Swiss filmmakers give up cheese for Bollywood masala

We’ve heard of Bollywood romancing the Swiss Alps, but now the wind is blowing in the other direction. Two Swiss film-makers, director ...

We’ve heard of Bollywood romancing the Swiss Alps, but now the wind is blowing in the other direction. Two Swiss film-makers, director Kamal Musale and producer Heinz Dill, are in Mumbai to put Bollywood through a screen test. Musale plans to make two films here while Dill is setting up a production house to assist Indians who want to make films in his country.

Musale’s films will have an all-Indian cast and crew. However, the target audience “will be European,’’ he says. Musale’s Indian origin, his grandfather was born in Gujarat, is the only factor that draws him to India. He is interested in Hindi films for their ‘‘masala’’ and variety. He wants to blend this spice with European taste to make a film for his European audience.

‘‘Indian films are too long and complicated. The actors cry too much, they are what we call too ‘expressionist’,’’ he says.

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He’s using this trip to find the right choreographers and musicians for his romantic musical titled Barefoot. His second film, with the title Out of Maya, is a ‘‘road film’’ which will be shot in Mumbai and Vrindavan. Actor and theatre-director Rehaan Engineer is likely to play the lead, while Model Nethra Raghuraman is frontrunner as heroine.

‘‘Out of Maya is in the pre-production stage and shooting may begin by March,’’ says line producer Sameer Sarkar. The film should be wrapped up in five to six weeks, he adds.

Dill is on his maiden visit. His firm, Louise Productions, will fund a documentary on the making of Barefoot in Bollywood. He also plans to set up a production house to help Indian crew shoot in Switzerland, Austria, France and Italy. ‘‘There will be a point-person in Mumbai who will liaise with my office in Switzerland,’’ says Dill.

Till recently, Switzerland-based Yaqoob Triton was the only link for Indian film-makers to the Alpine country. With Triton’s passing away, Dill’s production house will come as much-needed help for Indian film-makers.

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