MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT INSIGHTS SPOTLIGHT ON INDIA APRIL 2009

BHAVESH DEEPTI RAMU PATEL DARYANANI Yalamanchi

ABHISHEK DAVID SUCHIR KAPOOR TENZER BATRA

SUPERNA ASHOK RICHARD KALLE AMRITRAJ FOX

ANDY RUJUTA BOBBY BIRD VAIDYA SHARMA

NOEL DEBORAH SUNEEL DE SOUZA BOTHUN GUPTA

RICHIE RUPAK DEBORAH MEHTA GINN TELLIS

ROMA AMIT SYED KHANNA KHANNA AHMED

ANIL DAVID NINA KAPOOR TAGHIOFF PALEY

THE PEOPLE ISSUE 02 FROM THE EDITORS LETTER 03

Reena Singh Naz Haider letter from Editor Editor the editors

Currently Reena Singh is Director of Naz Haider is an enthusiast of politics, When it comes to India and Hollywood, there is a lot to say. Just think about all the buzz when Anil Development for Disney Channel’s kid anthropology, pop-culture and of course, Ambani’s Reliance ADA Group invested $500 million dollars into the new DreamWorks. Of late, and family branded movies. While at Disney filmmaking. He grew-up watching old classic the talk of the town is Slumdog Millionaire, which turned the spotlight on stories from India. Word Channel, she has worked on the network’s Hindi movies in the family-owned theater in on the street is despite the current state of worldwide economics, Hollywood studios are more highest rated programs—High School Musical Calcutta, India. He even shot a few while in committed than ever when it comes to entering the Indian media marketplace in a significant way. 2, Jump In! and Camp Rock. She collaborates college and later, decided to be a part of the But here’s the thing about buzz and talk and words. That’s all it really boils down to—buzz, talk and with the online, marketing and consumer Entertainment & Media (E&M) industry as words—unless you have the right people with the right vision to execute the right strategy. So for the products on the brand’s most prominent a professional. His extensive international third edition of the Media & Entertainment Insights magazine, we decided to focus on the people franchises. Last year she travelled to India for management consulting career began with who are behind the Hollywood—Bollywood collaboration. the production of the Disney Channel Original Deloitte and Touche in their New Media People like Warner Bros.’ Richard Fox and Reliance ADA’s Amit Khanna. Both executives are Movie—Cheetah Girls One World—and is strategy group. He later joined Cambridge being honored this month with Indian Film Festival Los Angeles (IFFLA) Industry Leadership now developing movies with Disney Channel Management Consulting in the Silicon Valley Awards. In his own words, Raskin Peter Rubin & Simon’s David Tenzer who—along with help territories. She began her media career at with focus on entertainment and new media from Jessica Kantor—sums up what he calls the “Great Convergence” between the world’s Bon Appetit magazine—where, yes, she ate ventures; during the course he assisted firms, two entertainment powerhouses. We’ve also included Korn Ferry’s list of the Top 25 Most very well—and then attended the Annenberg such as Apple, PrimeCable, William Morris Influential South Asians in Media & Entertainment based in the U.S. School of Journalism’s Masters Program at and others. He also played a pivotal role in the University of Southern California. At ABC establishing Cambridge’s E&M practice in Throughout the process of putting this magazine together, we’ve had the opportunity to Network News, she produced day-of-air and Europe. Currently he is the Vice President of speak with dynamic people in the international entertainment arena. After all, the best way to long form documentary-like style pieces for Business Management for ABC Family, a top separate the buzz from the real business is to talk to the players. So we’ve included profiles of World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, Good 10 cable network owned by the Walt Disney leaders from all aspects of the industry. Their stories shape what is currently happening in the Morning America, Nightline and Primetime. Company. He is responsible for the financial blossoming relationship between the two film capitals. Stories such as Ashok Amritraj’s amazing After several years on the road covering U.S. management, business development, journey from tennis to tinsel town; Andy Bird’s insight on developing local content internationally; politics, natural disasters and international driving the long-term strategy, and growing the inspiring kahani (story) from Suneel Gupta; and PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Deborah Bothun’s events, she crossed over to the entertainment multi-platform business for cable contents, expert perspective. division as an ABC Entertainment Associate. including digital and new media. Of course, we couldn’t tell the whole story without the talent. Directors from the East and West, Abhishek Kapoor and Richie Mehta, share their visions as filmmakers for a new generation of multiplex goers. A brave actress—Deepti Daryanani—opens up about her journey to Los Her love for movies began at a young age Naz is a member of Academy of Television Angeles and a second generation Indian American—Rupak Ginn—is hopeful about breaking with the Bollywood films her mother took her Arts and Sciences, World Affairs Council, into mainstream Hollywood roles. There is iconic Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor’s thoughts on to see at a Boston-area university on Sunday and NAMIC (National Association for Multi- the international impact of Slumdog Millionaire. And there are so many more insightful and afternoons. Ethnicity In Communication). He is a board entertaining conversations in the pages that follow. member of Bioscopewalla and a recipient of 2009 Luminaries of the Cable Industry award As for the people on our team, we’d like to thank Arnold Peter of Raskin Peter Rubin & Simon by NAMIC. for extending to us the opportunity of working on this magazine. Additionally, we couldn’t have put this issue together without the support and encouragement of IFFLA Director Christina Marouda whose passion for Indian cinema is tireless. Much appreciation also to our designer Naz graduated magna cum laude with a Elena Kapintcheva who from miles away brought this magazine to life. Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics and Well, that’s probably enough talk from us. It’s now time to listen to the people who are leading Economics from Oberlin College and received the way. his Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School. He lives in Los Angeles, Enjoy the read. California with wife Zakia and son Aidan.

Reena Singh Naz Haider Editor Editor table of contents

04 TABLE OF C ONTENTS 05

03 LETTER FROM THE EDITORS PROFILES Meet the people who are shaping the Hollywood—Bollywood collaboration.

06 THE GREAT CONVERGENCE BY DAVID TENZER 20 STUDIO ANDY BIRD The time is still right for increased partnership between the world’s entertainment powerhouses. Raskin Peter Rubin & Simon’s David Tenzer shares what more Hollywood can do to enhance the creative and business collaboration with India. 22 PRODUCER ASHOK AMRITRAJ 08 BEHIND THE LIST Korn/Ferry’s Bill Simon tells us what it takes to make the U.S.-based top 25 South Asians in Media and PRODUCER Entertainment list. 26 SUNEEL GUPTA

25 MOST INFLUENTIAL SOUTH ASIAN EXECUTIVES 10 ACTOR IN THE MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY BASED IN THE U.S. 30 RUPAK GINN

34 ACTRESS IFFLA INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP AWARDS DEEPTI DARYANANI IN RECOGNITION OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF INDUSTRY EXECUTIVES WHO HAVE HAD AN IMPACT ON THE CREATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF INDIAN-THEMED CONTENT GLOBALLY AS WELL AS HAVE LED THE EXPANSION OF THE MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY IN INDIA. 36 DIRECTOR RICHIE MEHTA

12 HONOREE DIRECTOR WARNER BROS. RICHARD FOX 40 ABHISHEK KAPOOR

16 HONOREE TELEVISION RELIANCE ENTERTAINMENT AMIT KHANNA 44 SUPERNA KALLE

46 CHOREOGRAPHER RUJUTA VAIDYA

50 STUDIO LIAISON NOEL DE SOUZA

54 THOUGHT LEADER DEBORAH BOTHUN

57 ANIMATOR NINA PALEY

59 MUSIC ASHA PUTHLI

COVER Abhishek Kapoor photo by Abheet Gidwani Richie Mehta photo by Bob Gundu 62 AGENCY DAVID TAGHIOFF & SUCHIR BATRA

A FINAL WORD WITH...

66 ANIL KAPOOR Why India? To start, executives in the U.S. should look closer at the rich Indian culture as a basis for big studio tent pole movies. For example, developers might turn to the ancient Sanskrit THE GREAT CONVERGENCE Here are the top seven reasons why investment Worldwide economic climate be damned. The temperature is still right for in the Indian M&E industry makes good sense transcripts, which form the backbone of India’s cultural heritage. There is also development growth between the Indian and U.S. media and entertainment industries. for Western companies. potential in the smaller films from India and the U.S. Such content is ripe for remakes in 06 By David Tenzer 1. India is the second largest country on the planet, with each other’s market when, of course, culturally appropriate. Who ever would have thought

