After many years of waiting, The Song of Scorpions, directed by Anoop Singh, will finally be released on April 29. In 2017, the 70th Locarno Film Festival had the world premiere of the Irrfan Khan-starring movie. In a recent conversation with Hindustan Times, Anup Singh and actor Shashank Arora discussed honoring Irrfan with his farewell performance.
Irrfan Khan and Iranian actor Golshifteh Farahani are the main characters in Anup Singh’s The Song of Scorpions.
On the anniversary of Irrfan’s death, Song of Scorpions was released. “I am choking with emotion as Irrfan is not here to watch this moment,” the director remarked. He described it as an odd sensation that combines delight and sadness. It is tragic when the people we love leave us, Shashank Arora adds. It’s so much fun to share what we’ve accomplished together. It’s entirely real.
Munna, a banjara in the desert, is portrayed by Shashank. He is close to Irrfan Khan’s character Aadam, Aadam. They are merely nomads and travelers who work odd occupations for money. Aadam serves as Munna’s mentor, role model, spiritual leader, and best friend.
Shashank resembles Irrfan both in the movie and in real life. Irrfan is one of my favorite actors, he said. Spending time with him and learning from him on the sand dunes was a beautiful experience. He is a really gentle and modest man. He enjoyed kite flying and gulkand ka halwa, as far as I could tell in the brief time I had. I’ll never forget the day we rode our bikes together to the sand dunes one day. He had a poetic soul. Being able to work with someone like him is every actor’s dream.
Compared to Hindi, Song of Scorpions uses a lot more Marwari speech. When asked if it was simple or difficult for him to understand, Shashank replied, “It was a little bit of both. It was simple because we were filming in a region where everyone spoke the same language. The Marwari dialect was present even in the man who drove me to the shoot. It’s challenging to learn the pronunciation. It’s true that it’s nothing like what I usually talk about, but having a terrific team makes it much more approachable. It was a little difficult.
The inclement weather in Rajasthan made it difficult for the movie to shoot, in addition to difficulties with language. To keep their equipment cool while filming during the day, the crew had to carefully arrange their strategy. Anup Singh noted, however, that “the problems were enormous, but not one because of our performers.”
Irrfan spent much of the time resting on the beach, in my memory. I don’t recall them ever entering their vanity vehicle, unless perhaps they needed to change or touch up a bit. I can’t recall Shashank being vain. Even Waheeda (Rehman), who was taking part in the shoot, had a chair next to me and stayed with us the entire time on the sand dunes. I believe that at one point, no one gave their comfort a thought because such collectivism was just too extreme. In the desert itself, they felt at ease.
On the sets, he recalled Irrfan’s affection for Kite. Irfan, a kite flyer, requested that all members of the group fly kites. He brought 20 kites with him for the filming, Anup stated. Irrfan and a lot of our staff members used to vanish during breaks. The only way to locate it was to scan the skies for nearby kites. In order to return to the shooting range, we would chase and capture kites.
He also described how Crane’s suspicions about a group of persons gathered in the desert temporarily paused firing. Birds flock to the marshes of Rajasthan every year during the winter from Mongolia and Siberia. The director of Song of Scorpions chuckled as he recalled, “Around 50 storks started circling over us. They were crying out and yelling. Despite our best efforts, they remained stationary. We made an effort to shout at them,” I pounded the metal. After 30 minutes, we got off the bus. Irfan suddenly appeared as he was flying the kite up the sand dune. He placed the flying kite on the birds after he had reached the top. Birds the kite pricklya He began launching the kite farther and farther. The birds were carried away by the kite.
When Irrfan turned 80 years old in 2017, Anup Singh told us he already had a script ready for him. I hope to work with Irrfan on a lot more movies, he had stated. I’ve already written a play for when he’s 80!” The filmmaker broke down when he thought of his statements.
We were still talking about the script while Irrfan was in the hospital, he remarked after pausing for a few moment. He and the others came to the conclusion that he would probably not survive the hospital stay. Nevertheless, despite the belief that we would never be able to shoot the movie with the words in the hospital room, there was a strong desire to continue making it. There was a great deal of excitement, which allowed us to talk about every scene in the movie.
“At this moment, I don’t even want to consider making the movie since, in my opinion, it’s finished. “The movie is finished,” he concluded.