Aparita

The Globe and Mail, [09/27/2004]

Eager fans stake out downtown hotel for glimpse of actor Shah Rukh Khan

APARITA BHANDARI

SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL

Shah Rukh Khan was relaxing before his show. Inside a downtown Toronto hotel, in the presidential suite, the 38-year-old Bollywood star looked tired. He has been on the road since mid-August and is ready to go home.

“This is the longest I have been out of India,” he said. “I had my kids with me for some of the show. But they had to go back because of school. And my wife will join me tomorrow. But it’s been a long tour.”

Outside the hotel, however, there was plenty of energy as dozens of Bollywood fans waited hours for a glimpse of their favourite actor, Mr. Khan, as well as others associated with his show Temptation 2004. They started gathering by early afternoon.

Some women were clutching posters, one was holding a picture of herself getting a peck on the cheek from Mr. Khan, and all of them were holding cameras. As the hours ticked by, the throng grew.

Last night’s show at the Air Canada Centre was sold out. But because of the huge demand, it will be repeated on Wednesday.

“This is just a huge show,” said concert organizer Altaf Kasem. “Never in the history of these shows [has it] been so big.”

Temptation 2004 is more than three hours long and features six of Bollywood’s top stars as six temptations: Shah Rukh Khan (as love), Saif Ali Khan (as envy), Rani Mukherjee (as lust), Arjun Rampal (as power), Priyanka (as greed) and Preity Zinta (as passion). But the one they wanted to see the most was Shah Rukh Khan.

One group in the throng outside Mr. Khan’s hotel, we’ll call them the Patel posse, drove in from Montreal on Saturday morning.

“We just love Shah Rukh Khan,” Urveshi Patel said. “Everything about him. His looks, his acting, the way he talks. Everything. We come from Montreal for every Bollywood show there is. But we had to definitely come for this one because of Shah Rukh.”

Darshna Patel, a mother of two, said that she liked Mr. Khan so much that she named her son after one of his characters.

“I was pregnant with my son when [Mr. Khan’s] movie Duplicate came out,” she said. “And his name in the movie was Raj. Right then I decided to call my son Raj.”

Kasem Patel said people had been begging and pleading, even offering up to $2,000 for backstage passes.

“The fans try and find out when the stars are coming, where they are living, and especially for Shah Rukh Khan.”

It was Sunil Patel’s “connections” that helped in booking rooms at the hotel where the stars are staying.

Hotel security, however, was not letting fans wait inside the lobby for a glimpse of their favourites. So they waited outside, for hours. And they made plans.

“You guys, you just take pictures of me, because I am going to jump Shah Rukh when he comes,” one young woman said.

The sight of a limousine mid-afternoon sent the group into a tizzy. Amid squeals and shouts of “Oh my God,” the mob ran toward the limousine, realizing only too late that the stars were using another entrance. It was enough to discourage some fans, who finally left, but others kept on waiting.

Bobby Ali, director of hotel security said the scene was nothing compared to what would happen in the evening. Mr. Ali has had Bollywood stars coming to his hotel for the past four years.

“At night, the fans will follow the limousines of the stars, or the promoters,” he said. “It’s a riot then. We just try and be patient with the fans.”

This is the first time Mr. Khan has produced a show. He said his goal was to give the audience a great product, although last night’s show started more than two hours late due to technical problems.

“Usually, every town we go into, it’s a different show,” he said. “But this time we wanted to have great production value. This show can compare to any other concert — Madonna or whatever.”
He laughed when asked to describe his comment in an American newspaper of the show being like a Milli Vanilli concert.

“I was trying to explain something to an American reporter who doesn’t know Indian films,” he said.
“I said: Milli Vanilli used to dance and sing to someone else’s songs. But the world didn’t know about it. We do that too, but everyone knows about it.”

Mr. Khan, who wore a grey shirt and jeans with a bright red belt, said he doesn’t dwell on his life and his superstardom.

“It’s only in the last two years that I’ve known I am a superstar,” he said. “For me, the last 14 to 15 years have gone in a blink. It’s only when I look at my 7-year-old son that I realize how life has gone by. I wish he would remain small all the time.”

Student Sonia Butani, 19, flew in from Arizona to see the show. She was planning to go to Los Angeles, but then her cousins convinced her to go to Toronto.

With just half an hour before the show, Ms. Butani lined up to get in the Air Canada Centre with her three cousins and a friend. They were surrounded by Bollywood fans. “I have loved Shah Rukh ever since I saw him Baazigar,” Ms. Butani said. “He’s not really known for his looks. But he’s got this awesome personality, great charisma.

“I’ve been drawn to his acting. He’s like a great role model. I can only hope that I get a younger man like him. Sometimes I wish that I never meet Shah Rukh. I like him as Raj, or Rahul, or whatever million other names he uses [in his movies]. If I meet him, and it distorts my fantasy, I don’t know what I will do.”