BY DAVID TENZER THE GREAT C ONVERGEN E a population of 1.1 billion people, and it is also the that one of the greatest American gangster movies, The Departed, would be based on a Hong world’s largest democracy. Kong film titled Infernal Affairs (Mou gaan dou). The world will know that the Indian-American Nothing is easy in this economy. That’s especially true for the media business, both in the 07 2. Doing business in India is much easier for the Western cultural convergence is in full swing when Indian remakes of The Godfather and When Harry U.S. and around the world. But being asked in 2009 to write about the intersection of world because English is widely used. In fact—along Met Sally are playing at a local Mumbai cineplexes. Hollywood and Mumbai—well, let’s say that there are more difficult tasks. For those cheering with Hindi—English is one of the two official languages. the convergence of these two great entertainment industries, the last year has been an 3. India has a familiar and relatable legal system, which is exhilarating time. based on English common law. As for the small screen, India is heading into an era of rapid growth. Indian programmers are 4. India has the largest motion picture industry in the about to face audience fragmentation, branding and marketing challenges, which are the world. Yet, only a small percentage of their films same issues that American media executives began to experience a couple of decades ago. Just reflect on the following: At the Cannes Film Festival last spring, two deals were consists of what we generally think of as “Bollywood” Media professionals in the U.S. should find ways to export some of their 60 year experience announced that resulted in the creation of an exciting new architecture to bring Indian and movies resulting in a wide variety of choice for a large and know-how in the television business to India. The experiences of those professionals who American popular culture even closer together. international audience. have “been there and done that” should not go to waste. 5. India has over 25 languages, each spoken by more than a million native speakers resulting in many First, Lionsgate and Eros International—one of the leading Indian film studios—announced “entertainment industries.” In fact, regionalization is Let’s not forget the Indian diaspora, which is enormous and includes more than 25 million a joint venture covering production and distribution across India and North America. The currently one of the biggest growth areas in Indian programming. people outside of India. The entertainment needs of this group must be serviced properly second phase of the partnership will feature Hindi remakes of Hollywood hits from Lionsgate’s with respect to both new and existing content. Entrepreneurs in the U.S., India and elsewhere 12,000 title catalogue. Among the titles Dirty Dancing, Employee of the Month and even My 6. India has a rapidly growing middle class — over 440 should regard this as an important opportunity. Best Friend’s Girl. On the other side of the coin, Lionsgate agreed to acquire North American million people and still counting. Even with the world’s current financial troubles, India’s economy is expanding home video rights to Eros titles such as Eklavya: The Royal Guard, and Gandhi, My Father. dramatically. 7. Sectors in the Indian media industry—such as publishing Indian financial players will and should continue to look for investments in the U.S. and other —that are declining in mature economies are growing by more established markets. We have already begun to see the disruption in the entertainment Secondly, Reliance Entertainment—the media and entertainment arm of the Anil Dhirubhai leaps and bounds in India. industry as a result of the global economic meltdown. As it continues, some battered media Ambani Group—announced an entire slate of “first look” development deals with A-level assets may present themselves to major players in India’s entertainment industry at bargain Hollywood actors and filmmakers. The potential billing block reads Nicolas Cage’s Saturn prices. Simultaneously, established media players in the U.S. and Europe who are looking for Productions, Jim Carrey’s JC23 Entertainment, George Clooney’s Smokehouse Productions, markets growing more rapidly than their own, should look to India, which combines many of Tom Hanks’ Playtone Productions, Brad Pitt’s Plan B, Chris Columbus’ 1492 Pictures and the best qualities of an “emerging market” with a large and growing economy in a politically Jay Roach’s Everyman Pictures. Earlier this year, this list was supplemented at the Berlin stable and democratic society. International Film Festival with two additional deals: Julia Robert’s Red Om Films and Brett Ratner’s Rat Entertainment. There are many reasons to be optimistic about the state of convergence and co-operation between these two media markets. If we continue at this pace, who knows how many Oscars® For an encore, late last year Reliance Entertainment came to the rescue of DreamWorks from several studios will be based on Indian content, financed by Indian entities or directed when it was ready to exit Paramount and in search of a new financing source. With a capital by Indian filmmakers? We look forward to the months ahead. infusion of approximately $500 million, Reliance instantly became a force to be reckoned with on the Hollywood scene. The deal was the biggest entry into the Western media market by an Indian group and marked a reverse from the large amounts that have recently poured into the Indian film industry by U.S. production houses.

Finally, for anyone who has been in a coma during the last couple of months, Slumdog Millionaire won eight Oscars® this year including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score and Best Song. Slumdog Millionaire’s domestic box office total is over $140 million still climbing.

Slumdog Millionaire is surprisingly not the first India-themed movie to sweep the Oscars®— Gandhi, a UK production with a largely British cast and crew, took home eight statues in 1982. It does, however, seem to be the first which has had an impact on American popular culture. Industry watchdogs, such as Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan—editor of American monthly India Currents—believe that Slumdog Millionaire may have burst through doors that would have otherwise taken a decade or more to inch open “Perhaps it took something as spectacular as the Slumdog Millionaire sweep to confirm our arrival as a cultural and not just a professional force,” says Srinivasan. Now that Indian media and entertainment have stepped firmly into the spotlight, the question is how do the two industries make the most of the past year’s momentum and discover more ways in which they can help each other grow and prosper? By David Tenzer BEHIND THE LIST

Hollywood is a place accustomed to lists. Some are of the men in suits with clipboards and velvet ropes variety. Others herald a new generation of talent. But now there is a new list in town with a korn/ very global membership. It’s the Korn/Ferry International listing of the twenty-five most influential ferry’sbill South Asians in the media and entertainment industry. Korn/Ferry’s Bill Simon takes us behind the making of “the list” and discusses growth opportunities for executives entering Bollywood and the simon challenges facing U.S. entertainment executives in global markets. 08 BILL SIMON BEHIND THE LIST How did the Korn/Ferry Top 25 Most It was really twofold. First, it came together as a result of our work and involvement with AMEC 09 Influential South Asians in the Media and (Association of Media and Entertainment Counsel) and the Indian Film Festival Los Angeles. Summit Entertainment Entertainment Industry come to be? Then, of course, there was the incredible visibility of Bollywood films coming into the States over the past few years including the obvious success of Slumdog Millionaire, which was a global phenomenon. With all of this happening, we realized that there was an opportunity— would like to congratulate although probably long overdue—to honor executives from the South Asian community.

What criteria does one need to possess in I think it is a demonstrable track record in the emerging and growing Indian and international order to make this list? film and television industry and the ability to impact people on a global basis in this field. These are people who are breaking through despite many logistical barriers. Deborah Tellis

I congratulated someone who made the list Not true at all. It is a demographic and a population with many contributions to the industry and their response was, “Wow. I didn’t know that has been overlooked. But that is changing now because of these talented individuals, there were twenty-five of us [South Asians] the ability to get content around the world across the Web or via satellite and a strong local in the industry!” population in, well, pick a place—Detroit, Miami, Atlanta and so on. We had many, many more than twenty-five people to pick from and all I can say is that this is just the first year of the list! and all those recognized by

With everything that has impacted the global In the media and entertainment industry, there continues to be investment in India. There are Korn/Ferry International as the economy, are U.S.-based entertainment investments from Sony Pictures in satellite television networks and there are many U.S.-based companies still investing in India or has television networks involved in India. Sony, Time Warner and Disney are all there and there this slowed down? continues to be interest in Indian audiences. Also, advertising agencies are working harder 25 to reach the consumers in the local Indian market. in the U.S. Entertainment What are the growth opportunities for U.S. The growth opportunity is to figure out what kinds of content appeal to an Indian audience executives who want to work in Bollywood? and to reach them through targeted and general media campaigns. Good quality is good quality, but not all content works for all audiences. Slumdog Millionaire is a great example and Media Industry of content that appeals to many audiences. People appreciate great storytelling whether it is a movie or a book or a song and there are certain stories that are universal. As for job opportunities in the media and entertainment space, there is very much a focus on digital. Content on the Web, the mobile space and games are leading the way. A great executive can really impact a business as a leader by identifying new content, new consumers and ways to reach those consumers.

What challenges do U.S. entertainment companies What U.S.-based executives face is exactly what executives across a lot of sectors have faced face when entering local markets? over the years as we’ve grown into a global economy. Take Gillette when they introduced their razors around the world. Like with Gillette there is currently a challenge of mixing brand image with the local market. When Disney launched a bunch of networks worldwide, they focused on controlling their brand image with taking what was perceived as American sensibility and combining that to meet the local sensibility of whatever country they were entering. Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonalds in China, for instance, have certain items that are the same if you are sitting in Beijing or Burbank as well as items that are local to Beijing. Senior executives have to adapt to cultures around the world. They have to be a multicultural type of player because the world is becoming much smaller. They have to think local and think global at the same time.

Interview by Reena Singh

SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT_DEBORAH TELLIS IFFLA AD B/W NON BLEED FINAL TRIM: 7.5”w x 10”h 04.13.09 If you have any questions regarding this file, please contact: Phil Rowland 323.337.0300 most influential south asian executives in the media & entertainment industry based in the u.s.

10 IN THE MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY BASED IN THE US 25 MOST INFLUENTIAL SOUTH ASIAN EXE C UTIVES 11 MOGUL DIGITAL RIGHTS AND SECURITY ADVERTISING DIGITAL 25Ashok Amritraj Rajan Samtani chris d’rozario Salil Dalvi Chairman and CEO Director, Business Development Executive Creative Editor Senior Vice President, Digital Distribution Hyde Park Entertainment Digimarc Corporation JWT NBC Universal

FINANCE ONLINE BRANDS TECHNOLOGY Bedi A. Singh Ramu Yalamanchi deepak masand Kumar Mahadeva President, Finance and Administration Founder and CEO Senior Vice President & Global Head, Founder and Former Chairman & Chief Financial Officer hi5 Networks, Inc. Innovation and Commercial Marketing Cognizant Technology Solutions MGM VISA International Corporation

STRATEGIST INDUSTRY ORGANIZATIONS PUBLIC RELATIONS MARKETER Salil Mehta Noel de Souza ROHIT BHARGAVA Rohan Oza President of Business Operations, Studio Liaison Senior Vice President Senior Vice President of Marketing Strategy and Development Hollywood Foreign Press Association Ogilvy 360 Digital Glaceau NBC Universal

TELEVISION NEWS AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS DISTRIBUTION, TELEVISION MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS Roma Khanna Fareed Zakaria SUPERNA KALLE LATHA SUNDARAM President, Global Networks and Editor Senior Vice President Senior Vice President & Global Account Digital Initiatives Newsweek International Sony Pictures Television International Director NBC Universal International Starcom Worldwide

CABLE PUBLISHING DISTRIBUTION, FILM Krishan Bhatia Aparna Pande DEBORAH TELLIS Senior Vice President, Vice President and General Manager, Senior Vice President, International Strategy & Development U.S. Consumer Magazines Distribution Comcast Interactive Disney Publishing Worldwide Summit Entertainment

SPORTS MOBILE POST PRODUCTION Bobby Sharma MANISH JHA SYED AHMED President & General Counsel, President and Chief Executive Officer Vice President NBA Development League envIO’s Deluxe Laboratories, North America National Basketball Association

INTERACTIVE MUSIC ATTORNEY AND STRATEGIST Bhavesh Patel NUSRAT DURRANI ARNOLD PETER Vice President, Interactive Media Senior Vice President and General Partner Fox Cable Networks Manager Raskin Peter Rubin & Simon, LLP and MTV World RPRS Media Partners, LLC The mantra for our local This month the Indian Film Festival Los Angeles (IFFLA) honors Warner Bros.’ Richard Fox with their Industry Leadership Award. The truth is Fox is no stranger to titles. In 2006, he productions is that we was named Chevalier de l’Ordre de Arts et de Lettres (Knight of the Order of the Arts and think only of success in Letters) by the French Government for his contributions to creative life in France through international film. The Italians followed suit in 2008 and bestowed upon Fox the honorary title the country of origin. Commendatore dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana. (For those with rusty Italian language skills, that translates into Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.)

