Gurinder's Projects
by: Udita Jhunjhunwala
- mid-day.com
While speculation is high on whether Mira Nair will direct the fifth instalment of the Harry Potter series, there is no doubt about Gurinder Chadha helming Sony Pictures’ I Dream of Jeannie. With a budget between $ 80 to 90 million, this will be a big budget Hollywood movie.
It will also be Chadha’s next directorial project, to begin next year.
Currently in Mumbai promoting the Aishwarya Rai-Martin Henderson starrer Bride and Prejudice, the London-based director describes her soon-to-release film as a “tribute to all musicals, from Hindi films to western ones too”.
She cites influences like Yash Chopra, Raj Kapoor and Fiddler on the Roof, among others.
I Dream of Jeannie is based on the popular ’60s American sitcom about a Jeannie who gets a new master in Major Astronaut Nelson. However, the film, said Chadha, “is a prequel, of how she becomes a Jeannie after she rebels against the King’s harem system in Arabia and is cursed to always say Yes Master.” Chadha plans to shoot some part of the film in Rajasthan.
Other than promoting her adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Chadha is occupied by hiring cast and crew for I Dream Of Jeannie and pre-production for a film to be directed by her husband and co-writer Paul Mayeda Berges, The Mistress of Spices.
“I am co-producing Mistress… with Deepak Nayar and we will have Aishwarya Rai and Anupam Kher in that too,” said Chadha.
On Jeannie, she added, “The film appealed to me because it is feminist and has values close to mine. I could have done a Hollywood film before, but I had not found a great script in Hollywood before.”
Speaking of both herself and Nair being approached by big western studios, she said, “Hollywood is big business, and you are only as good as the last film you made. They have seen our films and looked at how much money they made at the box-office, simple.”
Bride and Prejudice releases in India on October 8, in English and Hindi (title Balle Balle, Amritsar to LA). On the recent decision to dub the film in Hindi, Chadha said, “The distributors who saw it here felt that is would work because of how Ash looks and because of the great characters and music.”
Bride and Prejudice also stars Navin Andrews, Nitin Ganatra, Nadira Babbar, Anupam Kher and Namrata Shirodkar and includes Indian talent like Anu Malik, Santosh Sivan, Saroj Khan and Nitish Roy on the technical side.
Said Chadha, whose previous films include Bhaji On The Beach and Bend It Like Beckham, “Bride… is a complete combination of Hollywood and Bollywood, but with a strong Hindi cinema flavour. I wanted to introduce this film language to all parts of the world.
The west has no concept of the film culture and talent in India. If it’s a hit, other filmmakers will be able to get a bigger audience abroad.”
