A. R. Rahman’s marvel of light and sound – but where’s the music? (part 1)

AR Rahman was supposed to be in the Bay Area in early summer and with great difficulty seats were procured.  Then there was an accident with some props and the tour was postponed.  We had a group made up of various visitors from all over and they went  their way.  Of course it would make sense that concert tickets should be fully refundable if the event was delayed.  So we went to Indian Store where they tickets were bought only to be told “Ji we know nothing about these tickets, please to contact the organizers!”. A phone call to the organizers and we were told “of course we can refund money if you show us the plane tickets of those in the party who have now left” !!!  I could imagine a phone call to India, and then a courier-ing of tickets, so it seemed like giving tickets away to friends might be a cheaper option.  But these tickets became surprisingly hard to give away.  Then I discovered that it is not easy to convince people to come for a FREE ARRahman concert if it is being held on Sunday night!  The 7:00 pm concert will begin at 8:00 pm and likely be a mismanaged affair that will go on forever with long breaks filled with random stuff.  Or it could go the way of the recent Sukhvinder concert where he arrived 2-3 hours late, sang 5 songs and hurriedly left while the crowd pelted the stage with whatever they had on hand!  The reluctance was understandable.

127 Hours by Danny Boyle: trailer

Freida Pinto talks to New York Times

All I can say is - who cares about the acting of you have the cheekbones?

Is AR Rahman considering quitting Bollywood?????

A.R. Rahman has been considering whether he should quit Bollywood or not to give him more time to focus on his international career.
"The Indian assignments after Slumdog Millioniare have been very time-consuming, especially Raavan where Rahman not only had to do two versions of the music in Hindi and Tamil, but director Mani Ratnam also asked him to give three or four tunes for every lyric before one was selected, " a source revealed.
"The music of Raavan took more time than Rahman could afford, with the result that other Indian assignments primarily Abbas Tyrewala’s untitled John Abraham-Pakhi starrer got left behind.
"Rahman had to continuously keep breaking his international tours and other projects to be home for various reasons, like the music release of Raavan and other things. He has begun to feel that his international career would never take off if he has to keep returning home."

Looking for that elusive crossover film

Of late every Bollywood producer wants to make the ultimate film, one that will crossover and become our own Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon or Slumdog Millionaire. Both Slumdog and Crouching Tiger not only won critical acclaim but also became big money spinners in the West. So is it a quest for glory per se in the form of recognition in the West, or is it sheer size of the market for movies in the rest of the world that is driving these endeavors? The attempts so far have seen marginal to no success. Which brings to mind the questions - what is a crossover film and what content would make a successful crossover film?

Let me put forth my definition of a crossover film. Such films go beyond the traditional markets in the home country, or already exploited by films from the country, and usually end up making a lot of money. This is why no big studio film from HW is ever thought of as a crossover film - they have already expanded to the far reaches of the world, and depending on content, enjoy varying success in these regions. So why do we think of Slumdog Millionaire as a crossover film? Is it the fact that it is based on an Indian novel? Or the fact that it has a completely Indian cast? Can we think of Mel Gibson's Apocalypto as a crossover film? I would propose that Slumdog Millionaire was never intended to be, nor was it ever supposed to be a film that needed to crossover. It could be thought of as an Indie film that made it big, sort of like a mammoth Little Miss Sunshine.

What about Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon? Ang Lee was coming off two successful Chinese films Wedding Banquet and Eat Drink Man Woman (both quite popular in the West) when he directed Sense and Sensibility. This one got him nominations and awards galore. As someone who went to film school in the US and trained under Spike Lee, it is not surprising that the man is in touch with Western audiences. So when he decided to make Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon in the Wuxia genre with three strong female warriors, and a master who connected them together, he did not pick a traditional Chinese tale set way back in the past, but a rather contemporary tale set in the past, and used two actors who were not Chinese and already somewhat known in the west. Chow Yun-Fat was well known from the John Woo actions thrillers and has been seen in a few HW productions already, so this was favored over his inability to speak fluent Mandarin. Similarly Malaysian born Michelle Yeoh had already gained popularity as a Bond girl a few years before, and was picked despite her lack of Mandarin. So the film was made mainly for crossover audiences. It ended up being just that and not doing well at all in the home market in China. Similarly, the "Indian" (though never Bollywood) film Monsoon Wedding was a quintessential crossover film, that did poorly in the domestic market in India. Subjects that are acceptable to the Western audiences (like incest and pedophilia) will never be palatable to general Indian audiences outside a small niche of multiplex viewers.