On the Warner Bros. lot, Fox goes by Executive Vice President, International, but worldwide he is known by filmmakers as collaborator and an executive whose successes can be attributed to his trust in global creative talent. Since 1992, he has overseen local language co-production, acquisition, marketing and distribution for the company in more than 20 countries worldwide. 12 Under his leadership, the studio has been involved in such acclaimed international fare as Jean- RI C HARD FOX IFFLA INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP AWARD HONOREE Pierre Jeunet’s A Very Long Engagement and Pedro Almodovar’s Talk To Her and Volver. 13

Last year, Warner Bros. released its first Indian film, Saas Bahu Aur Sensex in September 2008 and in January of this year rolled out the Bollywood extravaganza Chandni Chowk To China with actor Akshay Kumar and helmer Nikhil Advani. Over the next few years, Warner plans on releasing six Hindi films, as well as movies in other Indian languages. To reach the studio’s goals, Fox has shepherded several strategic alliances including a multi-picture deal with People Tree Productions—co-owned by director Nikhil Advani, an animated feature—Bird With A Cap—with director Jyotin Goel and an exclusive multi-picture deal with Soundarya Rajnikanth’s South Indian Ocher Studios.

We sat down with Fox to discuss the studio’s ventures into India and his philosophy for success. honoree

iffla industry leadership award What kind of stories does the Indian audiences generally are no different than any other in the sense that they want stories local Indian audience want? that relate to their own culture, language, and people. Although the box office of India’s films are dominated by Hindi language and today center very much on urban and semi-urban India there are many other regions with their own languages. They add up to a vast reservoir of stories, all with deep histories to mine from as well. Generally well executed films dealing with stories like romantic comedies, human interest dramas and thrillers work well. It is also interesting to note, a new trend catching on in films like Dev D, Rock On!, Wednesday. All were critically well acclaimed and had good box office returns in the key cities of India. Animation as a genre is extremely popular amongst kids on television but needs to realize its potential at the box office.

Internationally Warner Bros. has Our international philosophy is based on a country specific approach. Our local production, made strong strategic alliances marketing and distribution executives are the heart and mind of this initiative, as everything with A-level Bollywood actors, begins in their country not the home office. Our team in Mumbai initiates, develops and nurtures producers and directors. Is that a the relationships. Very simply, if you don’t have close, collaborative relationships with the talent strategy that is working? then you will fail. This is the same as the U.S. Our success as a studio is based on the careful partnering and nurturing of relationships with such filmmakers as Clint Eastwood, George Miller, Christopher Nolan and other first class filmmakers.

How does the global economic I think overall any business enterprise is affected by the financial meltdown. Whatever metrics meltdown impact foreign one uses, one must keep updating them. When we green light, can we readdress the budget? companies making movies in India? Should we be taking another look at talent fees? Are television stations paying the same now when buying rights? Nevertheless, we’re heartened that people are still going to movies. We just richard can’t take our audiences for granted and so we strive to give them the best films we can offer. fox

Continues on next page Will India develop a studio It’s possible that over time a studio system could emerge. As the films start generating system like ours? meaningful revenue from each of the normal revenue streams—Theatrical, Home Video, Digital, Pay and Free TV—and industry window standards start to apply, one could foresee the possibility of a number of Indian studios being formed.

Do you think Hollywood actors If you mean shooting an American film in India because India’s critical to the story and the film, will start making films in India? then yes. It all depends on the story. There’s great curiosity and fascination in the States about India so there’s no surprise here. And by the way, Slumdog Millionaire didn’t hurt to build the interest further!

Your career has focused on On the production side, it is almost by definition a collaborative enterprise. I don’t speak Hindi 14 international DISTRIBUTION, MARKETING or any of the other languages in India so we are very dependent on the local production team. RI C HARD FOX IFFLA INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP AWARD HONOREE AND filmmaking. When it comes to We must respect their opinions and be open to new ideas. We have to support their decisions on 15 working in the global space, what is films that may not be the same sort of films that fit models in other places. The mantra for our your philosophy for success? local productions is that we think only of success in the country of origin. India first! And finally, we must take a long-term view when you’re involved in local language productions, particularly Malibu Family Wines, proud producers of in India. American Studio films account for roughly 5% of the box office. Moving into Indian film production, we enter with a strong sense of humility, persistence and respect for talent. India has Semler and Saddlerock Wines, a long and rich film culture and history and you just can’t put your sign out and say: “We’re here!” You’ve got to prove it and prove it over time. along with the Semler and Achar Families

When you were starting out IN When I got out of the Air Force, I went to university in New York and then to Michigan for would like to congratulate YOUR CAREER, did you have a game graduate school. Then I needed a job. I had no money and needed a job. Making a long story plan? Are you where you thought short, I finally got an interview at Warner Bros. The fact that I spoke Japanese helped me a you would end up? great deal in securing interest from their international division. I was lucky and got a position as a management trainee. And since then I’ve always been in the international area. I’ve been with Warner Bros. for over 33 years and continue to find it exciting and has allowed me to Richard Fox and Amit Khanna meet many, many fascinating people around the world. for their continuing contributions to You’ve made and continue to make content I love what we are doing now and we have a lot more opportunities. Look what Slumdog all over the world. What’s next for you? Millionaire did! It opened the world to Indian cinema and it wasn’t even an Indian film. We’re Indian Cinema. finding the films that will work in local global markets by discovering their stories and making films that are a part of their own culture. And really when it comes to movies, a lot of people around the world are looking for “brain food” and finding it in international films. They don’t want films where they are just sitting in a seat drinking a soft drink. They want entertainment that takes them to new worlds and different places. It is an exciting time! As a special thanks, Malibu Family Wines would like to offer a special discount on all our and wines available online at our website. Please visit our website at www.malibufamilywines.com and use promo code “IFFLA20OFF” for a 20% discount on your next Malibu Family Wines order.

Malibu Wines Tasting Room 31800 Mulholland Highway, Malibu, CA 90265 P: 818-865-0605 web: www.malibufamilywines.com Interview by Reena Singh Open Wednesday – Sunday, 11am – 6pm The tables are going to The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles is honored to present Amit Khanna—an Indian media and entertainment legend—with this year’s Industry Leadership Award. Khanna is truly a renaissance turn. We are the largest man. There are very few, if any, senior executives of global media and entertainment companies filmmaking country in the who have actually written, directed and produced movies and TV series or penned lyrics for songs that are still popular to this day. He is an exception amongst the best. And just as the new world. We are the second digital revolution or complex global business models are evolving, Khanna ties up his shoe-laces most populous country in once again for the new stage-sets. He wasted no time in turning Reliance—a fairly new media the world. Our films are and entertainment outfit—into a global player. By the time he is done he will not only have changed the landscape of the Indian entertainment industry, but we will also see his fingerprints watched by the largest on the essential manual of how global media and entertainment business is conducted in the number of people in the future. Summarizing his years of experiences is beyond the scope of this article, but here is a world. There is no reason glimpse at the man who has done it all and is still going strong. why our films shouldn’t have the largest size of the 16

AMIT KHANNA IFFLA INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP AWARD HONOREE global box-office pie. 17

Many people know of you as a creative Well, if you [can] keep your mind open, learn and adapt new skills then it’s just a personal person—writer, director, producer and, of evolution. This transition started much earlier in my life when I turned into a producer in course, the lyricist of the popular songs 1981. So the beginnings of trying to understand the complexities of business began then. for Chalte Chalte and Swami. Now you are Subsequently I setup a company called Plus Channel, which was India’s first corporate in Chairman of a very successful conglomerate. entertainment. So this has been a gradual process. When I got involved with Reliance, which How did this happen? is a school for learning about business. I have learned a lot here in the last 10 years.

Reliance has made several diverse deals and Reliance’s basic philosophy is always to do business on a global scale. This is one of the honoree acquisitions, including the DreamWorks deal founding principals of the group. More specifically, Anil Ambani is also somebody who looks and the purchase of U.S.-based movie theaters. at a larger picture and a long-term play. When we were looking at this sector, we did a careful iffla industry leadership award What is Reliance’s strategy in India and the U.S.? analysis of our strengths, the growth areas and the gaps. Based on our analysis, we have entered one of the best growth segments. Also fortunately we did not inherit any of the legacy problems of the last century confronting many large media and entertainment companies. We have been able to create from ground zero a company that belongs to the 21st century and is responsive to the needs of today’s generation and today’s business environment.

Tell us about the “virtual studio and In a network society where physical geographical presence is not imperative for doing new-generation media company.” business, it is easier to look at diverse business models. So when we look at theater, we take a more holistic view. Our strength is that there is a large South Asian Diaspora around the world, including the United States. Instead of jumping straight away and trying to create a chain of theaters, which would cater to global audience, we said let’s try and start with a chain of theaters that will cater to the South Asian Diaspora and films from that region. In a way you are creating a virtual network of cinemas across the continent. At the operating level, while we have a team in the United States who is running these theaters, a lot of the work is done by the teams here in Mumbai. That’s one part of it. The other is that a couple of months ago we began on a pilot basis streaming films from our hubs in Mumbai to the U.S. So we stream films in real-time to some of the theaters we own. We are trying to build the capabilities of being able to deliver, store and retrieve any content anywhere in the world. We are leveraging Reliance Communication, which owns the world’s largest submarine optic fiber cable system and have landing points in over 50 countries, giving us the ability to carry data across the continents in a secure environment. This is something we will be expanding AMIT upon and in the current economic condition this makes a lot of sense because it saves a lot of money. Also since it is secure, it eliminates the threats from piracy. [It] also allows us to KHANNA deliver very focused advertising to individual theaters around the world. All this is possible because of high bandwidth and other technologies. Who should pay for digitizing conventional It’s both ways. When you are building new theaters or acquiring new theaters and refurbishing theaters—producers or theater owners? them, you have the option to move ahead with the digital technology. We found theaters in the U.S. and we started deploying 2K—the digital projection system. Also in cinemas that we are building in India, we are deploying the 2K system. Unlike the U.S., where again there is a legacy issue, there are over 30,000 cinemas and obviously the cost of conversion is large. The costs are coming down and more sophisticated technologies are becoming available, which should help. I believe that transition is inevitable, however, there is going to be a time lag. I see this transition going on for a decade.

