July 27, 2003

Cinema Canned in Canada It's lights, camera, new location for Bollywood By V. Radhika/Toronto

Tim Robbins won a round of applause when he congratulated Clint Eastwood at Cannes for rejecting Toronto as a filming site for his forthcoming flick Mystic River. "Thank You, Clint! We love Canada but we're so tired of going there," said the actor-director, echoing the sentiments of Hollywood. For Indian film-makers, however, the romance with Canada has just begun.

Having captured the Swiss and European landscape from every possible angle, Bollywood is now focusing on Canada. And the country provides diverse locales-the European-look of Quebec and Montreal, skyscraper-dotted Toronto, the magnificent Rocky Mountains in Calgary, picturesque Vancouver and the Niagara Falls-to suit the mercurial moods in Hindi cinema.

In the frame: Bollywood unit in British Columbia; (Above left) Actor Hrithik Roshan shooting for Na Tum Jaano Na Hum

Producer Yash Johar was in Toronto recently to shoot Kal Ho Na Ho with Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Saif Ali Khan, while Vikram Bhatt was directing Amitabh Bachchan, John Abraham and Bipasha Basu for Aitbaar in Vancouver. Boney Kapoor's two films (Bewafaa starring Anil Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor, and Run with Abhishek Bachchan in the lead) and a television serial (Hamari Bahu Malini Iyer) are being shot in Montreal and Quebec.

"My experience has been good and that is why I keep coming back," says Kapoor. "I have shot ten films in the US and Canada." The producer claims to have rediscovered North America for Bollywood. "It was considered a jinxed locale, but when Judai became a hit, that was broken."

Kapoor comes to Canada for its "distinctively different look". Canada, due to its ethnic, architectural and cultural diversity, can also pass off for any other city in the world, and therefore, stories set in New York, Florida, Vienna, Warsaw, Tokyo and Teheran have been convincingly shot in Toronto. Kal Ho Na Ho is set in New York, but is being shot in Toronto because the US city is too expensive. "It is this diversity that beckons film-makers," says Ganesh Nanco Singh, a Toronto-based line producer who has worked with film-makers including Subhash Ghai and Ramsay Productions. Line producers handle logistics such as location scouting, obtaining permits and work visas, and hiring technical labour.

Ghai shot parts of Taal and Pardes in Toronto and Vancouver, and Ramsay Produc-tions' Khiladi series-Khila-diyon Ka Khiladi, International Khiladi, and Mr & Mrs Khiladi-were shot in Toronto. "My father [Keshu Ramsay] has been shooting in Canada for over seven years now. We shoot mostly in Toronto and Calgary, while parts of Hero were shot in Vancouver," Toronto-based Dinesh Ramsay of DMS Films told The Week. "Great locations and the ability to cater to diverse scenic requirements are this country's big plus. The government has also been helpful."

But not all film-makers scout for mere scenic beauty. It was Toronto's back alleys, rusty fire escapes, grungy nightclubs and graffiti that interested director Padam Kumar, who shot Supari here. "By shooting in Toronto, I can portray a more modern version of the mean streets of an Indian city through western urban decay," Kumar said. Supari is about four friends who find themselves enmeshed in the Mumbai (the city is never named though) underworld after they are unable to repay a gambling debt.

Rajat Nayyar of Lionheart Production House (which handled this shoot) said Canada offered a safe working environment, a film-friendly populace and tax concessions offered by the government. Nayyar, who has been involved in providing production support to films such as Taal, Papa the Great and Jodi, said it was cheaper to shoot in Canada than in India because "artists are at the director's disposal, technical labour is excellent and there is more professionalism". Also shoots can be wrapped up fast because the crowds "do not bother you". "It is a misconception that labour in India is cheap," said Kumar. "In the film industry at least, it will cost just as much to shoot in India and it will take longer and require more people."

For film-makers interested in a North American location, Canada scores over the US thanks to the cost factor, said Raj and Bina Shah of Celebrity Productions. Operating out of Los Angeles and Calgary, they have worked on nearly 25 films and commercials, many of which were shot in Canada.

The stringent visa regulations in the US following September 11, are also a factor in bringing Indian film-makers here. Canada's large south Asian communities in cities such as Vancouver and Toronto, make it easy for Indian producers to hire secondary actors, dancers, behind the camera crews and catering services, an advantage found in few other locations outside South Asia.

The increasing presence of Indian film-makers here has led to the US and Canada being dubbed as Bollywood North. The line producers are aggressively promoting Canada, and acting schools and modelling agencies have also benefited.

Models from Mala Singh's Toronto-based SAMA (South Asian Modeling Agency), for instance, have starred in most Indian films shot in Canada. "We spotted the trend in 1997 and knew that it was difficult to bring all the talent, particularly those in secondary roles," she said. "So we set up the first ever acting and modeling agency to train an elite group of people to cater to these needs."

Bollywood's onward march notwithstanding, those in the film business here feel that there is scope for quickening the pace. Toronto-based Indo-Canadian business tycoon Ajay Virmani, who produced Deepa Mehta's film Hollywood Bollywood, said, "Canadians have not promoted themselves much to Bollywood."

One reason for this neglect, said Virmani, could be that Bollywood did not exist on the Canadian radar. However, recent commercial successes like Hollywood Bollywood, Bend It Like Beckham and Guru have brought Bollywood into the film lexicon here and Virmani said, "If we promote Bollywood, it will be good for Canada." That looks to be true. Every shoot, according to Bina, brings anywhere between half a million to one million dollars to Canada.

One of the deterrents faced by Indian film-makers, in Virmani's view, is that even though Canada has beautiful locations, some of them are restricted and one has to go through a complex rigmarole of security guarantees, permits and formalities. The Shahs admit that permits take longer here than in the US, but the issue can be resolved with better and more detailed planning. Untie a few knots and this affair could have a happy ending.

 

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