5pm:
Sitting, watching, talking… a never-ending routine, even I am tired. Only six minutes of content is canned in six hours of shoot, but Das is a satisfied man. Can’t the pace be quickened? “This is record time by normal soap shooting standards,” he retorts. “We have to do with a single camera.”
Done for the day, Kamya waves goodbye to her team. Like a school kid at the end of the day, she has transformed into a carefree, girl-next-door in a T-shirt and capris as we hop into her Honda City for a ride to the next set at Andheri’s Mohan Studios.

6pm:
A bevy of stand-up comics are having a blast with cutting chai in the studio foyer as each of the performing actors takes turn to finalise their costumes with the in-house designer. Kamya checks the options— skirts, saris, salwars, dupatta, frocks, embroidered jeans – “but hey…Where are my modern outfits? Didn’t anyone tell you I am playing a modern Gandhari. My clothes have to spoof Manish Malhotra’s designs in Ekta’s Mahabhaarat…” she tells the designer.
Compared to the chaos on the soap’s sets, I am amazed at the sight of a minute-by-minute breakup chart outlining the next day’s shoot at the studio door. Show producer and chief creative officer of Optimystix, Vipul D Shah, says, “Unlike soaps that work with a single camera, we record in real time with nine cameras. The scripts are commissioned well in advance and we ideally shoot at least three weeks ahead.”

... contd.