Toronto Star, [04/02/2004]

New generation of Indian film Projects screen at ReelWorld

APARITA BHANDARI

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

Mumbai, India — Until recently, most of the projects produced by the Indian film industry have been old-school, big-budget movies with song and dance sequences, and a melodramatic plot that prides itself in covering romance, comedy, drama, tragedy and action, all in the space of at least three hours.

But the Bollywood blockbuster is gradually losing its monopoly on the movie industry. A new genre is emerging that is more reality-focused and shot on much smaller budgets.

Two such movies - Joggers’s Park and Raghu Romeo, a Bollywood indie film - will screen at the fourth annual ReelWorld Film Festival in Toronto tonight and tomorrow, respectively.

“We still have songs and dances, but our heroes don’t change their costumes 17 times,” says Pritish Nandy, chairman of Pritish Nandy Communications, which recently released Chameli, a Pretty Woman-type story that was shot in 30 days and cost $66,000 (U.S.) to make. “The (new) films aren’t larger than life. They’re a slice of life. I make movies that I want to watch. My movies aren’t a variety program; they’re etched in the contemporary Indian urban sensibility.”

Pankaj Sethi, the chief executive of Mukta Arts, refers to Jogger’s Park as a niche film.

Niche films, says Sethi, generally run about 30 prints as opposed to 250-300 prints required for Bollywood blockbusters. Their budgets of about $1 million are miniscule compared to the $3 million big banner Bollywood films.

“Over the past five years, there’s been a proliferation of multiplexes in India, and this has allowed for smaller screens, especially in the urban centres,” says Sethi. “It has allowed us to experiment with films.

“It’s actually a chicken-and-egg thing. There was a transition already happening. It’s becoming harder and harder to make pan-Indian films that talk to the diverse communities of India. Smaller films, aimed at urban centres, are becoming more common.”

There’s a change in the urban Indian sensibility, partly to do with cable television and easy access to recent Hollywood movies in Indian theatres. To address the change, niche films inherently have a story or concept that goes beyond the formulaic Bollywood ploys, says Sethi.

“You can call Jogger’s Park a film for the MTV generation,” he says. “The lead role of Jenny is of a 28- to 30-year-old model living in Mumbai, who jogs at Jogger’s Park, an actual place in upscale Mumbai. The story has to do with Jenny’s relationship with an older man.”

Raghu Romeo, the directorial venture of Bollywood actor Rajat Kapoor, falls into the indie category. Vijay Raaz (Monsoon Wedding) plays the title role of a waiter in a topless bar who falls for a TV soap opera character.

Although Kapoor received some funding from the National Film Development Corporation of India, and had saved up some money from his previous acting and modelling assignments, he was still short by a couple of million rupees. So he e-mailed friends, asking if they could invest.

With 38 names, the producers’ list in the credits for Raghu Romeo might be a little longer than normal. But Kapoor is thankful he got to make the film.

“People sent me e-mails from all over the world, saying they can help - act, sing, dance, make Web sites - for free,” he says. “It shows they believe in this kind of cinema.”

Toronto Star, [01/24/2003]

Huge Indian film biz faces creative, financial crisis. Alternatives sought to traditional plots, Hollywood copies.

Special to the Star

“But our treatment will be different.” It’s a cliched phrase often heard but seldom followed by Bollywood, the Mumbai (Bombay)-centred Indian film industry that churns out twice as many films as Hollywood every year.

When Bollywood could make and sell nearly 1,000 films a year, being original was not a big concern.
But suddenly Indian filmmakers, known for blending song and dance with heady melodrama, are being forced to take a reality check.

Observers of the multi-million dollar industry say it’s time to turn promises of new ideas into reality.
Until very recently, such a reassessment was unthinkable. But Bollywood was making lots of money then. Now, it is in the red.

The old formulas don’t seem to be working any more and simply re-making Hollywood movies in Hindi isn’t winning big enough audiences to fill the void.

The critical and financial downturn was sudden. The year that just ended saw Bollywood basking in international attention. Lagaan, a four-hour period piece based on a game of cricket made by hot actor-turned-producer Aamir Khan, was nominated for a foreign-picture Oscar.

(Previous Hindi-language nominees were New York-based Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay in 1989 and the Bollywood film Mother India in 1958.)

Lagaan was followed by the latest remake of the Indian classic Devdas, which was, at the time, Bollywood’s most expensive movie. It was featured at the Cannes Film Festival last spring.
Based on the love story of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and his queen Mumtaz Mahal, Taj Mahal recreates the ornate monument and period costumes as well as the famous battle of Samugarh that ended in a civil war during Shah Jahan’s reign.

Bollywood glam was chic in New York in recent years. Rumours were rife of planned U.S.-India co-productions. And then The Guru, a Working Title and Universal Studios production, premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival last August.

Infused with elements of Hollywood and Bollywood, The Guru, which opens in Toronto next Friday, is about Ramu Gupta (Jimi Mistry), a young Indian dance teacher who goes to America to become a Hollywood actor. Instead, with some help from ditzy socialite Lexi (Marisa Tomei) and porn star Sharrona (Heather Graham), Gupta morphs into an Indian “spiritual leader” and overnight celebrity.

