Life on the Lam

Two years ago, on a late February evening, Los Angeles-based NASA scientist Bedabrata Pain slid an envelope across the dining table to his w...

Two years ago, on a late February evening, Los Angeles-based NASA scientist Bedabrata Pain slid an envelope across the dining table to his wife. Shonali Bose opened the tiny coverlet to discover a 50,000 Rs 21 lakh cheque made out to him by the space agency8212;a patent payout for designing the chip that gave birth to mini digital cameras. It was Pain8217;s contribution to the Rs 2.6 crore kitty his wife needed to make her first feature, Amu.

8216;8216;Given a choice between the kid8217;s education or the movie, there was no question which we had to do,8217;8217; says the mother of two. It took the 39-year-old University of California film school grad another four months of scrounging and presentations to gather the rest of the financing. 8220;At times,8221; she says, 8216;8216;I didn8217;t think this thing would get made.8217;8217;

Such are the lives and tales of the intrepid NRI film-maker. Recent times have seen an unprecedented influx of desi-born dreamcatchers8212;including the lady who wants to do a biopic on Sonia Gandhi8212;head home to try out their camera fingers. These foreign residents and their families have paused careers, sublet homes and bought a ticket to find out if passion has the power to feed, if nothing else, at least the soul.

The pioneering act was in 1995, when an unknown US-based chemical engineer made his way back home to Hyderabad with a cache of savings and loans. He had chucked a lucrative gig as an environmental consultant for a crazy project8212;to produce and direct a movie. Nagesh Kukunoor made a grimy, stuttering film about an NRI for a paltry Rs 17 lakh; Hyderabad Blues ran to packed houses for 31 weeks and became the year8217;s biggest hit. Kukunoor8217;s quixotic journey has fired the imaginations of a whole species like him.

Dehradun-born Digvijay Singh, 32, is staying at his cousin8217;s place in south Mumbai while writing scripts and working on a TV movie. He has a production company in Los Angeles, Kundalini Pictures. Singh8217;s 2001 debut Maya, about the devdasi traditions of south India, was a festival favourite8212;it bagged the People8217;s Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival, and five more at other festivals that year. When Singh first began scouting for finance for the film, someone suggested he add a white face in the script to make it more attractive. 8216;8216;He felt I should change the storyline so that a backpacking white journalist could rescue the devdasi girls. I thought he was joking,8217;8217; says Singh.

It8217;s a process that begins with a pitch, and ends with a promise. Unfortunately, most times the pot of gold doesn8217;t materialise. 8216;8216;They ask you when you want the cheques, and then one day, suddenly, they stop taking your phone call.8217;8217;

A great reason why family often works out best8212;at least they can8217;t ignore you. When Bose brought her film about the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 to the Mumbai Academy of Moving Images8217; MAMI film festival this month, Pain took a month off work. Her children, two boys aged seven and 11, were put up with relatives in New Delhi. Bose8217;s film itself was a collaboration of friends and family. Her aunt, activist Brinda Karat, played the title character8217;s adoptive mother; another aunt, NDTV head Radhika Roy, was creative consultant, and 60 per cent of the film was shot at a friend8217;s uncle8217;s. 8216;8216;There8217;s nothing official, and no one you can go to. So you simply ask people you know. You know they8217;ll help,8217;8217; says Bose.

In a rented flat in suburban Mumbai, Bose8217;s family pal 39-year-old Somnath Sen knows what she8217;s talking about. Another LA resident, he8217;s also part of a husband-wife team. Sen, a Delhi-born engineering graduate, started out hauling production equipment for 8216;8216;cigarette money8217;8217; in the late 8217;80s. The bummin8217; got serious when he discovered a flair for 70mm drama.

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Three years ago, Sen and spouse Kavita Munjal, former marketing head with the Discovery Channel, came up with a script. 8216;8216;I8217;d been saying for years I wanted to make a movie, finally Kavita was like just do it,8217;8217; says Sen. And they did. In 2002, they co-produced the Dimple Kapadia-Vinod Khanna starrer, Leela.

