Rainmakers

The film began as an attempt to bring to the forefront the creators of an essential part of any Hindi film narrative – rain. The ‘rainmakers’ or ‘rain dada’ as they are popularly referred to, have been creating memorable rain scenes since the inception of Hindu cinema-be it the classic Nargis – Raj Kapoor duet in ‘Pyaar Hua Iqraar Hua’ (Shree 420; 1955) to Aishwarya Rai dancing to the melodies of A.R. Rahman in ‘Taal’ (Taal; 1999) and ‘Barso re’ (Guru; 2007). The rain scenes of the Hindi film industry have fashioned rain as an element to further plots and create myriad visual possibilities – from erotic to romantic, that have been etched in our memories forever.

This film is an attempt to understand the work done by the creators of such rains and see how they themselves see their role in ‘Bollywood’. Through the narratives of Dinesh Yadav, Rakesh Vishwkarma and Umashankar Yadav, we see a typical day in the life of rainmakers – the work that goes into creating a rain scene, the risks, the highs and the lows. In the course of the film, we see that such a profession is so central yet marginalised in the business of film-making, making clear the dichotomies that are created of on-screen and off-screen contribution in the projects.

Directors

Rainmakers