But as The Guru was making its way to mainstream theatres in North America, Bollywood went bust.

According to Indian news magazine Outlook, “the crisis-hit film industry” lost $930 million (Cdn.) between (Nov., 2001 and Nov., 2002). “The situation (was) so bad that experts (found) it difficult to put together a Top 10 for 2002.” The number of Bollywood films that could be called hits dropped from an average of 15-20 per cent of the total to 7-8 per cent.

Uncertainty was so high in Bollywood that many distributors had either stopped buying films or were buying them on a commission basis, reports Oulook.

“2002 was definitely the worst year for Bollywood in a decade,” trade reviewer Komal Nahta said in a telephone interview from Mumbai.

Almost 90 per cent of films released in 2002 failed to earn a profit and translated in huge losses for the distributors, said Nahta, who is also editor of Mumbai’s leading trade magazine, Film Information.

“This is the first time such a thing has happened. Usually the producers make money on the table, but this time even the big producers couldn’t sell their films to cover the actual cost of their movies.”

Bollywood’s dismal performance can be attributed to several factors, said Sudheesh Pachauri, an Indian media critic.

The global economic downturn and resultant loss of spending power made moviegoing an expensive proposition for the average middle-class Indian, who forms a large chunk of Indian cinema audience. Moreover, the rise of the next generation of Bollywood family dynasties - progeny with little more than the family name to their credit - has added to the Indian audience’s disenchantment with the dream-weaving factory.

“You need more than smooth body movements and good looks to become an actor your audience can relate to,” said Pachauri, on the phone from New Delhi. “Even today (veteran Bollywood superstars) Amitabh Bachchan and Govinda can draw people into the theatres because the average middle-class Indian can identify with them. But these (new) kids have no depth and filmmakers cast them, spending several million rupees on the projects. Where’s the sense in that?”

On top of that, adds Pachauri, Bollywood has run out of fresh ideas. “On the one hand there were many NRI (Non-Resident Indian) theme based movies, which don’t attract the Indian masses,” Pachauri said. “Or there were five films based on (the Indian freedom fighter) Bhagat Singh and not one of them did well.”

In fact, Hollywood films dubbed into Hindi fared better at the Indian box office than the big-banner Bollywood films, he adds.

Nahta, on the other hand, doesn’t believe that the Bollywood audience is so discerning as to look for original content in every movie. However, he adds, the audience, which is also exposed to world films through satellite television, does demand a novel and well-made presentation.

“In order to make quick money, filmmakers forgot about paying attention to the content. Once the boom slumped, that money was gone. And people are not going to go watch movies just for the stars; they get enough of that on TV,” explained Nahta.

“If an average middle-class person takes out his family to watch a movie, he can easily spend upwards of 700 rupees ($20-$30 Cdn.) on the tickets alone. Why would he spend that money on a bad movie? Right now there are such idiosyncrasies being shown in the films that even an average cine-goer thinks you are insulting his intelligence.”

So, what makes a hit Bollywood film these days? There is no particular formula, experts say. Scripts vary from the time-honoured boy-meets-girl and runs around a few trees singing songs theme to horror, suspense, family drama and inspirations from Hollywood hits.

The latest in movies inspired by Hollywood is Kaante, which, after a delay, was released Dec. 20. Dubbed the Indian remake of American Quentin Tarantino’s cult classic Reservoir Dogs, Kaante was perhaps one of the most anticipated movies of 2002. Bollywood hoped this testosterone-filled tale, starring India’s top leading men, including Amitabh Bachchan, would break the jinx. Kaante was shot in Los Angeles in seven weeks with an American supporting cast and crew.

The movie opened extremely well, according to Indian media. For the first time in months, “house full” signs were seen at theatres.

According to BBC South Asia, Kaante topped $ 4.7 million (Cdn.) in India plus $4.4 million (Cdn.) for overseas film rights and reached No. 7 in the UK while playing on only 30 screens. (It’s playing at the Albion and Woodside theatres in the Toronto area, which specialize in Indian movies.)

Nahta, however, cautions against making conclusions based on the reported figures.

“Kaante opened very well but the collections were dropping from the fourth day onwards, in India and outside of India,” he said. “Except for Mumbai, and to an extent New Delhi, the movie was a loser in every other (Indian) territory.

“The problem with Kaante was lack of good content. There wasn’t an attempt to make a good film or even write a proper script. Rehashed Hollywood films aren’t new, but you can’t just make a Hindi version. You have to `Indianize’ it. It has to make sense. (Kaante) looked like they watched the (Reservoir Dogs) DVD the previous night and then shot the film.”

But Bollywood seems to be in the mood for introspection, Nahta said. It’s a matter of survival for the world’s largest film industry.

Bollywood, which has earned its bad rap for haphazard production methods, is finally getting organized.

In an attempt to incorporate the industry, production companies and media houses are being formed. Institutional financial agencies such as banks, which are testing the Bollywood waters, insist on a proper schedule and bound scripts.