India is seeing an unprecedented growth of Well, I think a second revenue source is slowly emerging. We are a player in direct-to-home cable channels. Do you think these channels segment thorough our company BIG TV, and the sector is growing strongly. In less than six are sustainable, especially since they only months we have about one-and-a-half million subscribers. Cumulatively among five players have an advertising revenue stream? there are about 10 million now, which was non-existent a year and half ago. In a couple of years, analog will switch-off and so we will move to addressable systems. Then the other 18 revenue stream will emerge as strongly as the advertising stream. Currently, we may be

AMIT KHANNA IFFLA INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP AWARD HONOREE going through a little bit of recessionary period in global economy, but you have to keep overall trend in mind. India is still a growing economy and our ratio of per capita ad spend 19 to the GDP is very low, so there is a huge amount of growth in advertisement itself. Also, per capital spend in entertainment is very low. We have been part of 220 million households and only 135 millions household have TV as yet, out of which about 80 to 90 millions are serviced by cable systems. So, both the advertising and subscription revenue will increase. GREAT INFLUENCE. But that does not in any way guarantee that 400 plus channels in India will survive. Many of them were started without a proper business plan. They do not address any specific audience and they do not have a target market. So there will be a fair amount of shakeout GREAT IMPACT. and consolidation. Disney itself, for example, has bought out a couple of channels and so have other international groups and few of the channels will just fall by the waysides. Overall, there is going to be growth and there will be increased revenue from subscription. GREAT HONOR.

In addition to the global economic crisis, there Well, scandals such as Madoff and the corporate irresponsibility we have seen in certain was a terrorist attack in Mumbai and recently segments of the U.S., make the problems in India look puny. And as far as the terrorists are an accounting scandal at Satyam Computers. Do concerned, it is a global phenomenon. India is a responsible country. We have a fairly secure you think these issues are increasing the risk environment and there is nothing to worry about. There are several pockets in Europe which are of doing business in India? susceptible to local insurgents and terrorism. And in spite of all the precautions by the most developed economies, they are still coming to terms with how to deal with this 21st Century menace. This is something we all have to learn and deal with it.

Slumdog Millionaire made an enormous The tables are going to turn. We are the largest film making country in the world. We are the impact to international audiences, second most populous country in the world. Our films are watched by the largest number of especially in the U.S. Is this a turning point people in the world. There is no reason why our films shouldn’t have the largest size of the global for Indian content in the U.S.? box-office pie. Slumdog Millionaire is one way of looking at how business is going to unfold. We are also looking at several other ways. Some of the talents deals that we have done in the U.S. are a way of how we will operate in the future where the talent may be from one country, capital from another and expertise from a third, which all will come together to create films with much larger global appeal. On our part, we going to release a film later this year calledKites . It is made by Rakesh Roshan, stars Hrithik Roshan and a Latina actress Barbara Mori. We believe Kites is truly the first International Indian film. It was entirely shot in the U.S. It is an English language film with Indian talent. That’s really going to be the game changer! WE CONGRATULATE SALIL MEHTA, ROMA KHANNA, SALIL DALVI AND ALL OF TONIGHT’S HONOREES.

Interview by Naz Haider studio What are some of the key ingredients for Relevance. Creating content that is locally relevant and achieves an emotional resonance with success when it comes to developing the audience. content for local markets?

How will the global economic climate As a company we still remain focused on India. We are not immune to the economic realities, effect growth in India? but we are well-placed because we have great product, brand and strategy. India is important because it is still seen as an emerging market. The country is still showing growth and a large proportion of India’s GDP is driven from the service sector. There is a self-made market in India. This does not make India immune to what is happening in the world, but when the economy turns, India will turn faster and so will our businesses. You have to take a long-term view in India and we haven’t wavered from that view.

You speak about transforming Disney into a We are an internationally recognized company with internationally recognized brands and truly global enterprise. What does that mean? characters, but they have been largely built off the backs of U.S.-based product. The intellectual ANDY property was created in Burbank, so what we did was export it to the world. What we really need to do is capitalize on our strong identity and become a global company. A global company starts to have relevance in all the markets in the world. Historically we were The Walt Disney Company 20 India and we largely got our products from the U.S. We will become The Indian Walt Disney

ANDY BIRD STUDIO BIRD Company with local product that is relevant and resonates emotionally with the local audience. Historically we were The There is a profound difference. 21 Walt Disney Company India and we largely got How does UTV factor into UTV provides the third leg of the stool. The other legs are our sports presence and, of course, the Disney strategy for India? Disney. We have had our sports presence in India for a long time with News Corp (ESS) and our products from the U.S. we are four years into building a local Disney business, which will still take time. There are a We will become The Indian lot of other opportunities in film, television, online, mobile and gaming. We thought we should Walt Disney Company partake in those opportunities more and Ronnie [Screwvala’s] guidance will help us do that. with local product that is relevant and resonates What have been some of your The successes have been the people we have there. We have established an office in India successes in India thus far? with over 200 cast members and not just in Mumbai. This staff shows the same passion for emotionally with the the Disney brand as do the people right here in Burbank. We’ve established a great plan for local audience. There is a movies, television, consumer products, online and home video and we have the right people profound difference. in place to execute the strategy. We have a lot to be proud of in India.

What have you identified as On the film side it is in multiplexes and digital cinema. There will be growth in the cinema growth areas for the company? going experience that will result in growth at the box office and in a market where there is three billion dollars of box office revenue, you only have to grow a fraction to see dramatic results. Secondly, while Slumdog Millionaire is not a true Indian movie in the sense that it is not a “Bollywood” movie, it puts the spotlight on India. What was encouraging about the movie was the reaction from audiences outside of India. There is overall growth potential for content from India because audiences worldwide are interested. Then for Disney, well we’re just starting off so our growth is in the fact that we are so small. We have a lot of potential as a company. We’ve been growing our slate, but we have been deliberate in what we chose to make. We will never sacrifice story. The most important thing is to take a long-term view and On the top floor of the Team Disney building, there is a red beach chopper bicycle in lay down the right foundation. And we’re doing just that. Andy Bird’s office. It would quite naturally seem out of place in a corporate setting. Yet, in Bird’s office the “PhatC ycle” feels completely at home. That’s probably because Bird’s role as Chairman of Walt Disney International requires him to be a trailblazer. Someone whose thoughts would most certainly not be limited by pedestrian methods of bicycle storage. On the contrary, Bird employs the type of expansive thinking that allows him to oversee targeting new businesses and coordinating growth opportunities in both Disney’s developed and emerging markets. When it comes to the latter, India is currently high on Bird’s agenda. Despite a challenging global financial climate, Bird believes he has the right people with the right strategy in place. We spoke to Bird about his thoughts for the company’s growth in India as well as what it means to be a truly global enterprise. Interview by Reena Singh producer You’ve had an interesting journey that Tennis was the family business. My parents played—mostly my mother. And my brother played, started out in tennis. too. So I got into it. As for film, well India is a movie loving country. I remember being 8 years old and seeing the The Sound of Music in Chennai and then watching it 30 more times. I always loved movies and then when I moved to LA, I knew I had to get involved in film making.

What are some of the lessons you learned Making movies doesn’t have the same purity as a tennis game. Tennis is black and white. from sports that have translated into There is a game and someone wins and someone loses. Our business has a lot more grey in making movies? it and that took a while for me to adjust to. You make a movie and then 18 months later when ASHOK it is released you have to consider the economy, world events, the distribution and marketing plans. There are so many things to worry about. In terms of what is similar, the adrenaline AMRITRAJ surge when you have a hit on your hands is the same as winning a tennis game.

What these new deals will Were there any other Indian producers in I think from the standpoint of making recognizable movies, I was certainly the first. When I got all amount to and whether Hollywood when you got started? into movies, Hollywood was a very white, secluded world. There were no Indian or any Asian more money will come role models. It was a difficult time to do that transition and break in. out of those regions into But you did it. It took five to seven years and a lot of persistence. And my tennis playing helped a lot, too. It Hollywood depends on got my foot in the door, but at first no one took me seriously. Those were dark days in the first 22 whether Hollywood learns few years. The real turn came around 1990 with Double Impact. ASHOK AMRITRAJ PRODU C ER better how to handle other 23 people’s money. If we show You have worked with some of I have worked with a lot of people that I admire. Sidney Poitier, not just as an actor, but as a a fiscal responsibility in the biggest names in Hollywood. director and as someone breaking stereotypical roles as an African American in Hollywood. He Who has impressed you the most? was one of the first people I met when I arrived in Los Angeles. And Paul Newman, for not only the handling of money, what he did as an actor, but for what he did outside of the business with his charitable work. make movies that are good and make money on those What impact does Slumdog Millionaire have Well, I don’t think Slumdog Millionaire is a Bollywood film on any level. It is an international movies, then we will see on Hollywood? On Bollywood? movie, so I don’t think the movie helps Bollywood much. Bollywood really does have its own more deals and equity thing. On the other hand, it shows that Western audiences are ready to accept stories from other parts of the world and that is huge. Just the fact that it was made on location in India coming into Hollywood. and had Anil and other Indian actors in it was terrific. It gives a lot of filmmakers hope.

So are we going to see a big surge of Anytime there is an international film that breaks through—like there has been from Scotland, Hollywood filmmakers in India? Argentina or like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon from China—there is a rush for about six months. Our office alone has half a dozen scripts from India that we have recently received. A lot of the major Hollywood studios are making movies in India through their local offices. Korn Ferry International Richard Fox, Deb Schindler, Jason Reed and all the others know what they are doing. They Top 25 Most Influential South Asians are making movies around the world for local audiences. That is an easier thing to do than making an international movie in India for English audiences. Slumdog Millionaire is a one in a 1,000 shot as was Gandhi 27 years ago. At the heart of it, if you find a great script, great actors and a director and it happens to take place in India then fabulous. I don’t think, though, that you are going to immediately see five more films from India that are of the ilk of When Ashok Amritraj first arrived in Los Angeles in 1975, it didn’t take him long to Slumdog Millionaire. But you never know. get bitten by the movie bug. “I drove around town by the studios and seeing where all those great movies were made gave me a taste of Hollywood. I was hooked,” recalls Amritraj, Chairman and CEO of Hyde Park Entertainment. Back then, however, most What do all these big deals between There have been a lot of deals from the Middle East and India. But all of it is still brand new. Hollywood and Bollywood mean? Hyde Park has a deal with Image Nation (Abu Dhabi) as does National Geographic. Hyde studio execs were more interested in his tips for improving their backhands rather Park also has a deal with Reliance. What it will all amount to and whether more money will than what Amritraj had to say about movies. Also, it wasn’t easy starting out as the come out of those regions into Hollywood depends on whether Hollywood learns better how only South Asian producer in town. Since then he has worked with some of the biggest to handle other people’s money. If we show a fiscal responsibility in the handling of money, names in tinsel town including Steve Martin, Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie, Bruce Wil- make movies that are good and make money on those movies, then we will see more deals lis, Sandra Bullock and many, many others. This year will mark the 100th film made by and equity coming into Hollywood. Amritraj who shares with us the early days as a pioneer and his thoughts on the two biggest film capitals of the world.

