USA & The Bollywood Filmmaker/Crew/Actor
Hi Folks,
In this article which is going to make me immensely unpopular with the Bollywood film industry, am going to talk about my experiences dealing with the Bollywood folks over the last 3-4 years, organizing events/interviews.
Category Worst: This encompasses both the Bollywood and the Arthouse, probably more the latter. But first they crib and complain that NRI’s like Candy Floss and no one gives them or their movies the due that they should be getting. Yet when you try and contact them, the moment you mention ”US of A,” suddenly their demand goes through the roof. Can I get business class airfare for my 14th cousin and 12 th wife? Or better still…And we charge a speaking fee of $5000…or we will do it free….but two minutes before the event starts, their tone changes…..Oh and by the way, it will be $1000 appearance fees.
My Response: Dude, realize that the events we do and the interviews we do, enhances your profile for you and it is not as if we are making millions off, of you, so see the big picture for a change!! And if you cannot, then both we and you can co-exist without ever running into each other.
Category Somewhat Messed Up: Ok then we have star and starlet (somehow it is more the latter), who is called to MC an event or be a chief guest at the event. Chances are they are in the B+ category. The good news is that they will state upfront that they want $14K appearance fee. Fair enough…..but….now the bad news, they will do just that….make an appearance …..not a word will be spoken…..Oh am I supposed to talk….sorry that will be $10K more and I need cash upfront and I will tell you about my “appearance vs speaking role” at the time of the appearance!!!!
My Reponse: You leave me speechless!!
Category More Than Somewhat Messed Up: So the first time Bollywood person came and everything went perfect, we were left broke, but what the hell, we raised the person’s profile and and he/she did inform us and was upfront about expectations…..but now he /she is felling USA sick (reverse for homesick) or wants to do a shopping spree, so figures that the best way would be to say …..let’s make a film in the USA…or…..make me the chief guest again dude!!!
My Response: America is the land of the independence. You need ticket to come to the US, go to Make My Trip. com and use YOUR hands to take out YOUR credit card and purchase YOUR ticket for YOUR trip.
Category Best of the Best: But in anything in life you cannot genralize and we have folks in Bollywood, folks who we in SAAFA have done events around, interviewed them (we may or may not agree with their personality, but we hold them in high regard in their attitudes), people such as Shibani Bhatija, Sharmishta Roy, Rahul Bose, Ashutosh Gowarikar, Perizaad Zorbian, Nagesh Kukunoor, etc, who have had the foresight and the fortitude to do events/interviews in/with US based organizations such as our’s and always been very “regular” very “professional” and very appreciate of the “win/win” mentality that we, South Asian Americans are/were trying to do for them.
As sites such as PFC continue to attract such folks, my tip to them would be, take advantage of the folks who are on your side, rather than taking for a ride, the very folks, who are trying to increase your profile in the USA and hence, indirectly, also helping you to procure audience and opportunities.
Sincerely,
Vivek “articles are never about pleasing the reader” 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
vivek, I find your taglines as interesting as your articles
@ Vivek i would love to see you do a full blown article on event management..how you organise an event like SAFAA..what are the requirements..etc, etc, not to forget the financial burdens or the profit you guys make…me for one have zero idea about events of the magnitude of SAFAA and am pretty sure there migth be more than one on PFC who is in my league…
I will some day OM, what I can tell you (and you are welcome to Audit this, since I am a CPA, I live life by the principle, in God we trust, others we Audit), we have run SAAFA and it’s chapters, done the events, newsletter on an average Citibank checking balance of $234.15 cents (from March 2003 till date). I feel blessed in having a co-founder who shares the vision and some dedicated folks running the chapters, which includes Striker for DC
You gotta name some names Vivek. If you don’t name names, then we never know and this whole shhh…keep in the closet continues the cycle of diva treatment.
But I gotta tell ya, it doesn’t sound any worse than bringing politicians over for a speaking engagement. Same diva treatment, and they DO love their shopping sprees. Plus you have to watch what you say, lest the “invisible talwar” is drawn across the table.
I don’t think its as much diva attitude as it is lack of professionalism, on both sides. If you want more money then we won’t do the event. And pay for your ticket home. A “go fuck yourself” attitude may just bring these idiots down to earth sometime.
Event management’s no joke, but we also tend to get star-struck, and who wouldn’t want to hang out with a star and all that.