“Usually, Bollywood films are made with a skeleton story,” explained Nahata. “Scenes are written right on the sets 15 minutes before the shooting, with inputs from everyone. So there was no continuity or cohesiveness. But (filmmakers) are realizing that a good script is the backbone of every film. If you have the right script, you have a successful film.

“It’s a `do or die’ moment for filmmakers and they are starting to rethink (their strategies). Right now there’s a huge backlog of films made with the intention of making table profits. But I think films coming out in 2004 and onwards will be much better.”

The Globe and Mail, [10/08/2002]

Amid public outcry, India’s Tom Cruise is charged with running over homeless

Special to the Globe and Mail

NEW DELHI — Bare chested, with muscles rippling, Indian film superstar Salman Khan rarely met an opponent he couldn’t crush, as he single-handedly meted out justice to the bad guys of Bollywood.

But Mr. Khan, who has been called the Tom Cruise of India because of his looks and box-office drawing power, may have met his match in real life — in the form of public outrage that accomplished what no police officer or politician was prepared to do.

After days of front-page stories in the Indian media, and a public-interest lawsuit, the actor surrendered to police yesterday and was charged with culpable homicide for allegedly crushing a group of homeless people while driving drunk in Bombay.

According to the charges, Mr. Khan rammed a Toyota Land Cruiser onto a sidewalk in Bandra, a Bombay suburb, where a group of workers were sleeping outside a bakery. One person died and three were hospitalized with serious injuries in the Sept. 27 incident.

Mr. Khan, who was also charged with impaired driving and failure to have a valid driver’s licence, faces up to 10 years in jail.

But the very fact that he was charged has become a sensation in India, where the rich and famous often get preferential treatment from police and break the law with impunity.

The actor arrived at a Bombay police station yesterday afternoon, accompanied by his father Salim Khan, a well-known screenwriter in Bollywood — the booming film industry named for its centre in Bombay — and was remanded in custody until Thursday.

His case first made headlines last week when Bombay police charged him with the minor offence of rash and negligent driving, and released him on bail of 950 rupees, or $30. At the time, he had turned himself over to police several hours after the accident. A blood alcohol test was not conducted.

Although Mr. Khan originally denied driving the vehicle, his police bodyguard later signed a written statement stating the star was at the wheel. Then, last Friday, Mr. Khan was ordered to surrender his passport in a sign that authorities were considering more serious charges.

But it was public action that appeared to overtake the slow police investigation.
Before Mr. Khan surrendered a second time, a city court yesterday accepted a public-interest petition, filed by two social activists and a local journalist, demanding police charge him with culpable homicide, a non-bailable offence.

The court also ordered the star to pay compensation of one million rupees, or $32,000, to the family of the man killed in the accident, as well as 300,000 rupees to one person seriously injured and 150,000 rupees to two who received less serious injuries.

Public concern over drunk driving has been growing for years in India’s main cities, where a surge in wealth and car traffic has produced a string of horrible accidents.

In 1993, Bollywood actor Puru Rajkumar, son of the legendary actor Rajkumar, ran down four people, killing three of them. A Bombay court ordered him to pay 25,000 rupees as compensation for each of the three killed and 5,000 rupees for the one injured.

In July of 1999, Bollywood actor Aditya Panscholi ran down two patrolling policeman and got off with bail of 950 rupees.

This is not Mr. Khan’s first brush with the law. The 37-year-old actor, who first captured attention in the late 1980s for his boyish good looks, was assigned a bodyguard two months ago after he reportedly received extortion threats from the Bombay underworld, which has strong links with the film industry.

Mr. Khan starred in some of India’s biggest grossing films but has failed to deliver a hit in recent years. He made headlines last month when he disrupted a film set where his ex-girlfriend, Aishwarya Rai, a former Miss World, was working.

Two years ago he was charged along with three other Indian celebrities for allegedly killing two black bucks, an endangered animal covered under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act. A verdict has yet to be reached on the charge, which carries a prison term of up to seven years.

Toronto Star, [06/07/2002]

Wannabe actors flock to Atlantis Nightclub for movie shoot

Fahim Noorally squeezes himself into a spot right behind the camera. In front sit Bollywood veterans Amrish Puri and Kabir Bedi at a table set for a lavish lunch - Canadian style.

Large platters of pasta, salad and fruits cluster around elaborate floral arrangements. The flowers offset a huge swirl of mauve gauze-like cloth girded by a toy train carrying a dizzying load of liquor - Triple Sec, vodka, cognac and whisky.

No Labatt’s for Bollywood.

“Shot three, take seven,” announces assistant director Chitra Shah.

Noorally quickly scribbles down the numbers in the daily shooting report book of the film. It’s hard to manoeuvre in the tight space.

The tenuous periphery of the set teems with camera and light operators, costumiers, spot boys, make-up artists, choreographers, dancers, a chai-wallah or two. And onlookers.

Earlier in the morning, a local South Asian radio program had announced the filming of The Hero at the Atlantis Nightclub in Ontario Place.

