Bollywood gets original about phirang roles

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br />Blame it on the Indian film industry''s growing appeal, or filmdom''s own urgency to reach out to a more global audience, but the fact is, more and more international actors are joining the Bollywood club.<br /><br />There was a time when filmdom took recourse to actors like Tom Alter when it came to playing a <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">phirang</span> character.But these days, the industry seems to have considerable access to international actors.<br /></div> <div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -6"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="1" width="34.7%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" e6e6e6=""> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="" font-style:="" italic="">Phirang </span><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Factor</span></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" fbfbfb=""> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:=""> </span><span style="" font-size:="" font-style:="" italic="">Lagaan</span><span style="" font-size:="">: Rachel Shelly, Paul Thornhill</span><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-style:="" italic="">The Rising</span><span style="" font-size:="">: Neolin Ben, Toby Stephens</span><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-style:="" italic="">Out Of Control</span><span style="" font-size:="">: Brande Rodricks</span><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-style:="" italic="">King of Bollywood</span><span style="" font-size:="">: Sophie Dahl</span><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-style:="" italic="">I-Proud To Be Indian</span><span style="" font-size:="">: Tim Lawrence.</span></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal">The trend began with <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Lagaan</span>, where producer-actor Aamir Khan flew in as many as 40 British actors, including Rachel Shelly and Paul Blackthorne, to act in his film. Director Ashutosh Gowarikar admitted at that time that it would have been the standard practice to cast Indian actors who look like foreigners in those roles. "But we knew it wouldn''t be convincing and opted instead to go to England and screen-test British actors," he said.<br /><br />With the splendid success of <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Lagaan</span>, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">The Rising</span> has as many, if not more, UK-based actors playing pivotal roles. Among them is Ben Nealon who played Captain Smith in <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Lagaan</span> and now will appear as Captain Hewson. Says Ben, "After <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Lagaan</span>, there was no second thought about accepting <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">The Rising</span>."<br /><br />Apart from Ben, the film also stars one of Britain''s sought-after young actors, Toby Stephens, who will play friend-turnedfoe to Aamir Khan in the film.<br /><br />While it can still seem acceptable to have foreign actors in theme-based projects, many are even been wooed to add novelty to a film. And more aptly, to increase the film''s chances in the international market.<br /><br />Like Out of Control, which had Brande Rodericks starring in it. According to producer Vashu Bhagnani, he chose a foreign star to be the attraction of the movie.<br /><br />"I paid her a little lesser than what I would pay top Indian actress, but it automatically fetched great mileage for both her and the film. Moreover, Bollywood has tremendously grown over a period and many international stars are quite eager to be part of Indian projects," he points out.<br /><br />Rightly enough, this was an opportunity Brande wasn''t going to miss either. "I always loved what Bollywood stood for and was quite eager to be part of all the singing and dancing. I didn''t even bother that I couldn''t speak Hindi," she tells us.<br /><br />Again, Sohail Khan''s recent film I-Proud to be Indian stars the six-foot Tim Lawrence, playing the villain in the film. "Since my film is about racial discrimination, I had to take actors who could look their part," he says.<br /><br />Again, Subhash Ghai''s next film, Krishna, will have a British-based actress starring along with Vivek Oberoi. Then there''s British supermodel Sophie Dahl, who will be acting in a movie called King of Bollywood, to be directed by Piyush Jha. Sophie plays a news correspondent in the film and co-starring with her will be Om Puri.<br /><br />Bhagnani believes that with the film market opening up so rapidly, several projects with international stars will be seen in days to come. Which means having Cameron Diaz or even Richard Gere in a Bollywood movie may not be such a far-fetched idea anymore.<br /><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">sandhya.iyer@timesgroup.com</span></div> </div>