Summary of Sharmishta Panel Discussion LA
Hi Folks,
Per Om’s request here is the summary, with my comments in the brackets (these were not aired but felt, aired after that to Sharmishta when having the after event khana and peena..oops no peena, don’t do peena)
Event kicked off to an almost full capacity at the very hip, very chic, very Gay, Ultra Suede Lounge in Hollywood. Moderated primarily by Ritu and filled in by me.
Q1) Tell us about yourselves (thank god they were non desis, for the most part, or all the Ram kahani would come out from ….jab hum paida hue the)
A1) I am Judith James and along with my partner Richard Dreyfuss we are an independent company formed, when Richard got very angry with Hollywood (not sure why) . Was in Cannes a couple of years back and was planning a film for which I wanted an Indian actor, Irfan Khan to play a role, went looking for Irfan in one of the stalls and ended up seeing the entire film, a short film called Road To Ladakh by Oscar nominated Ashwin Kumar. Liked what we saw and decided to make a film called the FOREST with Ashwin. Shot primarily in Uttranchal and Forest areas. Film got completed recently, are in post now.
I am Monique Caulfield, a producer from Hollwyood. We are making a fun film with a message (more power to you lady, cause I hate messagy films with a message, life is too short for messagy films), called Basmati Blues, it is a masala films but talks about the use of unnatural products used in our foods aka Basmati. Still in planning stage and the lead actor will probably be mainstream Hollywood and female lead mainstream Bollywood. We wanted masala with a message.
I am Sharmishta Roy, wanted to be an interior designer, but ended up being an Art Director, because I was assisting my dad, also an Art Director and then Yash Chopra (yes, yes I know PfC readers have khunnas against him, but I don’t give a frog’s fart, everyone has khunnas against the “haves,” & since I am a “have”, I like “haves“), walked into the sets one day and said “who has designed this set?” dad pointed at me, Yash looked at me and ever since has been looking at me along with Dharma. Now I am in the US looking to work and learn from the Hollywood methodology (lady leave the Bay Area, leave all desi groups, kyonki koi desi ko Hollywood studio me clout nahin hain, at best Jag and Ashok have and both used to make B grade porn, Jag still makes B+ grade, Ashok sudar gaya)
Q2) What drives you to South Asia…goris in the panel…what drives you to US…brownies in the panel?
A2) Judith – The story was based out of South Asia as was the director, he wanted to make Intl films but from India, hence we were there.
Monique – Because companies have often misused their technology in developing countries (ya…aieelaa…apun ka economy dekha hain kya…kaa he ka developing, abi ek dam chakaas hain) and also because I realized there is more to Indian films than the songs and dance (should there be more, no gaana is = very boring)
Sharmishta – Like I said I am here to learn and get involved in the mainstream Hollywood methodology, but with my South Asian sensibility, which is very loud, opulent and larger than life ( you go woman, at least you are honest, as I say, artsy types all hypocrites, commercial types, true people)
Q2 – asked by a very studly man named Vivek Kumar – So all that is fine, the opportunities, learning new cultures, etc, but out with the truth, did the experience really make you, or was it like “I’m done no more, this place is not for me?” as in working in in geogrpahies not your own, and please give honest answers, we aren’t looking for policitcally correct answers?
Judith – the place was a nightmare!!! It took a long time to get used to. There were leopards while we were shooting, a python once held up traffic, language as in lingo used in Hollywood was an issue (lady when you shoot a film called FOREST in a wildlife national park, tho models or night clubs to milenge nahin, jaanwar ke ghar mein, narural habitants will be found, right?, also make sure you hire the right production coordinator, cause he or she messed up big time by not being aware of these problems, but at least you are honest), but the technicians, the grips, etc, are the best in the world, so overall a great experience
Monique – We are in the planning stages but our limited experience is the same, difficult place to adjust too, but the crew and knowledge of the medium at the daily worker level is absolutely outstanding. And the cost, what we are planning to make for $2 million would have cost at least $20 mill anywhere and I mean, anywhere else ( silicon valley brotherin or sisterin ko nahin bataana, or else they will start a BPO on that)
Sharmistha – Well i have news for you folks. Working in NYC for all of Karan’s films, after working in Mumbai, was a huge shock to me. The film world,a t least the set design world asks for last minute changes, world over, but try finding a harware store in NYC that is open during the weekends and good luck to you if you can. Also permissions are required for almost anything and eveything and if you go like a minute over, all hell breaks loose with the authorities. The flip side of course was that the work ethic is very sound and people for the most part are very reliable and hard working, but not necessarily the best in this field, since in NYC are mostly the up and comers in the crew, the real folks are all in LA and up and comers, can sometime mess up big time when not working with up and comers (corporate, films all the same, the only experience is real world experience and lack of tajurba can be spotted miles away)
Then Sharmishta gave the demonstration of the day. Power point slides that culminated from the first wood, the first cloth, the first design and gradually worked themselves to a completed set …yes the set of KANK (I know, I know, all of PfC has an issue with that and I like to take a crack at all issues) and the song which AB Sr and Jr (I know, I know…..you know and I know that we all know what I am going to say next...).
It is to be noted that when the songs were playing, all the panelists were dancing away (yaane ke nachna + gaana sab ko pasand….koi shaque). This was followed by some MAJOR networking and the after event party. The panelists left shortly after and one panelist joined us for some rich Bengali and Brazillian food. That panelist has done films like KANK, but also Meenaksi, Dil to Pagal Hain, but also Dev. Any guesses??? And then a group of 10 of us did what we do best, socaialize, ate, gossipped, discussed the event and then in true LA/Mumbai style, went to have some chai and penne at a Santa Monica restaurant
Thanks to the 100+ people who showed up that night……and then……(sorry not part of the panel!!)
Made up and some for the Eklavya disaster the night before. Plus let’s face it, between being in dead Artesia and the happening West Hollywood, it is always the latter which wins out
Sincerely,
Vivek “creative people are the best, but I miss my corporate types enough by Monday morning to be back there too”Kumar.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Thanks for this vivek..I am sure we missed something wonderful…Feel bad for it now…damn my laziness….
I would beg to differ with you on a few notes here Vivek..
“Yash Chopra (yes, yes I know PfC readers have khunnas against him”
I can vouch for this..No one on PFC has Khunnas against yash Chopra nor his films…people just do not like his movies “anymore”
“yes the set of KANK (I know, I know, all of PfC has an issue with that and I like to take a crack at all issues)”
I hated KANK…but there were some beautiful things in it, e.g the sets..so..no hating that…
Yeh Dil Maange More…( This heart craves more)…Any chance that Power point can be reproduced on PFC?
Thanks Vivek.. its interesting.. and yeah i do agree with Om about the sets of KANK… i dont think people hated sets.. as they did the movie..
= Vivek, I agree with OM about your assumption. I don’t think many of us have anything against Yash Chopra. After all he’s the one who gave us Waqt, Deewar, Trishul, Lamhe, Silsila among many other impressionable movies. Likewise about KANK.