A few hours later, security guards are barricading the doors to stop the throngs that showed up in their Sunday best to get a glimpse of their favourite Bollywood actors. Those who get in try to take photos of the stars.

“This is way too chaotic for me,” Noorally grins. “I can’t deal with the stress.

“I was in between school and my friend, who is helping the production team, asked me if I could just drive around. Now I am helping out the directorial team.”

In the balcony above the set, a group of girls chat quietly. Some of the “background dancers” sleep on the floor beside them, one of them still in her pink tutu outfit.

Decked out in evening wear, Natasha James, Jayanthi Venkadasalam, Nerissa Drepaul, Sonia Toor, Neha Goyal, Madeleine Massey and Radha Ramdhin, are part of the elaborate dance numbers.

“We’re not quite sure,” says Drepaul when asked to describe the dance. “It’s a modern dance.”

Ranging in age from 13 to 20, the girls say that the long hours of shooting can be tiring. But Toor says she might do this again.

“I want to be a Bollywood actress,” she says. “This is a great way to get at it.”

“It would be cool to stay there (in India),” says Goyal. “But I am not sure about the food. It would be different, right? And (the crew from India) laugh at my accent.”

Marc Anders peers down at his brother from the balcony. It’s his second day on the set and he still isn’t sure what he’s supposed to do. Yesterday he heard many of the extras wouldn’t be showing up, so he brought his girlfriend along. She’s got the role of a waitress.

“I think I am a security guard,” he shrugs, pointing to his long green (liveried) coat. “My brother has managed to get upgraded to sitting at the (lunch) table. He just hung around (down) there long enough.”

The North Bay resident was in town to promote his band when he heard of the shoot through a friend. He figured it would be an interesting experience.

Toronto Star, [06/07/2002]

Increasing numbers of South Asian movies are being shot here, with Canadian locales playing a featured role

They were playing a much different tune than the normal pop recently at the Atlantis Nightclub at Ontario Place. Glorious in a peach gown bejewelled with spangles and diamantes, former Miss World and upcoming Bollywood starlet Priyanka Chopra was being serenaded by popular Bollywood action hero Sunny Deol.

Deol plays an international spy in The Hero, a Bollywood co-production of Keshu Ramsay and Time Movies, which just wrapped shooting in Toronto.
Starring Deol, Chopra, Preity Zinta, Amrish Puri, Kabir Bedi, Pravin Dabas (of Monsoon Wedding fame), Shahbaz Khan and Rajat Bedi, the movie is veteran director Anil Sharma’s first venture after his blockbuster Gadar.

Indian filmmakers have long used foreign locales to shoot song sequences they insert in their features, but in the last five years there has been a sharp rise in Bollywood movie plots situated outside of India and, as result, the booming Toronto filmmaking industry has another player.

Big-budget movies shot against the Toronto skyline and magnificent backdrops such as the Niagara Falls and the Rocky Mountains appeal to both the huge Bollywood audience in India and the South Asian diaspora in other lands, including Canada.

The growth in Indian movies being shot in Canada is big enough to warrant local business offshoots, such as acting schools and production houses.

“We have audiences all over the world and when you budget a movie you think about these things,” said Deol, whose directorial debut Dillagi was released in 1999. “It’s great, it’s bringing awareness about Bollywood all over the world.”

“With Lagaan’s nomination for the Oscar and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bombay Dreams project, Bollywood has gone beyond Bollywood,” says Bedi, whose credits include American soap The Bold And The Beautiful, European miniseries Sandokan and the Bond movie Octpussy. “And in India there is an endless curiosity of how people live abroad.”

The surrealism, then, of watching Canadian cities and lifestyle being profiled in Indian cinema is becoming increasingly common. There’s no definitive list, but Bollywood aficionados estimate that at least 20 movies have been partially shot in Canada in recent years, with several set here, including Tum Bin, Shakti, Bekhudi, Bekabu and Pardes.

In Tum Bin, released last July, corporate whiz Shekhar Malhotra (Priyanshu Chatterjee) accidentally knocks off Canadian industrialist Amar Shah (Rakesh Bapat) and travels to Calgary to admit his guilt.
But when Malhotra lands in the snow-laden city, he finds a grief-stricken family and an ailing business. He decides to stick around Calgary, helping the family and the industry through the disaster while also falling in love with Shah’s fiancee.

More recently, in Na Tum Jaano Na Hum Rahul (Hrithik Roshan) decides to bow out of the love triangle with his best friend Akshay (Saif Ali Khan) and Esha (Esha Deol). So, he escapes from India to the West Coast of Canada.

The Toronto skyline, CN Tower and the SkyDome form a backdrop for many of the potboiler plots
The fleeting footage of Vancouver forms a minuscule part of the plot - a family discussion about Rahul mentions that his father lives in Canada.

