Press

• ANDPERSAND MAGAZINE, SEPTEMBER 2007
• HINDUSTAN TIMES, OCTOBER 2006
• INDIAN EXPRESS, JANUARY 29 2006
• HINDUSTAN TIMES, DECEMBER 2005
• ARRI NEWS, APRIL 2004

This Grip Works
ANDPERSAND MAGAZINE, SEPTEMBER 2007

In an industry almost polluted by big stars and bigger egos, there are those who work constantly, consistently, behind the scenes to produce perfect frames. Sanjay Sami is one of them. Having worked on films ranging from Dil Chahta Hai and Don, to Being Cyrus, The Namesake, and even Hollywood fare such as The Darjeeling Limited, this man is the industry’s key Key Grip.[MORE]

Get a grip on the Action
HINDUSTAN TIMES OCTOBER 2006

Sanjay Sami is not a name that rings a bell right away. Briefly, his is an interesting job that takes him around the globe to exotic locations, lets him brush shoulders with top filmmakers and stars.Sami’s job title is that of a key grip, and his portfolio boasts plum Indian and International film titles as well as several ad-films. ‘Key grip’ is a familiar term if you are a movie buff who sits right through the final credits of a film. For the uninitiated, grips are specialist technicians who rig film cameras atop all kinds of mobile machinery to help the cinematographer get his desired shot. [MORE]

Nuts & Bolts
INDIAN EXPRESS ON SUNDAY JANUARY 29 2006

If you’ve stayed through the final credits of a film, you must have wondered about some of the odd-sounding job titles rolling up the screen. A gaffer isn’t someone who supplies the laugh track,and a grip does much more than the image you just conjured up of him.Who better to explain the term than Sanjay Sami, key grip and director of The Grip Works, a reputed grip rental company in the country. The Guru, The Bourne Supremacy, Marigold and Gandhi Vs Gandhi—Sami’s name is attached to all these films. ‘‘We’re responsible for figuring out the detailed logistics of transforming a director’s vision into an actual physical shot,’’ he says. Which, in layman’s language, means the combined task of fixing cameras, lights and other equipment to make a shot possible. [MORE]

Hollywood Knocks on India’s Doors
HINDUSTAN TIMES DECEMBER 2005

India is positioning itself as a potentially large outsourcing destination for Hollywood movies. The government's policies, including an agreement with the UK, has seen at least nine new Hollywood films have either been made or are in the process of being made in India in a dramatic surge unprecedented in Indian history. The movies include Looking For Comedy In The Muslim World, Scrolls, The Namesake, The Thread, Partition, Man from Rajapur, Kerala, Exclusion and Marigold (pic attached), which stars Bollywood heartthrob Salman Khan. [MORE]

LAKSHYA – Filming in India
ARRI NEWS, APRIL 2004

LAKSHYA is done in the 35 mm anamorphic (2.40:1 aspect ratio) format, which is the standard aspect ratio for all Bollywood films. I love this aspect ratio since it allows you to do complex compositions and capture intimate moments with two characters in a tight close-up in one frame. You can also control layers of focus on different planes, and it allows you to spread the action across the frame and have wide vistas. Our main camera, which for 85 % of the film was a single camera which I operated myself, was an ARRIFLEX 535B with Hawk anamorphic prime lenses, 35 mm to 135 mm, and an Angenieux Zoom 50 mm – 500 mm which we got from Prasad Labs in Mumbai. Whenever we needed matching coverage, we brought in additional cameras – usually 35IIIs and 435s with Hawk lenses from Ravi Prasad Unit in Chennai. [MORE]