Continues on next page Can we expect Bollywood actors to break There might be that odd few actors that surprise us, but up until now there hasn’t been out in Hollywood? anyone out of Bollywood that has made their mark here like Jackie Chan and Jet Li from China. There have been actors who have played character parts, but that is it. I do think that the first and second generation actors—like Kal Penn—will do fine. It has been nice to see Indians on television series over the past five years. We’ve seen African American and Latino talent break through in this medium and now Asian Americans are starting to appear on the small screen, too.

Should India have a studio system like ours? I don’t think so. I think it is very much still a family business. No matter how it gets corporatized, it will be a small group of actors or a group of directors running things. I don’t see anything wrong with their system. They make great movies for their audience that blow away Hollywood movies in India. They must be doing something right.

Give us some insight into your I have had an extraordinary run. A dream run. Working hard is just a given—everyone is doing philosophy for success. that. I think a lot of my success comes from my discipline. That is where my background in sports helps. When I set my sights on something, I go after it. One has to make up their mind and then don’t let anyone stop you. Focus is critical in our business. You have to be focused in what you are going after. Then there is that over used word passion. Also important is luck 24 and timing. ASHOK AMRITRAJ PRODU C ER

Are you where you thought you would be No. I think the reality of my life today far exceeds my dreams 27 years ago. I would have been 25 when you started out? happy to have made a couple of films. This year I will make my 100th film and my movies have grossed over a billion dollars worldwide. I could not have dreamed that back then and .(.

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SFTFSWFE producer non–profit What was the inspiration behind Kahani? Sanjay [Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN anchor] and I were both in Washington DC working for the Clinton administration. It was during that time we had an opportunity to be exposed to people like Studs Terkel and David Isay who were running projects to capture stories. The idea [behind their initiatives called Conversations with American and StoryCorps] was if you were able to bring a family members into an environment where younger family member were asking their elders specific question about their experiences, what you are able to create is a very powerful emotional environment for storytelling. And they were able to capture amazing stories and they would create an archive out of these. So when Sanjay and I had the opportunity to listen to SUNEEL these guys we immediate realize something had to be done for the Indian community. The idea evolved over the next few years and between then and now we are now in a YouTube generation. We have people who we think are best equipped to make this movement possible and are plugged GUPTA into digital media, they are plugged into having their own camera and having their own means to capture these stories. So we realized that instead of doing what Studs Terkel and David Isay did, which was really getting these vans equipped with audio visual equipment and driving them I think that getting around the country, what we do instead is really motivate people around the country to pick up people to open up about cameras and interview their aunts and uncles and their parents and ask them questions. Ask their experiences is not them about their experiences of immigrating to United States, ask them about their first day in the United States, about their first meal, about their first day at work. [We want to] achieve the always easy. In lots of same results that StoryCorp was able to—a highly intimate session between two generations of ways, we are challenging people who may not have had this conversation until now. people to trace back to some important What was your initial thought on how to Kahani is a non-profit project and aimed at capturing and sharing stories from Indians who 26 memories they haven’t make this movement financially sustainable immigrated to the United States. I think there are different models out there about how you SUNEEL GUPTA PRODU C ER and to keep it growing? can go about capturing those stories. Some are more capital intensive than others. Steven thought about for awhile. Spielberg did a brilliant job with Shoah Foundations in terms of capturing stories of Holocaust 27 survivors from around the world [by] flying them to a studio and interviewing them in a high quality production atmosphere. So what Shoah did was very noble and very well executed, but it was also very capital intensive. I think the idea here is we will have an opportunity to Gupta’s three objectives for Kahani: really give people ownership over creating the story they want to create and do it in whatever 1. Create a dialogue which we believe in a means they have available. The amount of capital needed to create a story today is very, very lot of ways doesn’t exist in a scale that little and to take that story, post it online and share it with other people can be done at an it should. There are not enough people incredibly low cost. What we are looking to do is really take existing resources, whether be within our generation really sitting camera phone, camcorder and give others an opportunity to participate in this no matter down with our parents and asking them what they have available. What we are trying to do here is archive stories. what it was like when they came to the United States? 2. Take those conversations, again whether Current technologies have lowered the cost of Yes, the short answer is there are some costs involved in terms of keeping the movement it be through rudimentary basic creating content, but have not eliminated them. running. At this point in time those costs have not exceeded what Sanjay and I are willing to equipment or whether high quality How are planning to cover them? pay out of our pockets to make this possible. production, and archive them in a central location. 3. Inspire more creativity. If someone is interested in taking this footage Have there been any unexpected surprises? I think that getting people to open up about their experiences is not always easy. In lots of ways, and creating [something new] by we are challenging people to trace back to some important memories they haven’t thought pulling them into a book or a different about for awhile. What helps is that we are really trying to make this a family project. It would document or make their own separate be different if we were a pure documentary film team and we were traveling around and asking stories [they can]. people to tell their stories to complete strangers. It’s much different and much easier when you ask a son or daughter to sit down with his or her parents to tell their stories. And we all have insight into our parents’ stories. If you sit down with your parents, you wouldn’t need a list of questions because there are certain stories you have always heard and you would know where to dive in. So we do have challenges but our approach helps overcome them. Suneel Gupta and his famous brother Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN are launching Kahani at this year’s Indian Film Festival Los Angeles. Kahani is a movement intended to capture personal stories of South Asian immigrants for their future generations.

Continues on next page has there been a story that you have found There are no shortages of fascinating stories. One [interesting] story that comes to mind to be particularly memorable? was [from an interview I did with] a businessman in Chicago. I sat down with him and his daughter and we talked about when he came to the States with his wife. They started a business together and were doing really, really well. And then suddenly his wife became sick and passed away within a relatively short period of time. So, here is story of a man who comes to United States and within his first three or four years here the person he loved the most passed away. What I saw during the time was a story of struggle and a shared struggle, which was very powerful and made them stronger as a couple. [For example,] one of things he said was that they were living in an apartment for a while and they decide to start looking for a house. They would go house hunting on weekends and quite often they would be turned away. They wouldn’t be allowed to see the house. One time they were walking up to a house they wanted to see and a woman came running out and started shouted “No gypsies. No gypsies.” She turned them away!

What year was this? This was around the early sixties. The point is my generation has become a little immune to hearing stories like that. We would just say that we have heard it before. But the reality is my three-year-old niece [and others in the younger generation] have not. For her [and others] I think all this is going to be fresh, new and fascinating on a completely different level.

How much content have you collected so far? We have about 20 interviews which translate into about 50 hours of footage. There are a couple of million Indians living in the United States and about half of them could be potential 28 producers. So we are talking a target base of about a million interviews. Even if we get 1%, we

SUNEEL GUPTA PRODU C ER can have about 1000 stories. That’s our target. trim 7.5 in W x 10 in. H Congratulations! 29

What kind of support have you received— We have not pursued that route yet. The objective at this point has been to keep the project specifically financially—from the South at a low cost because it’s more about collecting stories than about high cost production Asian community or individuals? [values]. It’s more about the act of capturing stories. If you saw the interview with Sanjay and I talking about Kahani, it was all done with a basic camera phone—something that I keep in my pocket. So, we haven’t gone out and talked to anybody about financing at this point in time. Again I don’t anticipate a need for it. Any minimal cost we do have, Sanjay and I are willing to pay out of our pocket to keep the movement stable. However, the emotional support has been tremendous.

Who eventually controls or owns this content? No one. It’s available to the community.

You have a very high profile partner—your I think Sanjay is the most important part of this project in terms of developing the plan and brother Dr. Sanjay Gupta. What has his figuring out how to motivate people to tell their stories. It was really his idea. To answer your contribution been thus far? question specifically, without Sanjay, this movement would not be where it is today.

How often you guys talk? Almost every day.

Are most people interviewed Indian or The people we have interviewed were all Indians. you have a mix of South Asians, such as Bangladeshi, Pakistani or Sri Lankans?

There is a large number of illegal or This movement operates based on people with ideas. If you have a story that needs to be told non-document South Asian immigrants. then you should tell it. So if you capture that story, you may inspire a new group of people to Do you think they will even speak in front of add to that story. a camera or fear someone will report them Thank you for leading the way! to the immigration authorities? The Walt Disney Company is proud to be a sponsor of the 2009 IFFLA 25 Most Influential Asians in the US Entertainment & Media Industry dinner. Interview by Naz Haider © Disney

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FILE NAME CONGRATS AD FINAL SIZE 7.5 in. W x 10 in. H CLIENT WALT DISNEY COMPANY DATE 04.07.09 CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK actor When did you discover your I have always loved performance. As a kid, I was the one who raised my hand when the love for acting? teacher said she needed a volunteer to read. Then in high school, I acted in plays and in my senior year I decided to do theatre instead of baseball.

Is that when you committed to acting? No that was in college. My grades were less than stellar my freshman year at Harvard and I remember looking at my transcript thinking I could do better, but not wanting to because there was this theatre thing that I really loved. My parents were visiting Boston at the time rupak and I told them I wanted to be an actor.

That must have gone over well. My Dad very calmly said, “We’ll talk about this.” And we would talk every other month about it. ginn They held out hope that I would change my mind. Look, it’s very hard being an ethnic actor, but I But you didn’t? No. My junior year in college, I got a manager and senior year, I heard about this movie called The Namesake. I had read the book and I said to myself, “I have to audition for this!” So I did wouldn’t be here if I and the callback was at Mira Nair’s house. A full month later I got the call that she was going to didn’t believe that things give me a supporting role. That’s when it dawned on my parents that I was going to be an actor. were changing. Slumdog Millionaire is changing When did you come to LA? I went back to New York after graduation and did off, off Broadway, but The Namesake really things, but even before made me want to do film. So then I finally came to Los Angeles. I shot a pilot with LL Cool J, which didn’t get picked up and things started getting tough when I heard about The Cheetah Slumdog Millionaire there Girls movie. I heard they were looking for Indian actors and I thought, “I know Hindi. I’ve seen was Deepa Mehta and Bollywood films. I could do that!” 30 Mira Nair. It is difficult RUPAK GINN A C TOR Did you ever want to work in India before I obviously visited India a lot for family and, yes, I had thought that I wanted to work there because the roles are 31 not there so we as a The Cheetah Girls One World? someday and I have twice. Once in college and then for The Cheetah Girls movie. You know, a lot of Indian actors raised here are told by people that you should try it out in Bollywood. community have had to I luckily speak Hindi and I did try it, but I found it difficult. You don’t hear the word audition create opportunities. Now a lot and I couldn’t really figure out the system. But I think if someone really goes out there and gives it a go then it could happen. There is bound to be movement with all these the gap is being bridged. Hollywood studios going to Bollywood.

