 |
| CANNES CALLING: Ashutosh Gowarikar, the student of cinema |
Race to make the first Osama movie
He was sitting at a café on the Croisette, enjoying a coffee with a friend. Passers-by did not recognise that this was the man who had directed one of the best Bollywood blockbusters of recent years.
Ashutosh Gowarikar and I had not met since LA in 2002 when Lagaan was shortlisted for an Oscar in the foreign language category.
He had not come to Cannes with a film, insisted Ashutosh, putting his hands up to indicate he was innocent.
“I’m here as a student of cinema,” he explained.
There is certainly plenty of material to study. For example, there is a race to make the first movie on the killing of Osama bin Laden. The consensus is that the ISI are as guilty as hell of hiding Osama.
A film about the American search for bin Laden by Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal, the team behind the success of The Hurt Locker, was already in the pipeline. Now, the film has a more satisfactory ending from Hollywood’s point of view.
Informed opinion is that there will be several competing projects, both from television and Hollywood. It has all the trappings of a classic action thriller — “from the long, frustrating intelligence search” for bin Laden to the helicopter assault, the President and his team watching tensely in the White House’s situation room and, finally, “the jubilant, flag waving crowds that took to the streets following the announcement of bin Laden’s death”, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
One source suggested that the mission to kill bin Laden would be a “sort of good-news Black Hawk Down”.
One advantage is that the film does not have to be shot on location — after all, the Americans created a replica mansion in which their assault team trained prior to the actual mission. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed my own findings — that a “race is on to capture the daring mission onscreen”.
Once a Hollywood movie depicts the ISI as guilty, that will be taken as the truth all over the world. But will Hollywood also indicate that the rogue element within the ISI, that planned the Mumbai massacre, was also responsible for shielding bin Laden?
There is much that Ashutosh can observe and study in Cannes fortnight.
 |
| BEHIND THE CAMERA: Koel Purie |
Koel’s couch
She’s so pretty so who wouldn’t want to be on On the Couch with Koel.
I bump into Koel Purie in the lobby of the Martinez.
“I am doing this for Headlines Today,” says Koel, who is chasing celebs.
There are screams outside and a bunch of photographers move en masse as Robert de Niro, the president of this year’s jury, enters the lobby.
Actually, I have always had a lot of time for Koel. When she lived in London, she never let on she was Aroon Purie’s daughter.
She misses London, she tells me. “I feel at home in London — my thinking was crystallised in London.”
However, her French husband, Laurent Rinchet, who has a job representing a number of industries in France, prefers to be in Delhi.
Koel combines her life as an actress — “I’ve just made a film called 10ml Love” — with presenting On the Couch with Koel.
In Cannes, she is not hunting exclusively for Indian celebs but combining it with seeking “interaction” with Hollywood stars.
The first time Koel came to Cannes was eight years ago when she arrived with a girlfriend from London. “We had no accreditation, we did not see even one film but we had a blast.”
Now that she is an actress, what is it like being behind the camera instead of in front?
She finds the experience liberating. “The entire dynamics is changed.”
She rushed off, seeking tickets to a beach party thrown by Chopard, the diamond jewellers.
 |
Tango time
The most entertaining press conference has been given by the Italian director, Bernardo Bertolucci, who received an honorary Palme d’Or, with the presentation made by Robert de Niro.
Bertolucci has had four films at Cannes but never won an award. This time, The Conformist, which he made in 1970 — it is about an Italian who tries to be like everyone else by being a fascist — was screened in Cannes Classics.
The print has been restored, provoking Bertolucci, 71, now confined to a wheelchair, to quip: “Maybe like the film, they could restore me.”
Right at the end of his press conference, he was given 30 seconds to respond to a question about Last Tango in Paris, made nearly 30 years ago, and how he had “sexualised” cinema.
“So, ok, my answer will be a quickie,” said Bertolucci, to roars of delight from several hundred journalists.
Last Tango caused uproar for it showed a couple, who did not know each other, played by Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider, meeting in a Paris flat for regular anonymous sex.
Afterwards, both Brando, who did not speak to the director for 15 years, and Schneider admitted they felt violated by the movie.
“I remember for a year I completely lost my mind,” said Bertolucci. “The movie was such a hit everywhere. That kind of success makes you a bit mad.”
 |
3D ghost
A serious student of cinema such as Ashutosh Gowarikar will notice a great deal of chat in Cannes is about 3-D movies. Hollywood producer Ashok Amritraj confides he has been showing five-minute “promos” of his new 3-D film, Ghost Rider 2 — Ghost Rider was not in three-D.
The film is now in post-production but Ashok has sold it to territories all over the world. Viewers have to wear glasses to get the 3-D effect.
However, Ashok says the technology that will enable people to watch 3-D at home is not far off. “You may have to sit in front of the TV in a particular position.”
Even a filmmaker as traditional as Bernardo Bertolucci is convinced: “I loved Avatar — the future is 3-D. It is considered only suitable for science fiction and horror movies but if Fellini’s 8½ had been made in 3-D, wouldn’t that be great?”
No pain, no gain
Films for sale include The Iron Lady, starring Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher, and a South African production, Winnie, about the love affair between Nelson Mandela and his now ex-wife.
South Africa is being considered a possible location for the next Bond movie, according to local producer Anant Singh.
Meanwhile, journalist-turned-executive producer Bhuvan Lall tells me that Chittagong, based on the 1930s raid on an armoury led by Masterda Surjya Sen, is ready for release.
Directed and produced by LA-based Bedabrata Pain, the Hindi film features the heroism of a 14-year-old boy.
Tittle tattle
Turning up to see the red carpet gala screening at the Grand Lumiere Theatre of Sleeping Beauty, a film in competition, I had on a dark suit and conservative tie but not black tie (black bow tie and dinner jacket). Thus, the man was absolutely right to refuse me entry on the grounds that I was improperly dressed.
Incidentally, if you wear a clip on bow tie (as I confess I do), rather than tie it in the manner of shoe laces, it is said to denote you are not quite ready for Cannes.