Call it Bollywood documenting the great Indian dream - successful NRIs (Non-Resident Indians) living in palatial homes abroad and zooming down the highways in latest-model luxury cars. And Canada, figuring high on the list of “exotic foreign locales,” has become the unofficial Bollywood North.
The NRI angle is the new masala spicing up the bubbling cauldron known as Bollywood. It’s the latest trend in an industry known for its over-the-top productions in a wide range of genres - action, romance, tragedy, comedy and drama offset by five or six songs - in one panoramic sweep of the camera.

With more and more films boasting a multiple-star cast and substantial budgets (in the $10 million to $17 million range), big bucks are being spent on the Canadian portions of movies such as The Hero.
There are enough Indian movies shot here to spawn spin-off industries, such as Bollywood acting schools like the Mississauga-based Ramsay Acting Institute and production houses like Celebrity Productions.

Last year Bollywood produced more than 1,000 movies, double the number that Hollywood makes annually. The Indian market that laps up the three-hour escapes, replete with songs and dances, is huge.

Revenues in India last year were almost $1 billion (U.S.).

But the recent success of Bollywood blockbusters outside India has made the industry sit up and take notice. Globally, Bollywood is reported to rake in $3.5 billion (U.S.) and export revenues are predicted to jump 120 percent by 2006.

Last year, movies such as Lagaan and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham managed to push their way into North American and British Top 10 box office charts, thanks largely to a growing South Asian population outside the subcontinent. (The 1996 census cited by StatsCan puts 670,590 South Asians in Canada, 390,055 in Ontario.)

It’s too big a market for Bollywood to ignore.

Shootings in foreign locales, then, are no longer relegated to dreamy song sequences featuring snow capped mountains, rides on tourist buses or vast green meadows. The Toronto skyline, CN Tower and the SkyDome actually form a backdrop for many of the potboiler plots.

“About 60 per cent of (The Hero) is set in Canada,” explains director Sharma, who won’t reveal much about the movie’s storyline except that it’s about an international spy.

Exhausted after a long day of shooting on the streets of Toronto and in a downtown hotel, he can spare only a few moments in between shots on set at Atlantic Nightclub at Ontario Place.
The set teems with the 85-member production that was flown in from India, augmented with local staff, junior artists and extras.

A group of young girls stands in one corner, observing the proceedings. Decked out in evening dresses for this scene of a corporate lunch, they say they’re students of the Ramsay Acting Institute.
The Ramsay Acting Institute, one of the operations of India Today Inc., is run by Dinesh and Mayur Ramsay, co-producer Keshu Ramsay’s sons. The Mississauga office of the scions of the Ramsay clan serves as a designer showroom and acting studio.

“My father has been shooting in Canada for the past six years,” explains Dinesh Ramsay. “He did the Khiladi series. They were all blockbuster hits - each film brought in about $2 million Canadian.”
Great locations and a helpful government made Canada an obvious choice for Dinesh and Mayur to set up shop. The Toronto acting school opened two years ago, followed by another in Vancouver last year. A third one is slated to open in New York later this year.

Dinesh started out assisting his father in the film business, but then gave it up to pursue a career in couture.

“I design only by appointments,” he says. “I have designed for (Indian film actresses) Mahima Chaudhary, Raveena Tandon, Rekha and Rati Agnihortri. My personal clients fly in from England and United States. Today I have a woman coming from Ottawa for her bridal outfit.”

Two students walk in. The portable racks of bridal and formal wear are pushed back to make space for classes that teach its students everything from “dancing, acting, facial expressions to action.”

“Since it was unfeasible to bring actors from India for small roles, we decided to use local talent,” says Dinesh. “Our students don’t work as extras, they have small roles. Ramesh Kaushal, who is local real estate agent, played the role of Akshay Kumar’s father in Khiladi 420.”

The nine-month course includes training from Bollywood experts who are flown in for a month from Mumbai (Bombay). Mayur and Divya Kumar, a Toronto based-choreographer who was trained in Mumbai, carry through the remainder of the course.

Bollywood shootings outside India have also seen the emergence of local line producers such as Raj Shah. Shah founded Celebrity Productions Inc. seven years ago, with head offices in Los Angeles and Calgary. Two out of the 25 movies he’s worked on were shot in Canada - Tum Bin and Kaash Aap Humare Hote. He will start work on another after The Hero.

The Atlantis pub’s setting with Toronto’s skyline in the back and the variety of locations offered by Calgary - mountain views, scenic lakes and some big towns - made them ideal places to shoot, says Shah.

“The tastes of people in India have changed, they want better locations,” he elaborates. “And artists have bulk dates for foreign shoots, which expedites the movie.”

Shooting Bollywood films in Toronto brings money into the Canadian economy, says Shah.

“The movie’s budget is about $10 million (Cdn.), out of which about $7 million will be spent in Canada,” he says. ” We are spending about $100,000 just for this Atlantis shoot. We have hired about 20 local staff - electricians to gaffers to bus drivers to caterers to junior artists.”

But, recent problems encountered in obtaining visas, as well as Canada’s unpredictable weather, might mean seeing fewer shoots here.

“We lost $15,000 to $20,000 per day because of cancelled shots,” he says.

