After shooting for a television mini-series, Bollywood Hero, in Mumbai recently, Australian director Bill Bennett (far right) is eager to make a full-fledged thriller set in India next ; Picture courtesy: Bill Bennett

British film producer David Thompson is always on the lookout for fresh voices and strong stories. Thompson was the executive producer for the Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio-starrer Revolutionary Road, which was nominated for several Academy Awards. He was also associated with movies like Billy Elliot and Iris.

Now Thompson is turning the camera in a different direction. His next movie, Blame It On The Bhangra, is an energetic romantic comedy about a British Asian girl who wants to break into the world of competitive bhangra. And it’s written and will be directed by Paul Angunawela, a second-generation Sri Lankan who grew up in Southall.

“It’s full of dance and energy and humour. It mixes Asian and Western ideas and has great potential for crossing over,” says Thompson.

On location during the shoot of Claire McCarthy’s The Waiting City in Calcutta; Pic by Rashbehari Das

Meanwhile, in December, Australian director Claire McCarthy shot her first feature film, The Waiting City, in Calcutta. It’s about an Australian couple who come to India to adopt a child and it’s the first Australian film shot entirely in India.

Thompson and McCarthy are part of the growing tribe of international filmmakers who’re turning their lens on India. Call it, perhaps, the Slumdog Factor. Or, just that the booming Indian economy has triggered growing global interest in the country — and that has spilt into screen world.

Foreigners have, of course, made everything from blockbusters to documentaries in India over the decades. You’ve had them from David Attenborough’s Gandhi to Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited. But now more filmmakers than ever before are washing up on Indian shores.

British producer Leslee Udwin will shoot West is West, a sequel to the hit Om Puri-starrer East is East, in India this October; Picture courtesy: Leslee Udwin

“There’s a growing interest among British filmmakers in India. India’s a world full of colour and energy and emotions. It’s a natural place to make films,” says Thompson.

Loveleen Tandan, co-director, Slumdog Millionaire, reckons that some movie moguls have been encouraged by Slumdog’s success. “People are trying to replicate the success of Slumdog Millionaire. Also, there’s a sense of confidence and conviction that comes with success,” she says.

Adds Sarah McKenzie, senior executive, export development, UK Film Council: “The success of Slumdog has proved that there is a valuable international market for quality independent films with Indian themes.”

So Tandan has already received four co-directing offers in the last four months, though she has refused them to script her own film. Several Hollywood studios too are developing projects with “big name actors”, she says.

(From top) Producer David Thompson , who has made films like Revolutionary Road; Picture courtesy: David Thompson , is now working on Blame It On The Bhangra, written and directed by Paul Angunawela

Sony Pictures is an early mover with its Julia Roberts-starrer Eat, Pray, Love, which will be shot in India this year. It is based on American novelist Elizabeth Gilbert’s journey of self-discovery through Italy, India and Indonesia.

Harish Amin, who has line produced several international mo-vies from Salaam Bombay to The Waiting City, says that compared to three to four films a year earlier, nearly 10 foreign films are coming to India each year now.

And the filmmakers aren’t just att-racted by India’s skilled film technicians and low costs, he points out. “Now, more Indian stories are coming too. They’re interested in knowing about India. In a way, they’re exploring us,” says Amin.

Certainly, the interest is coming from all corners. Amin, for instance, is getting proposals from Britain, Germany and Spain. He will line produce an international horror film set in India early next year. Then, there’s an Indiana Jones-like proposal too. Immediately, though, Amin will line produce British producer Leslee Udwin’s West is West, which is a sequel to the Om Puri-starrer East is East, in October.

Italian director Italo Spinelli too will start shooting his new film, Choli Ke Peeche in Calcutta soon. It’s based on a Mahashweta Devi story and stars Irrfan Khan as a wildlife photographer.

Meanwhile, in Australia, at least 10 India-centric films are under development, according to Geoff Brown, executive director, Screen Producers Association of Australia (SPAA). “There’s a broad range of comedy, masala, historical and straight drama,” he says and reckons that at least six have “a more than average chance of getting financed”.

Australian director Bill Bennett, for instance, has just directed Bollywood Hero, a mini-series for a US cable network about a failed American actor who tries his luck in Bollywood. He shot the series in Mumbai, where he found inspiration for his next venture: a full-fledged thriller set in India.

Sydney-based Anupam Sharma is taking a lead on Indo-Australian co-productions

“It’s based on a true-life case I read about there,” says Bennett. He adds: “It’s a very tough examination of the cultural and religious pressures operating in India today and it’s told through an Australian woman’s eyes so that allows us an outsider’s perspective.” He’s hoping to shoot it by next year.

