Tourist Trip

She isn8217;t the only international visitor in for a Bollywood ride. British actor Jonathan Avery, 46, played the Home Secretary in Rajkumar Santoshi8217;s The Legend of Bhagat Singh and got seduced into staying on. Swiss Pietro Zuercher, 28, got an SOS call to help shoot invisible man Tusshar Kapoor8217;s struggle in Ramgopal Varma8217;s Gayab. British make-up artiste Lindsey Hulme, 30, is transforming Lakshya8217;s stars Amitabh Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan into hardcore soldiers. Apart from songs in Kaante and Hum Kissise Kum Nahin, Nigerian Taufeek, 27, Bakare has been a computer technician in The Hero and a sexy masseur in Fresh Lime.

The foreign influence in the Hindi film industry is snailing past the odd junior artiste crowd shot or disco song. Chinese, African, European or Australian, there are enough FBI agent, British officer and hotel maid roles to rent a flat in Santacruz, Andheri or Mira Road. If you graduate beyond that and master some tongue-twister Hindi, character roles are blossoming all over.

So much so that Annabel decided to zero in on the non-Indian scene. Operating mostly via mobile phone, she regularly sources for clients Tips, Boney Kapoor, Sanjay Gupta, Varma and NR Pachisia. 8220;I8217;m now casting about 100 foreigners for The Rising, including 40 actors. Foreigners are so much in demand that I8217;ve organised belly dancing and cancan classes. Now directors won8217;t have to source professional dancers from abroad. We8217;re grooming actors here,8221; she says. Dancers can get upto Rs 5,000 a day, while a small character role with about 20 days shooting can fetch up to Rs 30,000.

Slick action director Sanjay Gupta already finds it easier to shoot his famous nightclub dances with the professionals here. With his films running through international heists, he regularly uses the 8220;firang look8221; for minor characters as well. As for casting a Bond lady-like character in the future, he says, 8220;I would love to, but I wouldn8217;t get a Brande Rodericks. We have rocking ladies here!8221;

Patrycja is all set to be one of them. First she joined choreographer Raju Khan8217;s group. 8220;My hobby is dancing, but we8217;re stiffer. Indians dance with everything, even the eyes. And you shake so much, I lost a few kilos and my neck hurt!8221; Then she bagged a small part in Lucky. 8220;Salman was so nice, though I had heard so many stories. I speak Russian in the film and taught Kader Khan to say a few lines.8221;

After completing her exams in Poland, Patrycja will be back in February. Marathi director Satish Rajwade has shortlisted her for his first Hindi film Akhannd, which also stars Abhishek, Suneil and Akshay. Rajwade8217;s film has seven foreign characters. 8220;In our two-day marathon audition in Pune, we had 88 foreigners. The opportunities are opening up so much post-Lagaan that tourists go back and renew their visas,8221; he says.

Rajwade has also shortlisted Jonathan as one white villain. The British actor, who came down specifically for The Legend8230; and made his first Indian contacts over the Internet, says he is one up on the others. 8220;It8217;s easy to get someone sitting in Leopold8217;s cafe in Colaba, but I8217;m the only trained actor. There8217;s no doubt that we8217;re stuck on stereotypes, but it8217;s fun playing the bad Britisher!8221;

His compatriot Lindsey, who travelled through Argentina, Italy, Spain and Australia, has lasted in Mumbai for nearly three years. Currently shooting for Farhan Akhtar8217;s Lakshya in Delhi this Applied Chemistry graduate says her advantage is her know-how in prosthetics. 8220;They want more realistic make-up, so I8217;m trying to inject some realism into Bollywood.8221; Her only other film was Aankhen she designed Paresh Rawal8217;s and Akshay Kumar8217;s looks, but more offers are coming in. 8220;Bollywood has been a bit of a culture shock, but it8217;s also a huge learning experience. As for Hindi, the spot boys teach me all I need to know!8221;

Pune-based Italian Giusettle Polloni, who has played a British officer in The Legend and Ab Ke Baras, doesn8217;t mind the commute to Mumbai when movies call. The 40-year-old, popularly called Peppe, is smitten by acting. 8220;I get Rs 2,000 a day and my travel and stay are paid for. Of course, the proximity means I can travel to and fro between shoots.8221;

Agnes Darenius8217;s, 21, Bollywood stint has been a bungee-jump, literally! The Swedish tourist was strolling last year when she was roped into modelling. First came doubling for Antara Mali in Road, then Preity Zinta in The Hero. Now she plays an American research student who beats up Sanjay Dutt, no less, in the forthcoming Rudraksh. Since she knows enough Hindi to 8220;converse with paanwallahs8221;, she wants to work at least six months a year in films. 8220;I have an open life philosophy. I love this. I think I8217;m more Indian at heart than real Indians!8221;

Others like Tan Ming Fath and Taufeek have regular jobs. Tan, 23, is an ICICI customer service executive. When Chura Liya Hai Tumne was made last year, ostensibly in Bangkok, Tan got his whole family involved as junior artistes. Taufeek uses the money he8217;s got from roles over the past two years in his imitation jewellery business. 8220;I go to agents, but I don8217;t get so many roles because of my colour. With my body, if I was an Indian actor8230;8221; he trails off, then brightens, 8220;But I got a picture with Amitabh Bachchan.8221;

But the star factor doesn8217;t concern Pietro. After training from the American Film Institute in LA, he was called in as trouble shooter for Prawaal Raman8217;s film. 8220;I8217;m going with my style,8221; he says about the sci-fi Gayab. Already in love with India, he8217;s willing to risk the erratic functioning and the struggle involved to stay on. 8220;Bombay has a good energy, unlike California8217;s superficiality. I see some experimenting in the cinema here.8221; Lindsey backs this, noting that it8217;s an exciting time to be in Bollywood. 8220;More people are opening up to a different way of thinking. And they have only been welcoming so far to foreigners.8221;

But there are pitfalls, too. Patrycja has had to turn down 8220;bikini, short skirt8221; parts because of the common impression. And the greasy food on the sets. 8220;I carry my own Bisleri water and fruits,8221; she says. Pietro was violently sick and on antibiotics three times this October.

And yet, still more foreigners walk into the industry every day. Co-ordinators scout Colaba haunts like the Salvation Army and smaller hotels for the crowd shots and a day8217;s shoot. Tourists Tom, Dick and Richard play MIB agents in Thigmanshu Dhulia8217;s drug trafficking story Charas. Columbian Alexander Klein, 33, is part of this gang fitted out in suits and shooting in a flat overlooking Mumbai8217;s Oval Maidan. But Alex is here for the long haul.

Flailing his arms out wildly, he demonstrates how Sunny Deol recently clobbered him in Jo Bole So Nihaal. Alex was assistant to an art director in Miami and was game for film roles from the start. But he8217;s now scripting a 8220;modern-day Mahabharata with main Indian stars8221; and looking for some backing.

8220;There8217;s too much kitsch and clicheacute; in Hindi films. Mine will be a story of prophecy and revelation about an Indian guy who grows up on the streets,8221; he says, as the call comes out for the 8220;officers8221;. Lighting a cigarette, he sits motionless in the frame as the dialogues float around him. Probably writing out scenes for his own movie in his head.

With inputs from Radhika Pancholi, Pune