"Even my film's website is futuristic" - Harman Baweja
 

May 28 2008. AFTER shooting non-stop through an Australian schedule and then a long schedule of the film in Delhi, Sanjay Kapoor’s Harman Baweja-Genelia D’souza starrer directed by Anees Bazmi finally has a name - It’s My Life.

Says Harman: “That's the name Anees has chosen. It may change. But we all like it because its about this rich subdued boy who's petrified of his girlfriends father Nana Patekar and stands for hours outside her house gathering the courage to face him. It’s all about how the boy finally takes charge of his life.” 

Why the effort?
Why not, I would ask? For a movie which is set in future, has a sci-fi theme, talks about flying cars, 200 story buildings, a revamped Mumbai, robots, a love story and of course red hair (chuckles), you can't have a mushy looking conventional web site with red rose petals dominating the screen! You can't have a fluorescent/glossy look and feel to justify a love story which belongs to a different era. And of course, you can't have captions of 'When Two Hearts Meet etc. etc. etc.'! 

So what was the idea? 
Cliché as may it sound but the fact was that while working on the promotional design for the film, I was set thinking around how to make the film's web site turn out to be a cut above the rest! How could I actually have it set in a futuristic mode? How could I have it designed in a way that the love story theme could be amalgamated with a setting 40 years from now? Net net, how could it turn out to be different (in true sense) from anything that surfers would have seen in a Bollywood film web site. 

Cool idea, but how about execution? 
I was in talks with Bollywood Hungama team for promotional tie ups. This is when the suggestion around designing a site like this came up. I had a vision, they had the skills and together we sat down on a plan. I was amazed with the way the team out there started putting the plan on paper and then from paper to actual visual. 

We deliberated upon the kind of stuff we wanted to have on a very frequent basis and in just a matter of 2 months, we were ready with the final version. Yes, 2 months sounds a little on the higher side here but then we have to also see that this wasn't a basic HTML/flash web site for a regular film which could perhaps be readied in a jiffy. We were talking about something which hadn't been attempted before, just like the movie, and considering that, I am amazed that we could still get so much done so soon. 

 What makes the web site special? 
See it to believe it, that's all I would say for now (smiles)! The moment you enter it, you would realize it for yourself that you have marched into a different space altogether, pun intended. And by the way, it is not going to be like 'one single click and viola, I am in the site'. You would have to have a permutation and combinations of clicks to enable you to crack a code which would allow you success. 

A friend of mine took 2 minutes to crack it though. He created a record - well, that of being the slowest cracker ever! And guess what, he is an IT professional! I am sure regular surfers would be able to do it much faster. 

Movie v/s Web site
Web site took 2 months to make; the film took us 3 years. Doesn't that tell the tale? The point here is, don't try to judge the enormity of the movie through the web site. The web site is great but at the end of the day, it is mainly a promotional vehicle. What you would see on the big screen would certainly be far more grandeur than what you see on your 14 inch monitor. The clips you see on the web site are mainly 2D while in movie there are ton leads of 3D graphics. To put it right, the web site here mainly acts as a teaser to give you an idea around what bigger to expect! 

How about some web site promotion? 
Yes, for the first time in the history of Indian cinema, especially after the advent of web sites being made for Hindi movies, we have great plans to promote the web site itself. We have designed 15 second teasers around the web site itself and these would be out on all prominent web sites. These teasers would indicate what to expect from the Love Story 2050 web site which we are making LIVE soon. We are arriving with a bang and once the web site would be up, we won't be leaving it just till that. We would be continuing to upload newer stuff on a frequent basis to make it the most happening site of the season! 

Incidentally, Harman’s co-star in It’s My Life is Genera D’Souza, a hot favorite in the south who made her debut five years ago in Hindi cinema with Tujhe Meri Kasam. She also pairs with Imraan Khan who makes his debut in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na on the same day as Harman in Love Story 2050.
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