Still, he believes that Bollywood is here to stay.

“(South Asian) people here want to keep in touch with their culture, and Indian people are crazy about Bollywood. There are many people who appreciate our efforts.”

The Toronto Star, [05/05/2002]

For Neeru Bajwa and Vikram and Vekeana Dhillon, a quick trip to India was easy.

They’d just ride out to the local Canadian cinema playing Bollywood fare, usually to full houses. They would indulge in a three-hour-plus melodrama replete with songs, dances and over-the-top action sequences. And of course, grab a samosa during the intermission.

But soon this weekend affair with Bollywood turned into a quest that led them from the freezing temperatures of Canada to the monsoons of Mumbai, India.

They wanted to be stars, Indian style.

While a role in Hindi films still eludes them, they did end up starring in a documentary, Bollywood Bound, by first-time director Nisha Pahuja.

The sold-out Toronto premiere at the Bloor Cinema closes the international documentary festival Hot Docs tonight at 6: 30.

For many others like Bajwa and the Dhillons, Bollywood is a formative part of their hyphenated identity. It’s pop enough for their westernized tastes, yet it also speaks to their realities growing up as South Asians.

“I was talking to these girls in Mississauga,” says the 34-year-old Pahuja. “I asked them why they watched Bollywood movies. And they said they could relate to the characters. Because just like Kajol (an Indian film actress), they couldn’t get a phone call from a boy.”

Pahuja relaxes in the Chapters opposite the offices of the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), which produced Bollywood Bound, sipping a soy-milk chai. Her silver nose ring matches silvery gray strands peeping through her curly dark hair.

It’s been a hectic few days full of interviews, and she’s apologetic that she only has half an hour to speak before rushing off to another one.

A graduate of English literature, Pahuja wanted to be a writer. Then a friend offered her a research job, which eventually led to the NFB. When she pitched her idea about following Indo-Canadian youth with Bollywood dreams, she got a favourable response.

“It’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment I decided on this idea,” says Pahuja. “It had been brewing with me for a while. I’ve had this love for Hindi cinema. But there was also a rejection of anything Indian.”

Pahuja’s family moved to Canada when she was 4. The experience of being an immigrant child - dealing with racism and the lack of positive South Asian images - resulted in a sense of self-loathing and shame.

But in the latter half of the ’90s, with the release of technically and esthetically slick movies such as Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and 1942: A Love Story, Pahuja rediscovered her love for Hindi movies.

“I was at Desh Pardesh (a now defunct South Asian diaspora arts festival) five, six years ago,” she says. “And DJ Zahra was playing some Bollywood remixes. Suddenly she played ‘Rang Barse,’ (a famous song from the ’80s movie Silsila starring Rekha and Amitabh Bachchan), and everyone just erupted. They were dancing crazy and doing their best Rekha and Amitabh impersonations.

“I thought, holy mack! There’s so much joy. A celebration, an embracing of brownness. There’s a film in this. Something needs to be done about Bollywood. Then one day a journalist friend told me about her story on Ruby Bhatia, and it just all clicked.”

Bhatia was a former winner of the Toronto-based Miss India-Canada pageant and went on to become a celebrity as a video jockey and a morning-show host on Indian television.

In the early ’90s, Indian television was opening its doors to satellite television. Bhatia was the perfect combination of “east and west” and had that extra spark that made her an overnight star.

For Indo-Canadian kids, Bhatia’s success story has become the great Indian dream. Bajwa, one of the stars of Bollywood Bound, was also a Miss India-Canada contestant in 1999.

“When I saw her picture in the program booklet, I knew this chick was Bollywood bound,” grins Pahuja. “Where the other contestants had more sedate pictures, (Bajwa) had this really glam shot, with her head thrown back. Very Bollywood.”

Locating the Dhillons was just a fluke. When visiting Rishma Malik, another former Miss India-Canada winner who had a brief stint on Indian television, Pahuja came across an Indian magazine article on Vekeana. Pahuja got in touch with the sister-brother team when she reached India.

Speaking over the phone from Mumbai, Vikram says he’s recently formed his own production company called Miracle.

“It a miracle to be here, you know,” he laughs. “My sister Vekeana and I worked as VJs for a year. I got bored with that; it wasn’t my cup of tea. At Miracle we make TV software, music videos, ads, and we’re promoting new talent from Canada. Right now I am promoting (an Indo-Canadian) group from Vancouver called Signia.”

His sister, meanwhile, is writing a book. Now 28, Vikram hopes to direct his first film before he’s 35. He’s heard that Bajwa is in Mumbai too, but he hasn’t been able to locate her.

“If you find her before I do, tell her I’m looking for her,” he says.

For Pahuja, however, Bhatia was the most fascinating character.

“You get this sense that she’s always playing a role,” she says. “She’s very smart and intelligent. She’s also very conflicted and totally enigmatic.

“What’s interesting is that everyone (Bhatia, the Dhillons and Bajwa) has this romanticized view of India. (Bhatia’s) fantasy of India as a holy land is just as romantic as (Bajwa’s) fantasy of finding work in Bollywood or Vekeana’s of coming home.”

