True teamwork

Being wedded to a producer/director is sometimes great fun and sometimes a drag. It is impossible to plan anything with him involved as I never know his schedule. It is maddening when he sometimes wakes up to a supposedly free day and by mid day he is swamped with calls and sudden urgent meetings. What is worse is when he needs to travel at the drop of a hat with no known date of return.
But let me instead talk about the better aspects of my life. Thanks to him, I was able to sit through a shoot of his serial which features some of the biggest names in the Kannada film industry. I had this once in a lifetime opportunity to watch Dwarkesh, Chandrashekar and Mandeep Rai on the sets, as they were giving their shots. To say that I was excited was putting it mildly. I was not quite sure of what to expect, but nevertheless I was very suprised by what I got to see.
Despite being a huge name in the industry and a favourite amongst the masses, I didnt see a trace of ego, pride or for that matter any starry airs in Dwarkesh's behavior. Instead he was working very hard to improve the performance of every body else on the sets. He gave them tips, coached them on their dialogue delivery and more or less took over the direction of the scene from my husband's hands. He truly raised the bar and elicited sterling performances from the other senior stars - something that my husband could not have done without bristling a few egos. As for his part, he was superb. All he needed was a few minutes. He would close his eyes, rehearse his dialogue and then go for it. His shot was invariably fine at the first take. Such dedication and pursuit of perfection was enthralling and inspiring.
However what really amazed me was his desire for the project to succeed, the complete lack of insecurities and pettiness that sometimes makes people want to outshine others and stand out in a crowd. This was what sets perfectionists apart. They want the product to be perfect and they are mature enough to understand that the chain is as strong as the weakest link. So they try to plug all the holes and strengthen all the weak links. Their aim is not to stand out and perform alone but to perform as a team. Therin lies the sucess formula of any team. And cinema is possibly the biggest example of team work where everyone needs to excel for the project to be successful. It is not enough for the actors to act well, the cinematography, music and rerecording, the story and screenplay, the dialogues, direction, editing everything needs to make the grade for the film to be successful.
It is hence quite tragic that a film gets panned in a second without any due thought for the untiring efforts of all the unsung heroes behind the screen.