Recent efforts in Bollywood to crossover also seem studied ones. The makers picked a demographic, and it had to be one that was fairly large, and then tried to fuse elements into their films that would entice that demographic. Thus Chandni Chowk to China filmed in China and used Chinese actors, had a martial arts focus, and even a leading lady who was supposed to be half-Chinese. The film fared poorly in the domestic market and created no blip in the Box office that caters to a billion Chinese speakers. Another similar example is that of Kites. In this film a Hispanic leading lady, a lot of Spanish dialogs, and a New Mexico and Mexico setting were used as hooks to lure in some fraction of the 400 million Spanish speakers worldwide. The film sank in the Indian market and left no mark anywhere else in the world. The third film had an Islamic focus, hoped to capture the fancy of some of over 1.5 billion Muslims population worldwide, and used an autistic man to showcase religious profiling in the US. The film was a decent success in the domestic market (though much less than one would expect for the scale at which it was mounted), and a bumper success in the Middle East, Malaysia, Singapore, all non-traditional markets with a substantial Muslim population. It fared well in the usual overseas markets and ended up as the highest overseas grossing BW film.

Before thinking of content that would work in crossover films, there are two points to consider. The first relates to the capacity in India itself. A film like 3 Idiots showed that with a crowd pleasing content it is possible to collect 2 times the money (in India) collected by any other Indian film. And when a film like this one does a decent job overseas (though in the traditional markets), one wonders why there is this fuss about crossing over. Second thing to keep in mind is that no film that was made with a deliberate aim to crossover ever succeeded on the home-ground. So success overseas, if seen at all, is usually at the expense of domestic success. While this has happened for some crossover films, with Crouching Tiger and Bend It Like Beckham as prime examples, when Indian film-makers stop making films for Indian audiences and chase after fame or money overseas they end up with NOTHING in their hands.

There is also the issue of Hollywood Studios trying to gain a foothold in the Indian market. Their investment aims to capitalize on the 1 billion plus Indian population, and is not focused on making a crossover film. They already have most of the Western market, and want to expand to non-traditional markets. Have they invested wisely so far? The investment of Sony Pictures in Saawariya was probably most suited to the goal the outfit was after, Saawariya was not supposed to be a crossover film. However, it turned into a debacle because no one ever saw what Mr. Bhansali was cooking until the dish was served up! And an adaptation of The White Nights, set in a fantasy land was not a film rooted in any tradition the Indian audiences could relate to. Warner Brothers invested in Roadside Romeo without realizing that a pricey children's film is a non-starter in India. We will go with our kids to see Harry Potter, but not some Indian made film that seems half baked. Now they are investing in more low key films, like Atithi Tum Kab Jaaoge, and meeting with good success. Fox invested in My Name is Khan and did not see much success in India, though the film saw excellent success in the Islamic world and in the traditional Hindi film markets overseas.

So what kind of films can crossover? Make films that tell stories that appeal to people world-over. Do not ape the West in narrative, or style. Be true to your roots and traditions.
Read more HERE

Looking for that elusive crossover film

Of late every Bollywood producer wants to make the ultimate film, one that will crossover and become our own Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon or Slumdog Millionaire. Both Slumdog and Crouching Tiger not only won critical acclaim but also became big money spinners in the West. So is it a quest for glory per se in the form of recognition in the West, or is it sheer size of the market for movies in the rest of the world that is driving these endeavors? The attempts so far have seen marginal to no success. Which brings to mind the questions - what is a crossover film and what content would make a successful crossover film?

