Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
My Profile
Top News
Reuters top ten news stories delivered to your inbox each day.
Subscribe
You are here:
Home
>
News
>
Entertainment
>
Article
Home
Business & Finance
News
U.S.
Politics
International
Technology
Entertainment
Film
Music
People
Television
Arts
Industry
Sports
Lifestyle
Oddly Enough
Health
Science
Special Coverage
Video
Pictures
Your View
The Great Debate
Blogs
Weather
Reader Feedback
Do More With Reuters
RSS
Widgets
Mobile
Podcasts
Newsletters
Your View
Make Reuters My Homepage
Partner Services
CareerBuilder
Affiliate Network
Professional Products
Support (Customer Zone)
Reuters Media
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
Indian films in New York create Bollywood-on-Hudson
Mon Jun 22, 2009 2:45pm EDT
Email | Print |
Share
| Reprints | Single Page
[-]
Text
[+]
By Jui Chakravorty Das
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Millions of moviegoers in India recognize the neon signs of Times Square as easily as the Taj Mahal, due to the growing popularity of "Bollywood" movies shot in the United States, particularly in New York.
By making movies in one of the world's most expensive cities, producers risk big losses but can score big rewards by appealing to India's fascination with foreign worlds.
Despite its high costs, New York, more than any city outside India, offers easy access to resources such as Indian extras, trained Indian dancers and Indian production teams, say experts on Bollywood, the $2 billion-a-year industry known for movies featuring elaborate music, costumes and sets.
The term Bollywood combines the names of India's commercial and Hindi film capital Bombay, now renamed Mumbai, and Hollywood, the global center of commercial movie production.
Such films have occasionally been made in cities such as Miami, Johannesburg and Sydney, but nine mainstream Bollywood movies have been shot in New York since 2003, eight of them since 2006 alone. Two more are in the offing.
That number is significant, given that the scripts are based on stories that could have just as easily been shot at home, experts say.
Coming this month from one of India's largest production houses is a movie titled "New York," which capitalizes on the city's instant recognizability, director Kabir Khan said.
"One shot of New York, and you know this is New York," he said.
Big-budget Bollywood productions, using distinctive backdrops such as the Brooklyn Bridge or Grand Central Terminal, cost between $12 million and $15 million. This is expensive by Indian standards, but just a fraction of the cost of a mainstream Hollywood film, which often tops $100 million.
A similar movie made in India would cost half of that or less, said Atit Shah of New Jersey-based Bollywood Hollywood Productions, which provides crews, equipment, extras and vendor agreements for U.S.-based Bollywood shoots.
One of the earliest hits shot in New York, "Kal Ho Naa Ho" or "Tomorrow May Never Come," cost about $7 million to make, according to director Karan Johar, a pioneer of New York-based Bollywood dramas. The movie made about $13 million.
"Kal Ho Naa Ho" featured a Hindi rendition of Roy Orbison's 1964 classic song "Pretty Woman" shot in the New York Borough of Queens, with dozens of local Indians as extras. The ethnically diverse Queens is home to more than 50,000 Indians.
LOOKING FOR CAUCASIAN DANCERS
Bollywood movies typically have a half dozen songs, and filmmakers look for Caucasian rather than Indian dancers to reinforce the foreign locale, said Pooja Narang, founder of a New York-based Bollywood Axion dance company.
"They usually ask for white dancers trained in a variety of styles, including Indian," she said. Continued...
View article on single page
Share:
Del.icio.us
Digg
Mixx
Yahoo!
Facebook
LinkedIn
Next Article:
SEC opposition to Stanford fees unjustified: filing
Also on Reuters
Commentary: Obama healthcare drive looking sick
Warren Buffett charity lunch bid tops $50,000
Full Coverage: Turmoil and protests in Iran
More Entertainment News
O'Neal says dying Farrah Fawcett has agreed to marry
TV drama stars thrive in dark roles
McConaughey and girlfriend expecting second child
Sitcom actresses juggle family, careers
Sandra Bullock tops box office after 10 years
| Video
More Entertainment News...
Editor's Choice
Slideshow
A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours. Slideshow
Most Popular on Reuters
Articles
Video
Iran starts airforce manoeuvres in Gulf
Suicide truck bomb kills 34 in northern Iraq | Video
Al Qaeda says would use Pakistani nuclear weapons
Q+A: What might happen with monitored North Korean ship?
Iran Guards threaten protest crackdown | Video
Brad Pitt baseball drama strikes out
Obama: U.S. ready for possible N.Korea missile launch
Goldman Sachs on pace for record bonuses: report
Echo boomers a lifeline for embattled U.S. housing
Sarkozy says burqas have no place in France
Most Popular Articles RSS Feed
Video
Coconut Kung Fu finger sets record
Latest deadly clashes in Iran
China factory blast kills 16
Two Brit hostages dead in Iraq
Ice swim to mark new solstice
Madonna's adoption
Car bomb wounds Ingush leader
Chavez backs Iran president
Obama the cartoon character unveiled
New Greek museum wants Elgin marbles
Most Popular Videos RSS Feed
We want to hear from you
Join the Reuters Consumer Insight Panel and help us get to know you better
Please take a moment to complete our survey
Reuters.com:
Help and Contact Us |
Advertise With Us |
Mobile |
Newsletters |
RSS |
Labs |
Archive |
Site Index |
Video Index
Thomson Reuters Corporate:
Copyright |
Disclaimer |
Privacy |
Professional Products |
Professional Products Support |
About Thomson Reuters |
Careers
International Editions:
Africa |
Arabic |
Argentina |
Brazil |
Canada |
China |
France |
Germany |
India |
Italy |
Japan |
Latin America |
Mexico |
Russia |
Spain |
United Kingdom |
United States
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.