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Bollywood goes to China
2009-01-13
MUMBAI (AFP) - India's first Hindi film to be shot on location in China is released this week, marking a watershed in relations between the two countries that have often been marked by suspicion and even war. "Chandni Chowk to China," an action-comedy about a lowly Indian chef who is mistaken for the reincarnation of a fabled Chinese warrior, opens Friday, and stars Akshay Kumar and Gordon Liu. Kumar is one of Bollywood's best-known action heroes, while Liu is a veteran of martial arts films as well as Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" series. India producer Ramesh Sippy said the film, which is Hollywood studio Warner Brothers' first Bollywood movie, was important because of the co-operation of China. "It is a milestone because never in the history of Bollywood in my memory has any Hindi film been shot in China. The subject is fresh and exciting," he said. But he was coy on whether it would help forge closer ties between the two neighbours, whose fortunes have been transformed by their recent economic growth. "I am not the right person to comment on this issue because I am a filmmaker. All I would like to say is that it was great to shoot inside China and especially at the Great Wall of China," he added. "Moreover, we don't have any message in the film. This is only an entertaining film." Sino-Indian relations have often been fraught, principally over disputed border territory in the far east and northwest of India and the presence of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, on Indian soil. Periodic skirmishes escalated into a brief war in 1962, with China also siding with Pakistan as it fought India in 1965 and 1971. In Bollywood, that led to a series of nationalistic films showing China in a bad light. Former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi made moves in the late 1980s to improve ties, leading to a regular friendship dialogue between the world's two most populous nations. Sippy said that they encountered some problems filming in China -- but they were only logistical and linguistic. "People were very good but it took us very long to begin the shooting of the film," he explained. "The bureaucracy in China took us almost a year to get all the necessary permissions. "Luckily, we were prepared to wait because we knew this film had to be shot in China because of the story. "The language was a big problem for us too, as they speak Mandarin and we don't understand that. We had to take help from many local interpreters to complete the film." "Chandni Chowk to China" comes as tentative steps towards greater co-operation between the two nations are taken. Last year, the first China film festival was held in New Delhi amid talk of possible future joint cinematic ventures. Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty is reportedly working on an Indian-Chinese film with actor Xia Yu. "This film is just opening the doors for some more work between the two film industries. We all hope there may be many more such films with Bollywood in the near future," said Liu recently in Mumbai. But while Indian audiences will be able to see "Chandni Chowk" -- named after the main street in old Delhi -- it is still unclear whether Chinese moviegoers will get the chance. "I don't know whether this film will be released in China at this moment because China allows only 20 foreign films to be released in their country each year," Liu added.
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