About eight months before Hanuman Ansh’s release, filmmaker Vishal Chaturvedi was ready to shelve the project. The reason? One team member after another had walked away midway, convinced that the film was impossible to make on the available budget. The final blow came when his lead actor fell seriously ill and, after vomiting more than 40 times just a day before the shoot, said he feared his Hepatitis B had relapsed.Yet, as several members of the team describe it, the project seemed to be guided by a divine energy. Just when it appeared to be over, people who happened to be devotees of Neem Karoli Baba began joining the project, often at the last minute. Today, the film has emerged as a Rs 300 crore success.The problems, however, started right from the beginning. People showed interest in Hanuman Ansh, but no one was willing to put money into it.The story began when Vishal Chaturvedi started writing a book on Neem Karoli Baba and eventually expressed his desire to turn it into a film. He shared the idea with his old friend Namrata Singh, who coincidentally was also a devotee of Neem Karoli Baba. The two then called Ragini, who too believed in Baba, and together they decided to announce the film.“People started to show interest. Many called and during the same time we decided to take a 43-day Hanuman Chalisa Sankalp thinking that if we want to put something so divine together, we should do this”, Vishal told in an interview with TheIndianThing0.Financers backed offBy the time the Sankalp ended, however, Vishal realised that the people who had expressed interest in financing the film were suddenly no longer interested.“To set up a team, money is very important. At the end minute, the financer on whom we were extremely dependent backed out. Suddenly our budget became 60% of what we had originally decided.”Story continues below this adVishal then called Namrata and Ragini and explained the situation. To bring down the expenses, he decided to give up his own fee and take complete responsibility for the production.“I can reduce the number of locations. We can take trains in place of flights. But the movie has to be made. A MOU was signed between me, Ragini and Namrata. They transferred the money and a team was set up.”Soon, location recce began. That was when a new set of problems started surfacing.People from original team started to quit one after another“A very close friend, who works as an executive producer, we called him for the film. When he saw the budget, he ran away on the third day, saying: ‘It is impossible to make a film in such low budget.'”A few days later, another assistant left.Story continues below this adALSO READ | As Hanuman Ansh earns 134 times its budget, Vishal Chaturvedi announces film on TulsidasPeople kept dropping out of the film because they believed it was impossible to pull off.While everyone around him kept saying the film was impossible, Vishal Chaturvedi and his core team continued with one thought: “I am possible.”Then came another shock.“Just three days prior to our shoot, our costume designer resigned and left. She said this is an impossible task, I can’t do it.”Story continues below this adThat was when another devotee of Neem Karoli Baba entered the picture.“Looking at the situation, my first AD said, ‘I have a friend, who is a costume designer. I think she can pull this off.’ She came, heard the story. Then we get to know that she is a hardcore devotee of Neem Karoli Baba. She readily agreed to do the film. She curated all the costumes in just three days. Her name is Upasana Singh.”Slowly, the original team Vishal had put together began dismantling for one reason or another. But almost every person who came in as a replacement happened to be a believer of Baba.“Whoever believed in Neem Karoli Baba and Lord Hanuman, their effort was unique in the film. To fit them all in our budget, we would often negotiate and all of them readily agreed without ifs and buts.”Story continues below this adEven the person the team had trusted to handle production eventually left, saying the task was impossible.Production was then handed over to a 25-year-old member of Vishal’s team who had no prior experience handling a project of this scale.“I am sleeping for four hours, but they slept for just two hours to make the film happen. All this was extremely miraculous.”And the problems still weren’t over.People refused to let them shoot in locations despite having permissionsThe team had decided to shoot a cave sequence at a particular location, but the priest there eventually refused permission to shoot. With no time left, Vishal Chaturvedi had to recreate the cave himself.Story continues below this adIt was in this cave that the film’s iconic sequence featuring Shobinaw Satya surrounded by snakes while meditating was eventually shot.Then came what Vishal describes as the final blow.Just a day before the shoot, the lead actor fell sick. “He vomited about forty times. He informed, ‘I had Hepatitis B once and I think it relapsed.’ This news broke me. The entire team is in Chitrakoot for the shoot and the main lead is backing off.”With the entire team already in Chitrakoot, Vishal had to find a replacement almost immediately.That was when his eyes fell on Shobinaw Satya, who, according to Vishal, bore an uncanny resemblance to Neem Karoli Baba.Story continues below this adThere was another coincidence. Shobinaw too was a devotee of Neem Karoli Baba and Lord Hanuman. He was vegetarian and already knew every dialogue because he had joined the project as an assistant director.Initially, Shobinaw hesitated. He did not think he could perform the role. “He feared if he will do justice to the saint.”But Vishal convinced him to take up the role. With his confidence, Shobinaw eventually performed the character exactly as Vishal had envisioned Baba.And that is how Hanuman Ansh finally began shooting, with Shobinaw Satya stepping in as the lead at the eleventh hour.Story continues below this adVishal had also set certain rules for the three actors who played Neem Karoli Baba.“I had set rules for three people who played the role of Neem Karori Baba. ‘You will have to write Ram Ram at least in two to three pages every day and send me pictures of it.’ And they did.”The actors also stopped eating non-vegetarian food. The other rules were that nobody could consume alcohol or abuse anyone on set.Vishal followed his own discipline throughout the making of the film, surviving on a fruit diet from the time the shoot began until the film’s release.When the shoot wrapped, the makers found themselves out of funds for post-production. That was when they came across Anupriya Nagar, who had travelled to India in search of Neem Karoli Baba after first learning about him through an interview with Steve Jobs.What began as a film that everyone around Vishal Chaturvedi repeatedly called “impossible” eventually became a project in which, according to the filmmaker, almost every crucial replacement seemed to arrive with an unexpected connection to Neem Karoli Baba.