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It's not often that one can lay claim to creating history before the actual occurrence of the said event. But Bollywood’s maverick filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra can proudly proclaim the same even before his debut Hollywood venture Broken Horses hits screens worldwide on April 10 (UAE audiences as usual get to see it a day ahead on April 9).
Directed, produced and written by Chopra (a first for an Indian filmmaker), Broken Horses, set against the shadows of the US-Mexico border gang wars, is as international as it gets in terms of story, treatment and the cast. A fact that Chopra is not weary of reiterating as he promotes the movie across the world. And by cleverly positioning it as India’s first attempt to break into the rarefied field of Hollywood without an ounce of the so called ‘Indianness’ that lesser directors might have been tempted to sneak in to garner some attention from the South-Asian fan base, Chopra seems to have hit the bulls-eye if the praise surrounding the film ahead of its release is anything to go by. Not that we are not used to filmmakers talking big about their project in the days leading up to its release, but Chopra’s enthusiasm is infectious and there is a child-like awe at the response the film has already garnered from the likes of James Cameron and Alfonso Cuaron that makes you want to cheer him on.
'Actors are not body builders...' Amitabh Bachchan, Irrfan Khan, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Anil Kapoor and Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan are among a handful of Bollywood actors who have made their presence felt in Hollywood. But its not often that one hears of a filmmaker managing to straddle both the worlds successfully. A fact Vidhu Vinod Chopra is very aware of. “What others have to do, I frankly don’t care about,” he says with characteristic nonchalance when asked what he thinks of Indian actors crossing over to Hollywood. “I am so full of myself,” he proclaims upfront. “When a filmmaker goes from Bollywood to Hollywood he is not doing the same thing. As somebody said in LA after watching Broken Horses, ‘It is like Quentin Tarantino going to India and doing PK. I know he can’t.’ “Or they said it is like Steven Spielberg going to Mars and telling the Martians, ‘You know I’m Steve and I make movies about space….’ “It is completely crazy. And only somebody like me who is not fully sane would do something like this. Because why would I after 3 idiots not make 4 Idiots? I have tonnes of money and I could do that…” “Why would I put five years of my life along with my co-writer Abhijat Joshi into Broken Horses? But ask him again about the Bollywood stars with a potential to crossover into Hollywood and he muses for a bit. “Aamir is good. He can do it. Farhan can do it. Hrithik has the looks. I’ve worked with him in Mission Kashmir and he was excellent in it. But over a period of time they all go corrupt and crazy with power and money and everything that comes their way. They lose their desire to chase excellence, which is very sad. That is what happens in India. There are so many people who worship you that you lose sight of your goal. Everything becomes a performance. Waving at the crowd. Walking with five guards. And because everything is a performance you become a terrible performer. “All these young kids are doing the right things…the older lot are too much in the groove of stardom and walking with bare chest and waving at the crowds... and building muscles for God’s sake! How many Hollywood stars do you see going to the gym? They act. They are not body builders. There is a difference. But the younger lot can…. “I also feel that after Broken Horses a lot of filmmakers and actors will be inspired to move on to new territories and do new things. “And the world is our playground today. And it is time people stop looking down on us and saying, ‘Oh this is just Bollywood.’ “Also coming from India we are living in two worlds. For the West, India is just another planet. They have no idea who Guru Dutt was. We are in a way privileged because we are living in two worlds – we have our whole world and then we have their world. They have only their world...” |
For a boy from a small village in Kashmir, India, who in his own words was “still learning his ABCs when he was 15-16”, Chopra has no doubt come a long way. “Broken Horses for me is already a success,” he tells us matter-of-factly. “My fear was that people would laugh and say, ‘Oh, Bollywood comes to Hollywood’.
“When James Cameron gave me a big hug after watching the movie, that was when I realised, yes, I have managed to do what I set out to do,” he says with pride.
Proving a point to the whole world and especially the West seems to be a recurrent theme in our conversation with Chopra – a sentiment he barely tries to hide.
“Whether you like it or not, the West particularly Hollywood, looks down upon Bollywood. It looks down upon our culture, as something over the top; we are seen as loud people.
“So my idea was really to prove a point that we can do what you can do as good as you do it, if not better. It’s a different matter altogether that we chose not to. I choose to put songs in my films; I chose to make films over the top. But that does not mean I can’t do what you do.”
The movie also marks one of the first times the producer has gone around marketing his project so aggressively.
“Even for PK I took a backseat. I have never gone around and said, ‘I am the producer of PK.’ The actors take care of it.
“This one is very close to my heart. This film is probably after Khamosh (the 1985 thriller, starring Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Amol Palekar and Soni Razdan, directed and produced by Chopra) the most precious project to me. It is really a first of its kind.”
Pushing the envelope
With movies like Parinda, 1942: A Love Story, the Munnabhai series, 3 Idiots and PK to his credit, Chopra is no novice to the prized 100 crore club in Bollywood. So what is it that drives a man like him to leave his comfort zone in India and attempt something new across the world?
