Centar Film, a state-owned production house, wanted to make Dušan Kovačević's script into a movie since 1978. Reportedly,
Goran Paskaljević was their first choice to direct the movie. He was supposed to shoot the Kovačević script as a contemporary-themed 50-minute TV movie whose story takes place in the late 1970s Yugoslavia on a public transport bus with the central character—an old man (played by
Mija Aleksić)—headed to pay a visit to his son who's away serving his mandatory
Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) service. However, Paskaljević decided to leave the project and shoot the feature film
Zemaljski dani teku instead. The job then went to the 33-year-old Slobodan Šijan who had never shot a feature film up to that point. Šijan described his experience: : When I did my first film I was slightly scared, was it actually going to be funny? Because comedy is straightforward, there is no fooling around with it, if people don't laugh it's a bust. The movie was made on a budget of
US$130,000 with 21 shooting days. The filming began on 4 April 1980 and was finished 26 days later. bus was chosen by the film's production designer
Veljko Despotović based on the description provided by Šijan. It was rented from
Jadran Film and painted red for the film. The same vehicle had appeared in earlier Yugoslav films such as
Occupation in 26 Pictures (1978) and
See You in the Next War (1980). For
Occupation in 26 Pictures, the bus had been fitted with a removable roof used to provide natural lighting. It was, however, barely in driving condition, and for interior shots the bus was mostly pushed or towed so as not to strain the engine. The smoke and the presence of live pigs in the cramped interior space made the filming conditions very difficult for the cast and the crew. The final bombing scene was originally meant to include wild animals from the bombed Belgrade Zoo roaming through the city's downtown, which indeed happened during actual
6 April 1941 Luftwaffe air-raids; in fact, an old newspaper article documenting this bizarre occurrence served as inspiration for the author Dušan Kovačević to include it in the film. However, at the time of movie's filming in 1980,
Tito died, which resulted in the extended mourning period that effectively canceled all entertainment activities in the country - including the Italian
circus tour that was meant to provide the animals for the scene. Since working with untrained zoo animals was deemed too dangerous, the film-makers reluctantly had to abandon the idea at the time. However, the idea was used in the opening scene of
Underground (1995), some 15 years later. In 2004 the film was turned into a ballet by the
National Theatre in Belgrade. The music was again by
Vojislav Kostić and the choreography was made by
Staša Zurovac. ==Reception and reaction==