Friday, October 26, 2007

The Bollywood-Hollywood marriage

Anil Gulati

Indian stars and filmmakers are not far from Hollywood. Hrithik is said to have signed a leading production, Adlabs and Hyde Park Entertainment are working in a co production and Sony Pictures is producing Bhansali’s ‘Saawariya’.

THE BLUE-EYED Krish is planning to work on a Hollywood film in the near future. Media reports say that he has signed a deal with Brad Pitt’s management company Brillstein Grey Entertainment. Though there has been no official confirmation from him, and nor has he denied. His guarded response to media was: “If I get a script that really looks good, then I will”. While Hrithik will be possibly exploring himself in Hollywood, in Bollywood director Vikram Bhatt has come out with Zayed Khan’s venture ‘Speed’ which was released on Friday. Though the film is titled ’Speed’ but has picked up leads from Hollywood’s action packed thriller ’Cellular’ and another hit ’Nick of Time’. Urmila Matondkar has also acted in the movie.

On Hollywood - Bollywood connection, it may be worth to mention about the Ashok Amritraj’s and Adlabs’ new joint venture film, which will feature film actors from Hollywood and India. Hyde Park Entertainment, (Amritraj’s company) has announced the film titled ‘The Other End of the World’, which will be directed by Jimmy Dodson. It stars Jesse Metcalfe (Desperate Housewives), John Tucker (Must Die), Shriya Saran, Larry Miller (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), Sara Foster (The Big Bounce), Anupam Kher and Tara Sharma.

While talking of the same connection it may be pertinent to mention about Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s upcoming romantic film ‘Saawariya’, which will be released near Diwali and is the first Indian film produced by a Hollywood company – Sony Pictures.

The power of Bollywood is also growing and probably that is the reason an American expensive watch company namely Swatch Group is eyeing the Indian film industry, to associate with Bollywood movies to promote its brand Hamilton, which has been featured in over 300 Hollywood movies.

The marriage of Hollywood and Bollywood brands is a win-win situation for all stakeholders – their economies, the industry, cast and crew of both the countries as well as the audience. This will also boost cultural and business relations between the countries and the people

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