Bollywood Bound plays with this notion of illusion and reality by interspersing clips from popular Bollywood films in the midst of its narrative. This juxtaposition also reflects the importance of Bollywood for South Asian children growing up in Canada.

“For people of my generation, everything is a negotiation. We’re not comfortable in our skin,” says Pahuja.

“These films are somehow representative of a community trying to locate itself. There’s a mixture of anger and loss. Anger because you know the films are playing on your emotions to make a buck. But there’s also that call back home.

“Hindi films have somehow made the transition from that world to this world easier.

Toronto Star, [12/14/2001]

Bollywood import arrives today, and the music has fans ready

“I know! This must be the song where Shahrukh Khan and Kajol are getting married,” exclaims my roommate.

“Hritik is Shahrukh’s brother, of course. Kareena must be Kajol’s friend. So, Hritik probably sees Kareena for the first time in this song.”

My roommate and I are cruising down the 401, busy dissecting the plot of the much-awaited Bollywood blockbuster, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, while listening to its soundtrack. Shahrukh Khan, Kajol, Hritik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor are Bollywood superstars acting in the movie, which opens today.

It’s hard for us not to get sucked into the latest Bollywood mania that’s gripped the South Asian community.

The selling of hugely popular Indian films is a marketing marvel that flies under the radar of most mainstream media and fans.

Advertising for new Bollywood releases in Toronto is relegated to ethnic media. The movies play mostly in two Indian cinemas (Woodside and Albion). Yet, over the past two years, several Indian movies released in North America have had multi-million-dollar box-office grosses. During a shared opening weekend in Toronto in 1999, Bollywood blockbuster Taal grossed almost as much as Stanley Kubrick’s highly publicized Eyes Wide Shut.

But Indian film distributors have some special tricks up their sleeves that help get their films noticed by their target audience.

Soundtracks of upcoming flicks are released months before the movie, and Indian TV stations like B4U (Bollywood For You) or Sony India, available via satellite in Toronto, show snippets of the songs repeatedly on their version of music video shows.

And contests organized in the local ethnic media for free movie tickets and posters displayed in the Indian movie theatres ensure people are aware of new films.

So Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’s soundtrack can be heard blaring from many of the shops in various South Asian neighbourhoods. Indian video stores have posters of the movie plastered on their windows.

Then there is word of mouth. A regular practitioner of that art, my Sri Lankan friend Sukaneya Subramanian, already has four dates for the movie - the first one with her family, another with afriend, another with a curious Canadian co-worker and a fourth one with a gaggle of girls. I admit to having told my friends about the film rather breathlessly.

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham is the second film by Indian director Karan Johar. His first was Kuch Kuch Hota Ha, which did big business, both in India and North America, with Toronto one of the largest markets.

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is about the love-triangle of college mates Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan), Tina (Rani Mukherjee) and Anjali (Kajol). With its catchy soundtrack, designer duds and fantasy-like setting - the college the trio attended looked more like a Beverly Hills 90210 campus - the movie was lapped up by South Asians young and old.

In his second movie, Johar is apparently playing his cards right again.

“It’s all about loving your parents,” says the advertising tagline for Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. In thecurrent Bollywood culture, permeated with mini-skirts and tube-tops along with sheer saris and salwar-kameezes (long tunic and pants), Johar is adding the requisite element of tradition.

By casting six of Bollywood’s hot-property actors, Johar is leaving nothing to chance. The film features two Indian superstars of yesteryear, Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan. The lead pair of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Shahrukh Khan and Kajol, is also in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. And two of India’s latest heartthrobs - Hritik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor - join in.

The actual plot of the movie is that of a family drama with a potpourri of romance, tragedy, comedy and songs thrown in.

The Raichands are a happy, loving and very well-to-do family. There’s the patriarch, Yash (Amitabh Bachchan), his wife, Nandini (Jaya Bachchan), and two sons Rahul (Shahrukh Khan) and Rohan (Hritik Roshan). Unfortunately, Rahul decides to marry Anjali (Kajol), whose middle-class family background doesn’t quite meet the standards of papa Raichand. Rahul and Anjali leave the house. Now it’s up to Rohan and Anjali’s younger sister Pooja (Kareena Kapoor) to get them back together.

Shot mostly in London and Mumbai, the budget of the film is said to be about 450 million rupees ($9.4 million), making it Bollywood’s most expensive film to date.

According to India Today, a current affairs magazine, Johar’s producer father had originally budgeted the film at 250 million rupees, but when the cost of shooting the first song alone was 3 million rupees, he gave up trying to keep the budget down.

So watch for songs showcasing glittering fabrics, genuine hand-embroidered Jamevar shawls, custom-made chandeliers and the 50 svelte blonde dancers imported from England.
Indian movie pundits are touting the movie as a hit even before its release.

The expectations from Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’s Toronto audiences are equally big. Especially my friend Sukaneya. She’s desperately hoping it’s worth watching four times.