Our stars, even the top-most ones excluding some like Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan seem smitten by the idea of working with foreigners. Lately a slew of them have flown Westwards and employed a casting agent in Los Angeles to manage an international career which, sadly, never quite takes off.
The exceptions are Anil Kapoor and Irrfan Khan whose international careers have taken off to some extent.
The most recent Bollywood-to-Hollywood aspirant is Nimrat Kaur who after the globally feted ‘The Lunchbox’ bagged a plum role in the celebrated American series ‘Homeland’. Now, Nimrat is looking at more parts in the West even as she gets busy back home.
Ali Fazal will be seen in a brief role in the latest film in the ‘Fast and the Furious’ series.
Sharing the experience Ali says, “I shot for The Fast And The Furious 7 in Atlanta in Georgia mainly with Vin Diesel. He is the Sallu Bhai of Hollywood. I came away with tremendous respect for him. He was so professional and so humble.”
Ali says he has enters the plot only for a few scenes. “I’ve a guest appearance. But I shot with the whole Fast And Furious gang. Besides Vin Diesel, I also had Nathalie Emmanuel, Paul Walker, Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson and Michelle Rodriguez with me in the scenes that I shot. But my shots were mainly with Vin Diesel. This time Kurt Russell and Jason Strathom are also on board. So the cast was even more formidable and therefore even more challenging and more fun to shoot with.”
Ali says the experience of shooting with The Fast And The Furious cast and crew was a learning curve for him. “They were all awesome. They are one entertaining bunch of professionals. I had a crackerjack of a time with them.”
Pitobash Tripathy’s bravura act in Craig Gillespie’s ‘Million Dollar Arm’ has won him a new fan following in the West. Among the line-up of Indian actors in the film it is Pitobash who has won the maximum acclaim .Discernibly excited the young Oriya actor who started his Bollywood career with a brief role in Krishna DK and Raj Nidimoru’s ‘99’ in 2009 says he feels like a newcomer all over again. “I can’t tell you the excitement and nervousness I feel. It’s like I am starting my career from scratch. I have the same butterflies in my stomach.”
The response in the US has been overwhelming. “We had a preview screening in LA. When I came out there were people waiting to get a picture with me and to get me to sign an autograph.I was stunned.I want to know how they came to know about me and my performance when the film has not opened in the US.”
Dazed and disoriented Pitobash has sought Hollywood-centric Irrfan Khan’s help. “I met him for advice on how to go about my career in the West. Irrfan Saab was very helpful. I’ve always looked up to him as a role model. Now I’ve more reason to do so.”
Pitobash feels the entire cast of Million Dollar Arm has been most helpful. “Shooting the film was like a family affair. When we shot for 21 days in India we all became one united family. Then we moved to Atlanta and LA for shooting and the friendship grew even stronger. Everyone from John Hamm and Alan Arkin, to Suraj Sharma and Madhur Mittal became a friend. We all bonded so beautifully. And the bond continues even now during the film’s release. All my colleagues from the cast are so helpful. They are helping me find my bearings in Laid have been lost without them.”
Pitabosh says the whole journey from Bollywood to Hollywood has been like a dream. “I can’t believe I’ve come here. It took 2 and a half months and 16 rounds of audition for me to get this role. I feel I am part of a dream. I will soon wake up and realize it never happened.”
While some Indian actors have made a name in the West others seem to be merely shooting fantasies in the dark .We had stories of Shah Rukh Khan’s purported collaboration with ,ahem ahem, Leonardo Di Caprio in a film called X-Treme City. There were prompt denials from Di Caprio’s office.
Says a filmmaker on condition of anonymity. “It’s okay when a Himesh Reshammiya spreads the word about his collaboration with Lady Gaga. Everyone knows it’s a fake and we all laugh. But when news comes of SRK teaming up with Di Caprio it seems serious business. And then the denial makes SRK look silly. A star of his stature doesn’t need it.”
True. But then who will tell the PR machinery that stars like the Khans don’t need their names associated with global celebs to get bigger? We’ve had some pretty awful experiences in that area.
We’ve heard the awesome A R Rahman make music with an over-the-hill Kylie Minogue for a super-disastrous film called Blue. Who really gave a fig about Minogue?
Decades ago Gina Lollobrigida flew down to Mumbai, then Bombay, for the mahurat of Krishna Shah’s Shalimar. She left in a huff and never did the film thereafter. Years later Bo Derek made a peek-a-boo appearance in Kaizad Gustad’s disastrous Boom .More recently we had Akon flying down to sing for Shah Rukh Khan in Ra.1.
Ever noticed how most of these foreign collaborations in Bollywood end up in fiascos? Sylvester Stallone and ‘Superman’ Brandon Routh played walk-on parts for whopping fees in Sabir Khan’s Kambhakkt Ishq. Not one person paid ticket money for the grand privilege of seeing Stallone speak a line in Hindi to Kareena Kapoor.
Sanjay Gupta who has quite frequently adapted Hollywood films has never thought of working with any of them. Says Gupta, “Whenever I hear of some Indian entertainer collaborating with an international name I take it with a pinch of salt. nil Kapoor is the only actor we have who has broken through with dignity and style into the Hollywood A League. The rest are just hollow vessels making a lot of noise in their desperation to be heard and written about.”
We recently heard of Adnan Sami teaming up with Michael Jackson for in album produced by Michael’s brother Jermaine. Michael passed away. The only desi Bollywood musician apart from Rahman to have collaborated with an international musician is Asha Bhosle who aeons ago did a song with Boy George. Bappi Lahiri did a Bollywood song with Samantha Fox. But lately all the talk of Britney Spears and Shakira coming down to be with us is mere idol chatter not to be taken seriously.
Says Mahesh Bhatt,“63 years after independence our minds are still colonized. We choose to be shackled to the idea that only if the western world endorses are worth have we truly made it.”
