Credit crunch-ed Bollywood to unveil its thrifty side at Cannes

Host of producers from India have descended on the Riviera to woo global audiences with Indian movies.

This year round the Cannes Film Festival will witness the thrift side of Bollywood. Host of producers from the sub-continent have descended on the Riviera to woo global audiences with Indian movies flavoured with dashes of Western talent.

Among the titles looking for distributors is ‘Teen Patti’,a thriller featuring Sir Ben Kingsley,the British actor best known for playing Gandhi,and Amitabh Bachchan,the Indian superstar,as mathematics professors.

The film has been made on a meagre budget (in terms of Hollywood) of 5 million pounds,reports The Times.

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The films producer Ambika Hinduja,a member of Indias wealthy Hinduja family,shot it in Mumbai,London and Cambridge.

According to Ambika,the project is globalised cinema a genre epitomised by the darling of last years festivals,Slumdog Millionaire,made for 15 million pounds,but which went on to take 225 million pounds at the box office.

Other modestly budgeted Bollywood films like Kites featuring Hrithik Roshan and Barbara Mori,an actress who has a massive following in Latin America,have equally soaring desires of broaching cultural walls.

Several other East-West collaborations likely to be discussed at Cannes,include ‘Kambakkht Ishq’,a rom-com starring Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor.

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The film has a special highlight it marks the Bollywood debut of Sylvester Stallone,who appears along with Brandon Routh and Denise Richards.

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