That’s optimistic. Optimism is your best asset as an actor.

Being an actor is tough anywhere, but Last night I was watching a series called “Life After Film School” and Ashok Amritraj was what’s it like to be an Indian American talking about the fact that a lot of writing in Hollywood is still done by the Caucasian male actor in Hollywood? POV and I think that makes it difficult. Look, it’s very hard being an ethnic actor, but I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe that things were changing. Slumdog Millionaire is changing things, but even before Slumdog Millionaire there was Deepa Mehta and Mira Nair. It is difficult because the roles are not there so we as a community have had to create opportunities. But the gap is being bridged. A white guy named Danny Boyle directed Slumdog Millionaire. Last month, dinner and a movie with Rupak Ginn was a top prize at an Indian Film A white guy named Simon Beaufoy wrote Slumdog Millionaire. I think the positive message Festival Los Angeles (IFFLA) live auction fund-raiser. It was a surreal experience for you take away from that is that movies set in India or movies about Indians period don’t have to be made by Indians. We can all get behind good stories. the actor who still finds being recognized a bit surprising. He became a familiar face to kids worldwide after playing a Bollywood star in Disney Channel’s The Cheetah Girls One World, but his theatrical debut was in Mira Nair’s The Namesake. Still, Los Who are your favorite Hollywood actors? Johnny Depp because he has this independent spirit and he always seems to follow his heart. Angeles-based Ginn admits he has a long way to go in Hollywood where roles for South He is brave. Russell Crowe because he is really versatile, committed and someone who is always interesting to watch on screen. Dave Chappelle is a huge hero of mine as a comedian and Asian actors are few. Ginn sat down with us and shared his journey, his optimism and because of his satire. He is always commenting on the world in a humorous yet brilliant way. his dream role.

Continues on next page What about Bollywood actors? Irrfan Khan is a phenomenal international actor. If you watch him in anything he does, he is so effortless and as an actor that is what you strive to be. Effortless but meaningful on screen.

So what is your dream role? My dream role has gone through a lot of evolution, but I really love romantic comedies. The role in The Cheetah Girls movie was great because it allowed me to play a romantic comedian. Actually another one of my heroes is John Cusack because he is great at romantic comedies. So I guess, my dream role would be a romantic lead in a romantic comedy.

Who would be your co-star? That’s a tough one because you never know what your chemistry is going to be like until you’ve met. Julia Roberts, Renee Zellweger, and Preity Zinta (from Bollywood) are all probably at the top of my list.

What would that mean to the industry? To In a very real, substantial way it will pervade into the American psyche that Indian American have an Indian American as the leading man actors are viable leading men in Hollywood. We are Indian, but we are Americans, too. We are in a Hollywood romantic comedy? part of the fabric of America. That will be a great milestone when we are able to take on roles as American romantic leads.

Do you believe that can happen? Yes.

Again that’s optimistic. Yes. It is. I am.

32 RUPAK GINN A C TOR 33

Interview by Reena Singh ACTRESS You’re fairly new to Los Angeles, right? Yes. I am from Kolkata. I came to Los Angeles a year and a half ago to study acting. I applied to a private acting conservatory prior to my arriving here and I trained there for a year. I’m still training, but at a different place now. I was always fascinated by different techniques and approaches in the field of performing arts and wanted to pursue and explore acting in the U.S.

Tells us about your experience It’s been a very interesting one. Let’s see, well, I was mugged my first week when I was walking in Los Angeles so far. to Border’s Bookstore. Learning how to drive has been terrifying. And I went to my first rock concert ever and learned what a mosh pit is!

You come from the movie making I am a very curious person by nature. I like to take leaps and want to continue to have an capital of the world. Why leave expansive way of life. I did explore Indian cinema through commercials and a couple of Bollywood for Hollywood? features. Coming and experiencing Hollywood is very different than Indian cinema, but I feel that I could happily do both.

What do you miss from India? My family and the food. And just the basic things like all the little shops and markets. Here it feels like you always have to go to a big mall or store. I miss those little neighborhood markets.

What’s different process-wise Hollywood is very organized and prompt, but I am sure we will get better at that back home. from Bollywood?

When did you discover your I had always been a very active kid, participating in my community group and school. My passion for acting? parents were pretty tired of my non-stop skits at home. I was always into creative arts and was very keen on learning new things.

34 Deepti Who are some of the Hollywood I love Sandra Bullock! I think she is amazing! DEEPTI DARYANANI A actresses you admire? C TRESS 35 daryanani And actors? I love Steve Martin and Robin Williams.

I like to take leaps and What was working on your most recent I am very excited about Acceptance. The movie is a satire based on Susan Coll’s book. Working want to continue to have movie at Lifetime like? on the movie was an absolute joy. I got to work with Joan Cusack, Mae Whitman, Jonathan Keltz, an expansive way of life. Kiersten Warren and Ajay Mehta, who played my dad. They are all really nice actors and nice I did explore Indian cinema people. Sanaa Hamri directed this one and she is a great person to work with. through commercials and a Tell us about your training in India? How I had been associated actively with a few theatre groups back home where I had an intensive three couple of features. Coming was that different than in the U.S.? and a half year training while I continued my academics. It’s the same amount of hard work as and experiencing Hollywood here except the language and approach is different. You know when I trained in India I did a lot of is very different than Indian theatre training, which is very elaborate and requires using your body more. Here they start from cinema, but I feel that I the internal and the truth of the moment. It is much more contained for the camera. could happily do both. It’s been a little over a year and a half since Calcutta, India native Deepti Daryanani You’re a dancer, too. I have trained in Bharatnatyam for a couple of years and explored Indian folk as well. Now I came to Los Angeles to study acting. Although she had starred in a couple of films and continue my training here in learning Kathak from Chandam School of Dance. commercials in Bollywood, Daryanani was anxious to try acting in the West. Shortly after arriving, she landed a role in a pilot from J.J. Abrams pilot. Ironically, she then found Who would you love to co-star with? So many, but Steve Martin makes my top list. I would love to co-star with Mr. Amitabh Bachchan! herself returning to India to star in the Disney Channel movie The Cheetah Girls One World. After the film wrapped, she came back to the U.S. to earn a role in the Lifetime movie Acceptance starring opposite of Joan Cusack. So far, Hollywood has been good Any chance you’ll go back into acting in India? I am an artist and I would really not want to separate myself from anything creative and to her, but adjusting to Los Angeles has at times been a bit overwhelming. Daryanani, inspiring. I would love to do all kinds of cinema. Be it Hindi, English, Bengali or any other language. Acting back home will always be special. however, has no regrets and someday would love to work in both the U.S. and India.

Interview by Reena Singh director When did you know that you In high school, I was taking all this science and math. Senior year I had biology, calculus and were going to be a director? other advanced prep classes. I was studying my ass off and only getting 70s. To relax I would watch movies and that’s when I really started to study films. Anyway, I was so nervous about the tests and during one of my finals, I glanced at the questions and said, “This is a lot easier than I thought.” I was done so much earlier than anyone else and passed in my test. Afterwards my friend Richard said, “Part One was pretty easy, but man Part Two...” and I realized that I had forgot to do a whole section. Just forgot. I was so nervous and worked up about the test that I forgot. I was planning to go to medical school and I realized how could I go into a career where I am so nervous just learning the material? So I went home, watched the The Breakfast Club and said, “I want to get into filmmaking.”

So your parents have Judd Nelson to thank Yes, but they will never know. for your not becoming a doctor?

Then you went to film school. No. My father worked for the University of Toronto and he could send us kids there for free. He said I don’t care what you take, but just go to the University of Toronto because it costs us nothing. They didn’t have a film school, so I went into the art program and spent four years learning painting and sculpture and writing. Then after college I did my post graduate in filmmaking at Sheridan College. When I finished graduate school, I ended up with extra money from my school loans so I basically got the interest waived and used the money to RICHIE make short films. In two years, I made several short films. MEHTA Was one of those films Amal? Yes. The last one. And it was the least planned. I can see the differences Did you ever think that you would No. I didn’t plan on it. in which executives from go to India to make a film? Hollywood and Bollywood I’m getting the sense you’re not I never look ahead at a project. I visited India as a kid, but I never really thought I would go much of a planner? back to India unless I had a reason. 36 approach cinematic style. I’m RI C HIE MEHTA DIRE C TOR lucky because I have a little What was the inspiration behind Amal? My brother had been writing short stories since he was three and one day he came up to me 37 bit of both in me—East and and said that he had written this story and would I read it. I read Amal and told him it was West—so I can translate. But amazing. I said, “Can I make this into a short film?” He said, “Yes,” and then I turned it into a then I also believe that I have script, which is basically the story verbatim. something unique from my own perspective to offer. Photography: Bob Gundu So going back to shoot Amal was the first time you Yes. had been back to India since you were a kid?

Did you do a lot of preparing for the shoot? I didn’t do much planning for the short Amal. I knew who the basic five characters were and brought the camera with us. I was basically making up the schedule as we were shooting.

You’re a spontaneous person. I plan for spontaneity. One of the many things to admire about Richie Mehta is his focus. He is, in fact, so focused that he has a saying by his bed that reminds him to stay focused. Another reason to like him is his commitment. With no job and very little money after finishing Explain that. I plan enough so then I can be loose when we execute. Look, I have done films where every frame has been planned and that has been an interesting way to make a movie and then I college and graduate school, he managed to cobble together enough funds to make have been less structured like on the short Amal. The feature of Amal was very planned out. It not one, but several short films. We suppose that accomplishment also says something wasn’t story boarded, but it was regimented. I like to do both. about his passion for filmmaking. But the best reason to respect this director is his work. Take his feature film Amal, which was based on his short by the same title. A poignant What kinds of movies resonate with you? I like genre films because genres are an interesting way to hook people into the movie. We fable set in India with universal themes surrounding the definition of wealth, authentic all get the rules of a genre film so once people know the rules, you are in a position to guide performances and well crafted frame-after-frame, it was the darling of the Indian Film them to places they have never been before and to storytelling they have never experienced before. You’ve got them 90 percent there because you are speaking a language that they Festival Los Angeles (IFFLA) last year. Although Mehta believes that he accomplished a understand cinematically. Take Reds with Warren Beatty. It’s of the biopic genre, but it pushes great deal with Amal, he says that he has a lot more to grow as a filmmaker. We look forward to what’s next for this focused, committed and passionate director. Continues on next page the format. You can’t question it because is based on someone real. People can relate to the What does Slumdog Millionaire do for the It codifies it in a very positive way. It is the best example of bridging cultures cinematically. story about the political idealism and the love story. But then it mixes reality documentary Hollywood—Bollywood collaboration? And it is a great win for smaller films. style filmmaking, traditional film and Hollywood star power and meshes it all together to present a person who was larger than life. It uses almost everything filmmaking-wise. Who is your favorite director? Francis Ford Coppola because of Apocalypse Now. He bridged dense material that had something to say and executed it in a way that could be loose, flexible and malleable so that All-time two favorite films? All-time favorite film? it changes every time you see it as you change. It is evergreen and timeless. And I appreciate how he gave everything he had to the film. When you make films, it is exhausting. It is Okay, two films. Gandhi because it is about this one person who changed the world—this one person’s draining. Filmmaking is not fun all of the time. It goes beyond choice. You know, I know a lot essence and then the essence of this person becomes the movie. It moved me. It made me of people with kids and they basically made the choice to have kids and now these children want to be a better person. take everything from them.