Let me put forth my definition of a crossover film. Such films go beyond the traditional markets in the home country, or already exploited by films from the country, and usually end up making a lot of money. This is why no big studio film from HW is ever thought of as a crossover film - they have already expanded to the far reaches of the world, and depending on content, enjoy varying success in these regions. So why do we think of Slumdog Millionaire as a crossover film? Is it the fact that it is based on an Indian novel? Or the fact that it has a completely Indian cast? Can we think of Mel Gibson's Apocalypto as a crossover film? I would propose that Slumdog Millionaire was never intended to be, nor was it ever supposed to be a film that needed to crossover. It could be thought of as an Indie film that made it big, sort of like a mammoth Little Miss Sunshine.

What about Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon? Ang Lee was coming off two successful Chinese films Wedding Banquet and Eat Drink Man Woman (both quite popular in the West) when he directed Sense and Sensibility. This one got him nominations and awards galore. As someone who went to film school in the US and trained under Spike Lee, it is not surprising that the man is in touch with Western audiences. So when he decided to make Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon in the Wuxia genre with three strong female warriors, and a master who connected them together, he did not pick a traditional Chinese tale set way back in the past, but a rather contemporary tale set in the past, and used two actors who were not Chinese and already somewhat known in the west. Chow Yun-Fat was well known from the John Woo actions thrillers and has been seen in a few HW productions already, so this was favored over his inability to speak fluent Mandarin. Similarly Malaysian born Michelle Yeoh had already gained popularity as a Bond girl a few years before, and was picked despite her lack of Mandarin. So the film was made mainly for crossover audiences. It ended up being just that and not doing well at all in the home market in China. Similarly, the "Indian" (though never Bollywood) film Monsoon Wedding was a quintessential crossover film, that did poorly in the domestic market in India. Subjects that are acceptable to the Western audiences (like incest and pedophilia) will never be palatable to general Indian audiences outside a small niche of multiplex viewers.

Recent efforts in Bollywood to crossover also seem studied ones. The makers picked a demographic, and it had to be one that was fairly large, and then tried to fuse elements into their films that would entice that demographic. Thus Chandni Chowk to China filmed in China and used Chinese actors, had a martial arts focus, and even a leading lady who was supposed to be half-Chinese. The film fared poorly in the domestic market and created no blip in the Box office that caters to a billion Chinese speakers. Another similar example is that of Kites. In this film a Hispanic leading lady, a lot of Spanish dialogs, and a New Mexico and Mexico setting were used as hooks to lure in some fraction of the 400 million Spanish speakers worldwide. The film sank in the Indian market and left no mark anywhere else in the world. The third film had an Islamic focus, hoped to capture the fancy of some of over 1.5 billion Muslims population worldwide, and used an autistic man to showcase religious profiling in the US. The film was a decent success in the domestic market (though much less than one would expect for the scale at which it was mounted), and a bumper success in the Middle East, Malaysia, Singapore, all non-traditional markets with a substantial Muslim population. It fared well in the usual overseas markets and ended up as the highest overseas grossing BW film.

Before thinking of content that would work in crossover films, there are two points to consider. The first relates to the capacity in India itself. A film like 3 Idiots showed that with a crowd pleasing content it is possible to collect 2 times the money (in India) collected by any other Indian film. And when a film like this one does a decent job overseas (though in the traditional markets), one wonders why there is this fuss about crossing over. Second thing to keep in mind is that no film that was made with a deliberate aim to crossover ever succeeded on the home-ground. So success overseas, if seen at all, is usually at the expense of domestic success. While this has happened for some crossover films, with Crouching Tiger and Bend It Like Beckham as prime examples, when Indian film-makers stop making films for Indian audiences and chase after fame or money overseas they end up with NOTHING in their hands.