Similarly, about half-a-dozen India-centric films are under development in the UK too. There’s Atonement director Joe Wright’s Indian Summer, which is being filmed this year. It’s about the last years of the Empire under Lord Mountbatten.

True, stories about the Empire or about the Westerner discovering himself in India are old hat. But some filmmakers are going beyond that.

Take Yaffle Films’s Trevor Ingman, who’s co-producing Monsoon Shootout by FTII graduate Amit Kumar. It’s about a rookie cop in the Mumbai police’s anti-extortion unit.

Australian producer John Winter (above), who has made films like My Mother Frank, is combining his love for India with his passion for films; Picture Courtesy: John Winter

Then, there’s Blueprint Pictures’ Graham Broadbent of In Bruges fame. Broadbent is looking for financiers for his feature film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, based on a novel about a nursing home for retired Britons in Bangalore. He’s hoping to shoot it later this year.

Thompson too is hoping to raise funds and make Bhangra by next year. The around £4 million film is half-financed by BBC Films.

Angunawela, who began his career in television, wrote Bhangra four years ago. “In the UK, they see making films about Asians as jumping on a ‘bandwagon’. But to me it’s our culture and not a ‘trend’,” he says.

Indeed, growing up in Southall, where the local cinema halls would play Hindi films and you’d “have to travel out to see an English movie”, he was equally influenced by Hindi and Western cinema. And that’s what he’d like to bring to Bhangra too. “It’s like a Hollywood/Bollywood dance movie but set in Southall and with a soundtrack that’s global,” he says.

For some filmmakers, India also serves as a perfect locale. Like Udwin, who will shoot West is West in Punjab. The film is a “companion piece” to East is East and relates the “further journey and adventures” of George Khan and his family.

East is East was based on scriptwriter Ayub Khan Din’s family story. It was about his Pakistani father, who came to England to work, leaving behind a wife and children in Pakistan, and who subsequently married an Englishwoman. Now, in West is West, George returns to Pakistan after 35 years along with his youngest British-born son, Sajid.

International film makers are eager to replicate the success of Slumdog Millionaire, says its co-director Loveleen Tandan (above)

Udwin’s hoping that the film’s “universality” will appeal to audiences, especially since we live in a world where the “mixing of attitudes and races and religions” is the most immediate issue. She expects to complete the film by next May.

The interest in India is not unusual in the Diaspora, of course. So we’ve had directors like Gurinder Chadha, Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta. But now, other newer Diaspora producers are emerging too. Like Sulekha Nath, who recently set up Banyan Films in UK to produce films connected to the Indian subcontinent.

“Having been born in India, I’ve always had a keen interest in making films here,” says Nath, who has worked with Merchant Ivory Productions. She has already received development funding from the UK Film Council for a comedy set in Mumbai and London.

She’s also hoping to qualify it under the new UK-India co- production treaty. “The treaty allows films with a much higher degree of Indian creative content to access the UK support system for films,” says Isabel Davis, senior executive, international strategy and co-production, UK Film Council.

Down Under too, tax offsets for producers by the Australian government are emboldening film makers to look beyond their shores.

Anupam Sharma, who has line produced several Hindi films from Dil Chahta Hai to Heyy Baby there, has been pushing for co-productions. “Australia has the most professional film industry and India’s is the most prolific. A marriage between the two will be mutually beneficial,” he says.

He has taken a lead himself by developing several documentaries and feature films under his firm, Films and Casting Temple. There’s a feature film, An Indian Summer, with John Winter, who has produced films like the Hugh Jackman-starrer Paperback Hero.

It’s about a seven-year-old Australian boy and his parents’ move to India. “We’ve received strong investor interest in the film,” says Sharma, who hopes to tie up finances within three-four months.

For Winter, the film is a culmination of his long interest in India. He spent two years as a child in Mumbai and later, majored in Indian studies in college. “I’ve always been an Indophile. Some years ago, I decided to combine my love for India with my passion for films,” he says. Winter and Sharma are also in the early stages of working on a big-budget Bollywood-inspired movie.

Bennett too is conceiving two more India-specific films, one of which is a romantic comedy. “I want to do a Bollywood version [in Hindi] and a Hollywood version of it,” he says.

The filmmakers aren’t looking at international audiences alone. Some like Udwin plan to tap the domestic multiplex audience in India too. One problem, though, is that many international filmmakers are hoping to co-produce their projects with Indian partners. But that may not be easy as most Hindi film producers prefer to stick to familiar terrain.

“Because they’re successful in what they do, people in India are cautious about making a film in English,” says Thompson.

The productions may take time. But there’s no denying that the interest in India is only growing.