The second? Raiders of the Lost Ark is the second. It is a perfect movie from a technical stand point. Every But then the kids grow up and you hopefully Yeah. You see your kids in the discount DVD bin at the store. frame has a reason. There is no fat in that film. Every decision made by every person in every see how wonderful they are as people? department was to move the picture in one unified direction. I saw that as a kid and as a child I took from it that the journey is valuable. It’s not about getting to the end, but what That’s a real love/hate relationship you have. I guess. Filmmaking drains me. It takes everything I have. But the thing is I keep watching happens along the way. movies all the time and I keep getting inspired. So as long as the inspiration is there, I’ll keep doing it. That’s philosophical. There is a little saying posted by my bed and it says, “Keep your eyes on the prize! Goal is to Do you have a personal credo? make my OWN movies. My own stories. Things I relate to. I’ve already done this up until now so sustainability is the key. Do not overshoot. If you simply maintain, you have won.”

That certainly keeps the pressure off. I suppose. It helps me keep my eye on the ball and focus on what is in front of me.

Up until now you’ve been That’s just the way it is in Canada. You cobble everything together and take on the role of an independent filmmaker. writer, director and producer. That’s what it takes to do it here and that really is how movies are made around the world except in Los Angeles, Bollywood and Tokyo. When I came out of film school, I was pretty much on my own and so I latched onto the Indian filmmaking community in Toronto. They gave me the courage to make my films. IFFLA became an international extension of that support because they were so supportive of the diaspora. 38 They’ve shown three of my shorts and my feature Amal. IFFLA was my entry to Los Angeles RI C HIE MEHTA DIRE C TOR and the reason so many doors have opened. 39

What is it like working in India? There are strong nuances in the way people work in India. It is not so much as laissez-faire as much as working from a gut instinct. I like that. In India, you can meet a big megastar actor and there is no agent. So that star can meet you and get a good vibe from you and decide to work with you. It’s that simple. It’s the same as if you go into a store and the owner gets a good vibe from you and offers you a glass of chai. It can be a good and bad thing, though. For instance, the actor could get a bad vibe from you and that’s it. It’s subjective and it’s part of working in India.

As a Western filmmaker of South Asian I can see the differences in which executives from Hollywood and Bollywood approach heritage, what can you bring to the table to cinematic style. I’m lucky because I have a little bit of both—East and West—in me so I can Hollywood studios working in India? translate. But then I also believe that I have something unique from my own perspective to offer. Bottom line is that they wouldn’t bring me all the way from Canada to do a film there where there are hundreds of directors unless they wanted me to bring some of my sensibilities with me.

What advice do you have to filmmakers from If you go there it is to capture the environment and not to control it. Trying to control it is the West who want to make movies in India? absurd. Go capture it, but don’t betray it by trying to control it.

Conversely what advice do you have to directors I don’t know. Most directors from Bollywood come here with big studio projects, so they don’t from India who want to make films here? come here to capture the environment, but to control it. I mean that’s not the way New York is with 90 percent of the population being Indian and everyone speaking Hindi. Interview by Reena Singh DIRECTOR What did you set out to Well, I wanted to make a good film that was out-of-the-box and original. Something that was accomplish with Rock On!? an experience that India did not have before like having the actors singing their own songs, which never happens in India because we use playback. And all the actors were prepared to sing the entire song for each take. This is very different in Indian filmmaking where the director usually yells, “Cut,” after every line. We shot with a five camera set up and they ran through each song with energy and commitment. Then we put it together on the edit table.

Why was it so important that the talent I really wanted the audience to relate to the characters in the film, so they had to feel actually performed in the movie? authentic and doing their own performances achieved that.

Plus, they were able to tour for the film. Touring was a natural extension of the promotion plan. We had a film about a band and the actors did their own songs. We wanted to especially reach students who we thought would be our target audience.

Who do you think it appealed to and why? It definitely appealed to a wider audience than I expected. When we were releasing the film, we were told it would be in just a few multiplexes at a time so the initial business did not think much of our product. Then it opened fantastically all over the country and that was quite ABHISHEK uplifting to see small towns come out and enjoy a film about a rock band. So this wasn’t just a movie for I think it cut through a lot of age groups because the characters go from their twenties to late a young audience? thirties. The music really got the kids—it’s rock music, after all. But I have met so many parents KAPOOR who like the songs, which are rock songs done in Hindi. And the story reaches people much older. You know, I just met a friend of mine whose dad got back with his old band. One of the The concept of mainstream band mates left his job in the U.S. and moved to India to play with them. I hear these stories Bollywood has changed. Fifteen all the time. years ago the entire industry Did you view this movie as a risk? I knew it would be great fun to do and not taking the risk is the risk. It is a boring way to work. did Bollywood films and a People who come to movies want to be surprised. As a filmmaker, I think you have to work small space did art films. But out-of-the-box. If you are not committed to your stories or to your characters then there is no 40 now there is much more space way you will succeed. ABHISHEK KAPOOR DIRE C TOR for all kinds of movies. 41 What kind of stories resonate with you? The past two movies I have done had an underdog element. They are about characters who have lost out on their dream and get another shot. I suppose that appeals to me because at the time I wrote them, I was struggling in my career as an actor. I played some bad roles Photography: Abheet Gidwani and made some bad decisions in my career, but instead of giving into that, I put all my work and effort into making a film—a story—that meant something to me and that I thought would mean something to the audience.

Speaking of underdogs, how do you think I think we overestimated the impact Slumdog Millionaire had within India. It is a British film the international success of Slumdog made in India. It is an international film but it is not an Indian film. The world sees it as an When most of the world thinks of traditional Bollywood fare, it conjures up images of Millionaire effects filmmaking in India? Indian film because it is set here, but it isn’t an Indian film. It probably will have more of an colorful dance numbers, vivid fight sequences and lots of melodramatic fare. While that impact outside of India in terms of opening up India to the world and that is a great thing. type of film is still being made, there is a new group of filmmakers from Mumbai who have moved beyond tradition. Standing tall among those atypical directors is Abhishek Any interest in doing more Rock On! was a mainstream Bollywood movie. You see, the concept of mainstream Bollywood Kapoor. A former actor, Kapoor first turned to working behind the camera in 2006 mainstream Bollywood films? has changed. with his boxing movie Aryan. His next attempt was last year’s Rock On!, which follows

the lives of four former band mates who reunite to follow their passion for music and How has it changed? Fifteen years ago the entire industry did Bollywood films and a small space did art films. But realize their dream. Originally slated for a limited multiplex release, the film’s popularity now there is much more space for other kinds of film. Bollywood includes all of these movies. shocked even Kapoor. The combination of Western rock and Indian lyrics took off among the mainstream moviegoers and the youth market. We spoke to Kapoor about his unique When did you discover When I wrote my first script, I was in a space where I didn’t enjoy acting. I picked bad roles perspective and his thoughts on Bollywood films for a new generation. your passion for directing? and so I stepped back and didn’t do anything for some time so that nothing would push me

Continues on next page back further into acting. I then got the idea for Aryan. People would say “How can you make a film about boxing in India?” I would reply that it is a story about the human spirit. It is about the underdog and how he gets his shot. It’s about his love relationship. It wasn’t a big success, so I took that underdog character and put him in Rock On! and that time around, it really worked.

Would you want to direct I would love to because that is everyone’s dream. I want to make larger than life movies and a Hollywood film? the business in Hollywood is so much larger in terms of the reach to the world. But I have to come through with the right script. It has to come from my perspective as a filmmaker. As an Indian filmmaker.

Who are some of the directors From India, Raj Kapoor, Satyajit Ray and Ramesh Sippy. In the international arena Martin you looked up to? Scorsese and Steven Spielberg and my all-time favorite is Clint Eastwood because his films are beyond the craft. Nothing sticks out except his vision for the film. There is no one performance or one scene that juts out and distracts you from the story and his vision. Mystic River, Unforgiven, Changeling and Million Dollar Baby are examples of the perfect way he tells stories.

Who are some the actors Actors come out of the script. It has to be the right role for the right actor. you would like to work with?

What’s next for you? I want to make a film in the international arena. Rock On! is a progressive film for the Indian audience, but now I want to tell people a story in a wide audience and I want to take India to them.

Do you have a personal credo? I think one principle that has worked for me is no ego. Ego always kicks in but the key is to Philosophy? make sure you drive you and not your ego. Working with humility is the best way.

All-time favorite film and why? Sholay. From an Indian film point of view it has to be Sholay because it encompasses everything as an entertaining yet important story. It was larger than life.

42 ABHISHEK KAPOOR DIRE C TOR 43

Interview by Reena Singh television How will the crisis in the global economy Well, in several ways. Less private equity will go into India to help with digitalization so effect the television industry in India? television will stay analog for a longer time. The advertising market share is an obvious effect. And Hollywood studios will be less likely to expand their operations in India.

What are some of the challenges Fragmentation for sure. They are definitely going through that. facing Indian television?

How do you deal with fragmentation? We try not to have just one general television channel and instead launch more niche channels. In fact, last week we just announced that we bought our first regional channel. It’s a Bengali movie channel.

Speaking of regional channels, Regional programming, definitely. Sports to a certain degree, but that is getting competitive is that an area for growth? as well. I think there could be more lifestyle programming. But overall the real growth is in regional programming.

