Assistant Editor Nirshan Perera reports from the sets of Ismail Merchant's The Mystic Masseur in Trinidad.

It took 10 people more than an hour to set up the perfect shot. Ganesh, the main character in Ismail Merchant's The Mystic Masseur, was supposed to walk into a weathered print shop on Duke Street in downtown Port-of-Spain. The camera was trained on the dark entry. About 50 extras stood ready, while the production crew tensed for the long-awaited take.

Then, out of nowhere, an old woman with gold-capped teeth, wearing a black T-shirt of Trinidad's ruling political party, plonked down in front of camera and refused to move.

As the wound-up crew exploded, producer Nayeem Hafizka broke into an easy smile and glided up to the stubborn protestor. After five minutes of steady haggling, he bought her co-operation for a mere $ 80.

As he relates the story in a smooth British-Indian accent, Bombay-born and bred Hafizka is navigating the labyrinthine streets of Port-of-Spain like a seasoned native. He avoids gaping potholes with a sixth sense and squeezes the lumbering Honda through tight alleys with a genie's grace.

He has been kind to give me a lift to the next set. But Parveena, his stunning wife who's doubling as a professional photographer for the crew, is kinder: Hunched over the gearshift in an impossible yogic position, she's putting on a brave face as we share the front passenger seat.

Aasif Mandvi, the film's star, sits regal in the back, an air-conditioner wafting over him as two crew members fiddle with his hair.

At 35, the boyishly handsome Hafizka handles perhaps the most important job on the set with aplomb. He is not steering the camera's eye, nor is he crafting the overall narrative. But when you get down to it, the movie probably wouldn't get made without his trouble-shooting prowess.

"Ismail looks to me to take care of problems on the set," Hafizka says simply. "After the initial fundraising, I take care of difficulties on the ground."

"A project is never difficult as long as you are determined," he adds flippantly. "Of course, there are last minute hiccups, but..." Hafizka trails off as if he's already jumped ahead to eliminate the disturbance.

During the ride, he tosses off story after story as if he's showcasing war wounds. Take the enterprising barber of Port-of-Spain. After observing the production crew get ready to film a few doors down from his salon, the man pointed his loudspeakers at the cast and began blasting calypso tunes at 200 decibels.

Not willing to cough up a bribe for nothing, Hafizka promised that the entire production crew would get their hair cut at the salon following the take. But in the end, everyone balked and only the brave producer marched in to suffer the man's shears.

In the end, he paid about $ 100 for the so-so hairdo to make up for his fellow crew members' reluctance.

"I think I had the most expensive haircut ever given in Port-of-Spain!" he quips.

Then there was the pre-teen orchestra ensemble. During a pivotal scene in which the main character Ganesh attends a dinner at the governor's mansion, the camera takes in a few musicians playing classical music in the background. When Hafizka arranged for local professional musicians, he certainly didn't have in mind the 14-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl who showed up.

"The audience would have laughed out loud!" he exclaims. "I was calling everyone I knew in Trinidad to get some older musicians to balance them out." In the end, he produced two top-notch artistes from thin air, like a magician pulling a rabbit from a top hat.

But these anecdotes are mere trinkets compared to the big-picture foul-ups that Hafizka narrowly averted before shooting began.

Several months ago, French investors who were originally going to float the film's $ 5 million budget backed out, forcing Merchant's ever-dependable producer to scramble for replacement resources at zero hour.

Indian investors came to the rescue finally, and with the help of a $ 500,000 gift from a local Trinidadian businessman, The Mystic Masseur was saved from the chopping block-though its budget was halved.

"We have had to do things on a smaller scale," Hafizka admits, "but no matter how much you have, resources are always scant and you have to know how to stretch them. That's what we do best."

The easy-going producer began working with Merchant Ivory Productions more than 15 years ago. Since Merchant is his maternal uncle, you could say the pairing was in his blood. But nepotism didn't help him climb to his current roost: In his early 20s, Hafizka started out on the set of A Room With a View as a lowly production assistant, ferrying big wigs around and being a general dogsbody much like the bright-eyed PA's on the set of The Mystic Masseur today.

As he cruises into a narrow parking space and pulls on the brakes, Hafizka grins and that decade-and-a-half falls clean away.

"I just love my job," he says, taking in the sound of breaking glass without flinching a muscle.

Design: Dominic Xavier

EARLIER FEATURES IN THE SERIES:
The Elephant is Still Swaying
A Doctor's Dream Blossoms For a Day
Ismail Merchant and the Buffalo Watch
On the Sets of The Mystic Masseur

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