The Hollywood connection

Ek Tha Tiger one of the biggest hits of this year had many attractions to its credit like Salman Khan playing a RAW agent for the first time and romancing his former girlfriend Katrina Kaif But it was the action scenes that left the critics and audiences spellbound and played a significant role in the moviersquos stupendous success Keeping the filmrsquos plot in mind director Kabir Khan roped in Conrad E Palmisano and Markos Rounthwaite as action consultants who have worked on hits like Rush Hour 3 and Bourne Ultimatum respectively ldquoEk Tha Tiger demanded stunts for the action sequences Director Kabir Khan roped in Hollywood action consultants Conrad E Palmisano and Markos Rounthwaite for Ek Tha Tiger Also the varied international locales where contemporary Indian films are shot necessitate collaborations between cinematic cultures Ek Tha Tiger was shot in nine cities across five countries Sometimes it was easier to access the crew the action director at the shoot We were working with Conrad who is from the USA and the entire technical crew and stunt cocoordinators were from Canada They just had to take a direct flight to Cuba where we were filmingrdquo says Khan This is not a one off move Upcoming projects like Yash Raj Filmsrsquo Dhoom 3 has Oliver Keller who has worked on The Dictator as stunt coordinator while Sajid Nadiadwalarsquos forthcoming film Kick has reportedly penciled in Philippe Guegan who has choreographed the action stunts for The Transporter From Paris With Love and Taken Foreign hands at work Indian filmmakers are not just roping in action directors from abroad In the last couple of years a surprising number of Btown projects have an international name wielding the camera Spaniard Carlos Catalan captured the picturesque locales of Seville Costa Brava and Pamplona beautifully and even bagged the Best Cinematography trophy at the last Filmfare awards for Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara Greek cinematographer Nicos Andritsakis shot Dibakar Banerjeersquos Love Sex Aur Dhokha while Bulgarian Christo Bakalov has shot Ketan Mehtarsquos Rang Rasiya ldquoBakalovrsquos work in Samsara a nonnarrative documentary film impressed me a lot I thought of him while making Rang Rasiyardquo says Mehta The gritty cinematography for Don 2 Delhi Belly and Rock On was the handiwork of Englishman Jason West ldquoI asked Jason to come down to India for an ad shoot after I saw his work in Cannes a few years agordquo says Abhinay Deo director of Delhi Belly Likewise Vikram Bhatt collaborated with foreign technicians to perfect the 3D presentation in Haunted Besides American composer Wayne Sharpe who has worked with Prakash Jha and Tanuja Chandra New Zealander Mikey McCleary also composed tracks for Banerjeersquos Shanghai McCleary says ldquoShanghai was a gritty movie The inspiration for its score came from the streets I am glad to have worked with Dibakar Banerjeerdquo Greener pastures The skyrocketing budgets for Hindi films shooting schedules in international locales and Indiarsquos increased prominence in the global film scene has led to the influx of foreign technicians Sham Kaushal the action director of Barfi insists that most of the foreign stunt directors are used for overseas schedules ldquoDhoom 3 was shot in Chicago so it was feasible to use the services of foreign technicians In India there are not many foreign stunt directorsrdquo he explains Khan agrees He says ldquoIf I was shooting predominantly in India then I wouldnrsquot rope in a foreign technicianrdquo Trade Analyst Taran Adarsh gives a thumbs up to this trend as long as foreign technicians can make a project look better ldquoToday Hindi films are catering to international markets This is a very positive change as itrsquos all about going global todayrdquo says Adarsh Spiralling costs Hiring a foreign actor or crewmember is no longer a major financial impediment Deo points out ldquoJason has been working in India for almost a decade now and his remuneration is on par with Indian standardsrdquo u00a0However the cost does go up when Agrade technicians from abroad are roped in ldquoBut they are not ridiculously expensiverdquo says Khanu00a0 India though is still far from being seen as a lucrative space for foreigners Bhatt says ldquoThe exchange rate is such that we will never be able to pay what they will get in America or Britain After conversion they realise that they are not getting paid too wellrdquo However what has furthered this trend is the adeptness with which foreigners take to indigenous shooting conventions and demands Jackie Shroff who starred in Cover Story made by Dutch director Laurens Postma insists that it wasnrsquot difficult for the filmmaker to helm a movie in Hindi ldquoLaurens is a brilliant actor himselfrdquo Jackie says ldquoHe actually understood what we were trying to emote though he doesnrsquot know any Hindi He didnrsquot show any jittersrdquo explains Shroff What next Khan predicts there will be a cultural exchange in the near future ldquoWhen Conrad works with us he observes the work of my director of photography I am sure he would love to make some productions thererdquo he adds u00a0Reiterating the point Deo cites the example of West ldquoJason has been here for almost nine years now A large chunk of his work is in India The lines are blurring today We are not far from the day when Indian technicians will also go abroadrdquou00a0India is finally becoming part of world cinema observes Bhatt ldquoEarlier Bollywood operated on the fringe of world culture Slowly we are becoming part of what is called the world subconsciousrdquou00a0