Anny Dai’s seamless work and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to state that it polishes the film.
There are many different kinds of films that loom large on the silver screen and one such outstanding example of Indian filmmaking is ‘Dream Factory’. Besides the premise of the film which is based on the inside stories of those working in the Bollywood film industry, what stands out the most is editor
Anny Dai’s seamless work and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to state that it polishes the film. As they rightly say that a film is made in the edit room – Dai proves it right indeed. The film is a lyrical essay on cinema’s hidden cost – Bollywood’s invisible labourers. The documentary follows the below-the-line crew – light men, set workers, makeup artists, bouncers, stuntmen so on and so forth. Dai’s editing feat adds the much needed tenderness and prestige to their regular turmoil almost shaping their fragmented existence and basic into an emotional rollercoaster ride. Quite intentionally, Dai has chosen the softer and mellow path of silence, repetition and their one of a kind and unmatched rhythm to portray the physicality of labour behind India’s dream machine. Dai as the editor of the film hasn’t utilised romanticisation and chose to mirror the enervation, fun times and the go-getter attitude as they toil hard to achieve what is needed in every frame of a film instead. And this byplay has uplifted the workers from being mere eventually untold backstories to the very forefront protagonists.
It is ironical that how in an industry such as Bollywood the editors of a film too remain nameless technicians, Dai’s contribution surely catches the eye. She doesn’t just cut frames, she culls out emotions, she makes sure to make the pauses and the silences so loud that they speak for themselves and it comes out with every transition. The gradual meandering of the subtle beginning to the crescendo of a climax is to watch out for.
For the uninitiated, Dream Factory had its world premiere at the Indian Film Festival Stuttgart (Germany) and thereafter it was screened in multiple other prestigious film festivals like Dresden Palais Sommer Germany, Indian Film Festival of Melbourne, DC South Asian Film Festival (USA),River to River Florence Indian Film Festival (Italy) and along with these there was also a special screening for the Indian embassy in Berlin.