The power of Bollywood
Yash Chopra introduced us to Switzerland and more than anything introduced us to the possibility of being able to shoot overseas and bringing to our films the splendour of the foreign location. Of course it started out with white sarees and the beautiful green meadows and a Govinda and Karisma Kapoor dancing to the joy of everyone watching them on the street of Bern.
A lot has changed and yet not much has changed as far as the Indian crew is concerned in some foreign locales. Last week I read the report in a newspaper that Mahesh Bhatt’s crew of the film Crook was not treated well down under and as a matter of fact they were put to some shameful treatment. I don’t know how much of that report comes true but there are countries that invite us with open arms and yet there are countries that are not so welcoming.
Australia is definitely a country where you are going to have problems shooting if you have not played by all the rules. I remember I wanted to do a shot of a man jumping off the Sydney Bridge and I was told I was out of my mind. I think they might not be wrong in thinking that of me but hell, people trek up the bridge. In any case I told them that I would have safety boats in the water under the bridge and it was still no go. Then I got an idea. What if I threw a dummy of the bridge and not a real person. No, I was told. Why I asked. the health officer said that if someone standing on the balcony in an apartment which was a kilometre from the bridge saw a person like figure jumping into the water they might get scared and die of a heart attack! I thought it was a joke. He was serious. Surely no Australian is so weak at heart and especially when we are filming and yet, no go!
Australia is a country where I got the feeling that they don’t like me too much. It might be Indians in general or just me in particular but I did not feel very welcome.
New York on the other hand, if you have the permission you can do whatever it is that you want and they love people filming there. I remember I was shooting slam in the middle of Times Square and the officer on the beat told us that it was okay for us to have our lunch in the middle of Times Square. We had shooting permission so what the hell!
England and Yorkshire was a complete pleasure during 1920. They did everything in their power to make my shooting experience an extremely enjoyable one. I shall never forget the hospitality that Screen Yorkshire extended to me.
The world at large needs to know that we are the largest film industry in the world and the most competitive. It might not be possible to make every film council in the world like us but we also have the right not to go there and give them the permission to insult us. If someone is not waking up to the power of “Bollywood” then it is not out of anything but their ignorance.
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