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Hollywood turns to India for
inspiration
By S Dhar
 Aishwarya Rai to be the
next Bond girl? Lagaan to script Bollywood
history at the Oscars? Bollywood bad boy Salman Khan to
star in Willard Carroll's romantic musical
Marigold? The list goes on about tinseltown news
that kept alive the Indian hopes of an indelible
Bollywood mark on Hollywood. But each time they were
just off the mark and proved to be "also rans".
After a series of so-near-yet-so-far Bollywood
bungles, hopes are soaring once again. This time around
it is not Hindi filmdom's feeble attempt to grab the
attention of Hollywood royalty. For Hollywood is finally
recognizing the power of love, to conquer on celluloid
the epic Indian saga of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal.
Warner Brothers has just announced that it is
producing a movie about the epic love story behind the
building of the Taj Mahal. This is the first time a
major Hollywood studio has decided to make a movie on a
topic that is much beloved in India and Bollywood.
Interestingly, the news came at a time when Bollywood
actor-cum-director Akbar Khan is lending final touches
to his very own dream project Taj Mahal, an
opulent movie on the same subject.
The WB movie,
based on a screenplay by Pakistan-American journalist
turned screenwriter Kamran Pasha, is also an example of
the growing South Asian prominence in Hollywood. The WB
executive in charge of the movie is Aditya Sood, an
Indian-American who is a rising star at the studio.
Says screenwriter Kamran, "It has been a
lifelong dream to develop a Hollywood movie on the Taj
Mahal story, and I finally decided to get around to
writing it last year after extensively researching
Mughal history and culture. The script is meant to be an
English-language epic, much like Gladiator, The Last
Emperor or Lawrence of Arabia, that is
intended to appeal to both Western and Eastern
audiences. I think it will have a very different look
and feel than many of the other movies on the subject.
"The story, set in 17th-century India during the
reign of Jahangir and Nur Jahan, is presented as a
Shakespearean tale of romance and intrigue in the
imperial court, and I believe that it has the potential
to become a worldwide blockbuster because of the
richness of the characters. While this is a story that
is the pride of the Indian subcontinent, it is so epic
and global in its reach, like Titanic, I think it
will draw moviegoers from Chile to China," the ebullient
screenwriter said.
The Warner Brothers storyline
follows the growing romance of Shah Jahan and wife
Arjumand Bano (Mumtaz Mahal), which is almost derailed
by the machinations of stepmother Nur Jahan. The
resulting civil war between Nur Jahan and her rebellious
stepson serves as the spine of the story, culminating in
the tragic death of Shah Jahan's wife and his vow to
build the Taj Mahal as her eternal memorial.
"Though Nur Jahan is the antagonist of my movie,
I present the empress as a complex and tragic figure, a
powerful woman trying to rule in a world dominated by
men - she is not the typical villain she has sometimes
been portrayed [as]. In many ways, Nur Jahan is the
richest character in the story and the audience will
have difficulty hating her despite her plots against the
hero, because we realize she is trying to survive in the
deadly court politics of Mughal India," elaborates
Kamran, who before wrote for the popular US television
series The Twilight Zone.
While the WB
film is at the development stage and Kamran and the team
are working on perfecting the script, Akbar Khan has
already finished the shoot of his film. Says Khan of his
version: "I'm setting out to make a film that would
bring this glorious passage of history to life, to
humanize it, not a docudrama but an experience in living
history. I want to put the audience on the lap of the
golden era of the Peacock Throne, to experience the
romance of Emperor Shah Jahan and his Empress Mumtaz
Mahal. The romance that eventually turned into an
eternal love story, as together they become the Taj
Mahal.
"The Taj Mahal is not just the story of a
mausoleum, it's the story of a family. It's not only a
romance, it is also a tragedy. The Mughals are an
amalgam of fierce battle, awful revenge and sublime
esthetics. They love with passion and hate with equal
passion. The scene was set for clashing of arms,
charging of horses and whipping off heads, in short for
fratricidal violence, as brothers destroyed each other
and sons rebelled against fathers in their rivalry for
the throne," Khan says.
The opportunity to
portray grandeur onscreen is also the reason Warner
Brothers is drawn to making Taj Mahal. But the
cast and director of the WB movie are yet to be
finalized. "It's too early in the game to make decisions
about casting. Our goal is to make this movie appealing
to global audiences, so it makes sense to have a cast
with stars who are familiar faces in the West as well as
India," reveals Kamran. "Also, we will probably be
approaching big-name Hollywood directors who have proven
their ability to handle large-scale epic movies."
While Warner Brothers plans to shoot in India,
the decision is yet to be finalized. "We'd love to shoot
in India, but no decisions have been made. Financial
considerations as well as the willingness of India's
film industry to help facilitate this project are
factors that will be taken into account," Kamran says.
"Our goal is to make this as true to history as
possible. While we intend it to be a lavish production
worthy of the grandeur of Mughal civilization, the story
is fundamentally focused on the dynamics of the royal
family. At its heart, our script is very much a tale of
love, intrigue, betrayal and redemption within the
Mughal court," says Kamran.
(Trans World
Features)
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