“I’ve always pushed the envelope. I have always gone beyond my comfort zone, I’ve always done things that have not been done whether it is Parinda or 1942: A Love Story or PK or Munnabhai…
“I’ve done crazy things…. But this was the craziest I’ve ever done because I left my family literally for four years to travel to the other end of the world to make the film. But I did it because I really wanted to make a point. Also I was nominated for an Oscar when I was a kid in 1979 so that stayed with me somewhere…
“See, if PK works or doesn’t work it is just me but Broken Horses is for my whole South Asian community, for my whole Indian community. If it is what it is, it will make all of us proud. If it didn’t it would bring shame to all of us…”
Hollywood/Bollywood
The Indian film industry is known for its chaotic state of affairs, with unbound scripts, delayed production shoots and stars throwing tantrums at the drop of a hat. So how did Chopra find the going in Hollywood?
“The difference when we work with Bollywood stars – be it Aamir, Amitabh, whoever, the best of the best - there is a lot of warmth. You work like a family, but there is a huge amount of inefficiency.”
Even with a ‘perfectionist’ like Aamir Khan? “With everybody,” he states emphatically. “Aamir in the middle of PK gained weight. He couldn’t do that in Hollywood.
“So there is a lot of warmth… but in Hollywood it is very cold but there is amazing efficiency. So I took the warmth of my culture to a culture which is cold but took their efficiency, so it was like a marriage made in heaven!”
Nicolas Cage out
Not many know that the original cast Chopra had signed on for his international debut included Nicolas Cage and Jeremy Renner. The movie was initially set in New York till Chopra realised he was unfamiliar with the city. So he rewrote the script around the elements of water, wind, fire and earth, which took him to the Mexican border into the desert. So any regrets about not filming with Cage?
“I worked with Nicolas Cage for a couple of months. He’s a great guy. I would love to work with him in another film. But I was happy when it didn’t work out..
“I won’t name him but there was a big star who was supposed to play Munnabhai before I chose Sanjay Dutt. Today you cannot imagine the movie with that actor. So it’s all about the right cast.
“For this film and role Vincent D’Onofrio is absolutely outstanding. There is no comparison between the two…
And how much of a choice did he have with the casting? “I had the freedom to do what I wanted to do. Your freedom comes from your budget. And with PK I have bought my freedom for many years….
“So really it depends on how well you have done and Reliance (studio) was very kind to trust me with 20 million dollars.
Target audience
A movie set in the Mexican border. Made by an Indian director. With a Hollywood cast. So who is it aimed at? “My target audience really is the whole world. But it is primarily Indian, Pakistani, South Asian because it is a film that they should feel very proud of.
“This film is primarily about two brothers, so hopefully when you see this, you will feel closer to your family; particularly for all the South Asians and Indians living elsewhere in the world, their kids are drifting away from them because of their Western influence….”
'I have never sought success...' 'In PK, which has become the biggest hit of all times, what I really wanted to do was bring two communities together and success came when during the World Cup match they said: Sarfaraz dhoka nahin dega (a reference to the widely popular dialogue from PK with which fans greeted Pakistani wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfraz Ahmed when he returned home to Karachi after seeing his team through to the quarterfinals at the World Cup) 'For me that was a much bigger high than having made the most successful movie of all times. To me success is the fact that I have brought the film to such a wide audience.' |
But going by what he says, the sentiments portrayed in Broken Horses seem to be very South Asian in tone with a heavy dose of brotherly love and family loyalty. Bollywood fans fed on years of Jai-Veeru bromance and filial loyalty can no doubt empathise with it.
“Because that is what is new,” he avers. “The only thing Indian about Broken Horses is the spelling of my name. I didn’t go to California and become ‘Vino from California’. I was Vinod Chopra and I insisted that people pronounce the ‘D’ cause that is what I am. I will not pretend to be something I’m not. Basically even now I cannot read English easily. And to sit and write a script in English that people like James Cameron liked – it was a huge thing for me.”
“It was a huge challenge, to make the whole of South Asia, India proud. And I think I have succeeded. If the film does well, very well; if it doesn’t it is still a success.”
What’s in an Oscar?
An alumnus of the prestigious Film & Television Institute, Pune, Chopra’s first documentary, An Encounter with Faces, about the plight of India’s destitute children was nominated for an Oscar in the Documentary Short Subject category in 1979. With a government sponsored ticket and formal ethnic wear fashioned out of his night suit, Chopra made his presence felt at the Awards Ceremony then. It’s a memory that seems to propel him to this day even as he dismisses all award functions as “marketing games” and “television shows”.
“As you know I don’t go for film awards. Awards have never meant anything even if it is an Oscar, which is a big thing….
“I am not saying if I get it I will say, ‘Oh, I don’t care about the Oscar.’ But it is not the same thing anymore.
“It’s really become all about marketing and Indian Awards are completely ridiculous. They are just TV shows.
“So I’m not going to market myself to America. If they want to give it to me without it I will take it. No problem!
What’s next?
Post the release of Broken Horses Chopra has a lot to look forward to. His team is scripting the third in the Munnabhai series which they hope to start working on once Sanjay Dutt is out of prison. Then there is Wazir starring Farhan Akhtar, which will be out this October. And in between there are a few projects that some major Hollywood studios have offered him after seeing Broken Horses. “So its really both the worlds for me. I have never planned ahead. I’ve never said Vinod Chopra film will have this and this... I have only followed my heart and my passion. And my love for cinema takes me anywhere.”
ambica@khaleejtimes.com
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