The attraction to Bollywood heroes and childhood favourites is a crazy clash with their independent credentials, but for these folks of the firm middle-class, Pakeezah and Bachchan are an intrinsic part of their identity.

Meet Varun Khanna. Earlier this month, the MAMI festival screened his directorial debut, Beyond Honour. The macabre docu-film on female genital mutilation had women shrinking into their seats or running out the door. You8217;d think the creator of such austerity would look down on Bollywood8217;s swinging romances and adventures. But you8217;d be wrong.

SHOW ME THE MONEY

8216;8216;Arre ek magazine lao.8217;8217;
8216;8216;Kaun sa, Stardust ya Cine Blitz?8217;8217;
It8217;s the script for the latest rupee churner from Tinseltown8212;the Bollywood tour.
Devised and bankrolled by Suniel Shetty8217;s Popcorn Entertainment and travel portal TravelMartIndia, the plan is to let tourists get close and personal with a Bollywood set, stars and situation.
Those interested in a cultural interface can, for a mere 100 approx Rs 4,400, get a day8217;s tour of Bollywood fare8212;including a round of real and made-up film sets, bites of information such as the fact that a magazine refers to the canister that holds a reel and not a film rag on movie magic plus lunch. 8216;8216;For one day, we take them into the greatest show on earth,8217;8217; says the tour8217;s creative head Naman Ramachandran.
A full-time Sheesh Mahal-esque set in Filmistan with more than 15 fake actors, dancers, producer and director stimulate the geography of a film shoot. Everyone operates on a predesigned script and the idea is to entertain and educate. 8216;8216;Everyone loves Bollywood, but most people don8217;t see the grit that goes into it,8217;8217; says Ramachandran.

Every Christmas, this 30-something sends a greeting card to a man who doesn8217;t even know his name8212;Om Puri. 8216;8216;I don8217;t even care if he doesn8217;t know me, I adore the man,8217;8217; says Khanna. And Khanna8217;s second work, a relatively sedate movie about a family-run restaurant, stars everyone8217;s favourite NRI dad, Anupam Kher. A hard core Mumbaikar, Khanna is Bose8217;s old school chum. 8216;8216;She and I used to be on opposite sides of the debating team,8217;8217; remembers Khanna.

But to the Rs 4,500 crore Mumbai industry, these indies are just bark. 8216;8216;Of the 20 to 25 small-budget films that came out in 2004, almost none made money,8217;8217; says trade analyst Indu Mirani.

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8216;8216;So independent film-makers are treated with a bit of amusement.8217;8217;

Actually, ask these guys about making money and you8217;ll hear about passion. A cliche, perhaps, but it8217;s fuel. 8216;8216;If you ask me do I have a plan, then no. I don8217;t know where I8217;ll be in five years, though I know exactly where I would like to be,8217;8217; says Sen.

In between those as-yet-unfulfilled big plans, there are the small opportunities that bring in the bacon and contacts. Zee Telefilms has kick-started a project that will produce 52 short films on subjects varying from an existential piece about a household driver to another about an amnesiac. Many of the stories are being filmed by independents like London-based Sight and Sound film critic Naman Ramachandran, 33, who8217;s doing Yaad.

Over multiple cups of triple espresso, Ramachandran talks about the winding road he took to find his calling. This odd jobs man of Bengali-Keralite stock hates the 9-5 concept and once ran a talcum powder factory in Bangalore; his first video was for rock band Millennium. The Pune film institute dropout is the brain behind Popcorn Entertainment8217;s 100 tour of Bollywood see box. 8216;8216;Of course it8217;s lowbrow, but when tourists come to see the paint and glamour of Bollywood, that8217;s exactly what I8217;ll give them.8217;8217;

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And Ramachandran8217;s connection with Bollywood is about to get cemented. The former HBO producer, who chucked a cushy job in Singapore to go to film school, has signed up a Rs 35-crore film starring some of the biggest names in tinseltown. Ramachandran won8217;t name any names till things are on paper8212;a cautiousness that comes from projects that disappeared into thin air. 8216;8216;Nothing in this town8217;s for sure till you sign on the dotted line.8217;8217; A tiny detail that can8217;t dampen the dreams and wishes of this lot.