi Cinema

En route to Don’s secret vault

Images and drawings of making/building and imagining a plane for convicts with seats and jail-like bars

Photographs: Aradhana Seth

SRK goes to the loo and needs to jump out of the door. After which, we cut to green screen followed by a flight in the air.

The Darjeeling Limited

More than a hundred artists—truck painters, stencil artists, miniaturists, lettering painters— worked on the exterior and interiors of the train. A bull with mehendi designs. Inspired while driving in Rajasthan.

The Bourne Supremacy

Bourne and Marie’s hideaway by the sea. Houses that look like they have been inhabited forever. Four houses designed and built. Walls that fly. Roof that lets light in. Months of thought and work to make a home. A bulldozer leveled them to the ground when the shoot was done.

West is West

The house that Khan built in the Pakistani countryside. Jayanti Majri on the outskirts of Chandigarh. Built in brick. Aged by the monsoon. Two colours in brick were frayed as a relief. Night exterior, Day interior

One Night With The king

One Night With The King is set in biblical times. Before light and glass. I designed the winged lion, pillars and griffins for the throne room. To impose and awe. I worked with 80 moulders to make it. Made in Mumbai, we cut it all up and drove them down in 11 trucks to Jodhpur and reassembled it on site. Painted and installed them to harmonise with the Umaid Bhawan

(This appeared in the print edition as "Set/Reset")