There is also the issue of Hollywood Studios trying to gain a foothold in the Indian market. Their investment aims to capitalize on the 1 billion plus Indian population, and is not focused on making a crossover film. They already have most of the Western market, and want to expand to non-traditional markets. Have they invested wisely so far? The investment of Sony Pictures in Saawariya was probably most suited to the goal the outfit was after, Saawariya was not supposed to be a crossover film. However, it turned into a debacle because no one ever saw what Mr. Bhansali was cooking until the dish was served up! And an adaptation of The White Nights, set in a fantasy land was not a film rooted in any tradition the Indian audiences could relate to. Warner Brothers invested in Roadside Romeo without realizing that a pricey children's film is a non-starter in India. We will go with our kids to see Harry Potter, but not some Indian made film that seems half baked. Now they are investing in more low key films, like Atithi Tum Kab Jaaoge, and meeting with good success. Fox invested in My Name is Khan and did not see much success in India, though the film saw excellent success in the Islamic world and in the traditional Hindi film markets overseas.

So what kind of films can crossover? Make films that tell stories that appeal to people world-over. Do not ape the West in narrative, or style. Be true to your roots and traditions.
Read more HERE

Slumdog kids to act in Hollywood movie

Nearly two years after Slumdog Millionaire created history at the Oscars, child actors from a Mumbai slum Azharuddin Mohammed Shaikh and Rubina Ali Qureshi have been signed for a Hollywood movie. They will each be paid 1,000 pounds per day for 20-25 days of shooting, their contract says.
The movie, Lord Owen's Lady, is being produced by Dragons Productions (Wales) Ltd, based in London and Cardiff, Rubina's publicist and agent Dinesh Dubey said.
"The shooting for the movie, for which Indian actor Rohini Hattangadi and some other kids from Slumdog Millionaire have been signed on, will start in early 2011," Dubey told IANS here Saturday.
Hattangadi, an accomplished actor, has earlier played Kasturba Gandhi in the Oscar winning Gandhi (1982) by Sir Richard Attenborough. Ben Kingsley played the title role.
Lord Owen's Lady will also feature Hollywood star Anthony Hopkins as the father of Lord Owen, a reckless heir who falls in love with a stunning Indian woman.
"Azharuddin and Rubina shall be playing the role of Hopkin's grandchildren in the movie," Dubey said.
The movie is expected to be shot in Dubai, Wales and other locations, said Dubey.
Azharudding and Rubina shot to fame for their roles in Danny Boyles' movie Slumdog Millionaire, which bagged eight Oscars including for the best movie of the year in 2009.

LINK

Slumdog kids to act in Hollywood movie

Nearly two years after Slumdog Millionaire created history at the Oscars, child actors from a Mumbai slum Azharuddin Mohammed Shaikh and Rubina Ali Qureshi have been signed for a Hollywood movie. They will each be paid 1,000 pounds per day for 20-25 days of shooting, their contract says.
The movie, Lord Owen's Lady, is being produced by Dragons Productions (Wales) Ltd, based in London and Cardiff, Rubina's publicist and agent Dinesh Dubey said.
"The shooting for the movie, for which Indian actor Rohini Hattangadi and some other kids from Slumdog Millionaire have been signed on, will start in early 2011," Dubey told IANS here Saturday.
Hattangadi, an accomplished actor, has earlier played Kasturba Gandhi in the Oscar winning Gandhi (1982) by Sir Richard Attenborough. Ben Kingsley played the title role.
Lord Owen's Lady will also feature Hollywood star Anthony Hopkins as the father of Lord Owen, a reckless heir who falls in love with a stunning Indian woman.
"Azharuddin and Rubina shall be playing the role of Hopkin's grandchildren in the movie," Dubey said.
The movie is expected to be shot in Dubai, Wales and other locations, said Dubey.
Azharudding and Rubina shot to fame for their roles in Danny Boyles' movie Slumdog Millionaire, which bagged eight Oscars including for the best movie of the year in 2009.

LINK