Who makes up the coveted demographic in The coveted demographic is SEC AB and C, which represent the high and middle socio- Indian cable television and can you tell us economic categories. Generally women control the remote, but the whole family watches. a little bit about who is watching? Urban, rural and in between—everyone watches. Television penetration is very high in the SUPERNA country. Do you leave programming development up We help on this end by doing format deals like “Idol” with Freemantle or “Dancing With The KALLE to the local Indian television channels? Stars” from the BBC and we offer these formats to our international stations. An example is Latin “Idol.” Then it is up to the international stations to pick it up or not. We have format Regional programming, experts here on our end and we do our best to advise, but in the end it is a collaboration. is definitely an area for growth. Sports to a certain What is the U.S. business like for It’s definitely growing. We mostly started out launching with satellite television and over Indian channel programming time got into the major cable operators. But when it comes to mainstream America, MAX is degree, but that is getting and is that likely to grow? subtitled in English and SET is not. Bottom line, you have to pay for these channels like with competitive as well. I HBO. They are expensive so you’re not likely going to see mainstream America tuning in. think there could be more lifestyle programming, but Did you always know you would I guess I kind of decided when applying for business school. For the application essay, I wrote end up in this role? that in ten years I wanted to run something in Indian television. And I ended up doing that. 44 overall the real growth is in SUPERNA KALLE TELEVISION regional programming. 45 That’s some focus. Or luck. Korn Ferry International Top 25 Most Influential South Asians Maybe both, but obviously there were a few Yes. I started working here at Sony after business school. I was in corporate development for steps from business school to here. our in-house investment banking group for five years. One day I got a call and was asked if I wanted to work on channels in India and I said, “Yes!”

Superna Kalle knew early on in her career that she wanted to work in international Does being of South Asian heritage Definitely. Knowing how to speak Hindi and really understanding the culture helps a lot. television and that is exactly where she has ended up as Senior Vice President, help you in your role at Sony? There’s a real shorthand when you can translate both the language and the culture. International Networks, of Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI). She currently oversees all channels in India to ensure profitability and establish overall business Can you give us a specific example of how I can follow the programming on each network and see the positioning on each network and priorities and new initiatives for the channels in the region. On the domestic front, your understanding of the language and see the positioning and tone of each channel--our own as well as our competitors. I can Kalle also works on expanding the portfolio of Indian channels and content across culture is an advantage in your job when it understand the marketing messages. Additionally half the conversations in the [Indian] office multiple distribution platforms in the United States. Like any other region in the world, comes to India? are in Hindi. Certainly everyone speaks English, but amongst themselves it’s a mix of the India’s Media and Entertainment Industry faces the same global economic difficulties. usual Hinglish. Additionally, growth in the Indian television industry has led to fragmentation offering up another challenge to programmers. We spoke to Kalle about some of her insights on India’s television industry in the current economic—and always competitive—climate. Interview by Reena Singh choreographer So what was it like working Working on Britney’s Circus tour was unlike any other project I’ve worked on before because this on Britney’s tour? tour has about 14 different choreographers. Due to the time constraint, each choreographer was given a very short period of time to choreograph the piece, teach 14 dancers, teach Britney and stage the piece. Each minute was intense. It was exciting, yet a bit stressful because the pressure was on. I knew that this was one of the first times that any pop artist was going to be doing a whole Bollywood piece on their tour. I felt like I had to represent Bollywood to its fullest and really give it my all. I also knew Britney was quite excited about doing this piece because it was unlike any other movement she has done before. Therefore, I wanted to make sure she rujuta was comfortable and happy with the piece. In the dance world, choreographing for Britney, is practically as prestigious as choreographing for a Michael Jackson or Madonna . I am honored that I have gotten the opportunity to choreograph for such a pop icon and bring Bollywood to a vaidya level that it has never really gone to before.

The energy that was How did it feel to see your number I had choreographed for Britney’s song “Me against the Music”—the Bollywood remix version. in the air that night of performed during the tour? Before seeing the piece on tour, I was quite anxious to see how it was going to be received by the Oscars® backstage, the audience. When I actually did see the piece on tour it was quite an overwhelming feeling that came over me. I almost felt as if I was dreaming. There it was in front of me—my work, is a moment that I my choreography and my vision—coming to life with one of the biggest pop divas in history, don’t think can ever be and that, too, in front of a packed audience of about 20,000 people. They were cheering and dancing and, in fact, even trying to mimic some of the dance moves along with Britney. It was replicated in my life. unreal. The response was tears in my eyes. It was the first time I saw my choreography on Growing up in the U.S. such a platform. in a time when Indians

were never recognized— Tell us about working for Working on the Oscars® was a dream come true. Or should I say that it was actually not even or for that matter even the Academy Awards® show something that I ever could have thought of in my wildest dreams. We were given about two Slumdog Millionaire number? weeks to prepare for this performance. It was great because I got to bring a few of my dancers accepted—to being from my troupe in New York with me. The rest of the dancers were cast out of Los Angeles. It felt able to hold your head great to be able to showcase Bollywood dance to an audience that had possibly never seen up high and have pride it performed live and that too with live drummers added to the mix. In terms of how much of the piece should be Indian and how much should be hip-hop, there was a lot of prep work from where you came that went into the choreography so that it was a balanced blend. I collaborated with hip-hop from and what you were choreographer Fatima Robinson, who truly has an understanding of the Indian culture and about to do on such a therefore was able to help this piece hold its identity. I admired how much the dancers wanted to really get the Indian style into their bodies. They worked really hard. Working with A.R. Rahman platform was just a true was also an amazing experience. He is an absolutely humble and deserving artist. He was open moment in time that will to whatever the vision was of the choreographers and enhanced it with his beautiful voice. never be forgotten. 46

RUJUTA VAIDYA C HOREOGRAPHER Never did I think that Bollywood dance would ever be on an Academy Awards® stage. Never did I think I would get a call to go choreograph one of the biggest shows in Hollywood. 47 Working for the Oscars® made me feel like I was an integral part of a historical moment for Indians all across the world. I was choreographing for this prestigious event on a stage that had been graced by every top Hollywood actor in history. It made me feel like I was a part a turning point for Indian film, music and dance. For choreographer Rujuta Vaidya, putting together the Slumdog Millionaire and Wall-E numbers for the Academy Awards® show was not only a milestone in her career but What was it like backstage? The energy that was in the air that night of the Oscars® backstage, is a moment that I don’t a significant moment in her life story. As an Indian American kid growing up in New think can ever be replicated in my life. Growing up in the U.S. in a time when Indians were Jersey, her official dance training began with traditional Bharatnatyam and Kathak never recognized—or for that matter even accepted—to being able to hold your head up high classes, but her introduction to Bollywood dance involved watching Indian movies and have pride from where you came from and what you were about to do on such a platform was just a true moment in time that will never be forgotten. on her parent’s VCR. She recalls that as a girl she would mimic the moves of great actresses like Madhuri Dixit. Despite her love for dance, back then she had no idea that she would go onto train with the great Saroj Khan in India, to work in such iconic You’ve worked on Bollywood movies. Working on Bollywood movies is pretty amazing. As you know, most Bollywood films are quite Bollywood films as Devdas, bring her own dance troupe to the Academy Awards® or What has that experience been like? elaborate especially for the song sequences. They definitely go all out. Some of the sets are even choreograph a number for the Britney Spears Circus tour. But in the case of absolutely breathtaking and feel so real. I’ve had the privilege of being on one of the most talked about sets in Bollywood history, which was Devdas, starring Madhuri, Aishwarya and Vaidya, her talent, drive and passion is helping her realize the dreams that began with a girl dancing in front of the television. Continues on next page Shahrukh. The music, the gorgeous clothing and the classical dancing in that shoot made What was it like to train with Saroj Khan? My Guruji is Bollywood’s legendary choreographer Saroj Khan. I call her Masterji [teacher] you feel like you were back in a whole different time period. Working on Bollywood movies out of respect. That experience of training with her not only on the physical form, but also on has been great because a choreographer can truly concentrate on the choreography rather the technical aspects have made me a stronger choreographer. She is so talented and I have than having to teach the dancers the style. Most professional dancers there do have some learned an unbelievable amount from her. I have been training with her since 2001. I think classical Indian background therefore it is easy to fuse in the classical forms along with the Masterji’s greatest asset aside from her talent, of course, is her quality of telling it to you as it modern styles of today. Bollywood movies also have access to fabulous costuming from the is. She does not sugarcoat anything. When you really want to learn something, that type of a designers in India, enabling a choreographer to really fulfill their vision. stance from a teacher makes you progress so much quicker. Masterji is my idol. I am her only student outside of India. Without her training and her blessings I would not be where I am today.

how does working in india differ from There is one significant difference between working on Bollywood films and working on working in the states? Hollywood films. In Bollywood, the choreographer is actually labeled the Dance Director. The Do you have a personal philosophy when it I think that we as Indian artists in America are at such an incredible moment in our careers. Dance Director runs the show. They create the whole vision for that song. Often times, during comes to your outlook on work? All of a sudden new doors that were unimaginable are opening up to us. I feel that in our work a song shoot, the actual director of the movie is not even present. This is his or her chance to it is important for us to share our rich culture and tradition with the world. get take a short break. Meanwhile, in Hollywood films, it’s more of a collaborative effort. The director layouts his vision to the choreographer and then the choreographer takes over to make that vision come to life in a dance form. Working here has been a little challenging on What’s next for you? A few Bollywood and Hollywood crossover films, tours and some TV dance shows. some projects because Bollywood and Indian dance is a completely new style for professional non-Indian dancers in the U.S. Therefore, a lot of time goes into helping the dancers get the Indian body language to sit in their form. The Indian classical or folk style is such a different Will you ever go back to Of course! Bollywood films are where I always wanted to be, so I would never turn one down. form from the modern, hip-hop or Western styles so dancers here often have a bit of difficulty working on Indian films? My childhood dream was of winning a Filmfare Award one day. Hopefully, I can still work getting that into their bodies. So as a choreographer, you become a little limited on the steps towards that. you can incorporate.

Career-wise, where do you see In 10 years, I would be very content to be the icon of the Bollywood choreography in the U.S. What kind of dance is Bollywood These days it seems that Bollywood is moving away from the traditional dance forms of India. yourself in 10 years? moving toward these days? More and more songs are incorporating Western dance forms such as hip-hop, pop & lock Hip hop? Classical Indian? and modern. The days of the beautiful mujhra pieces, Kathak dance by Rekha, Sridevi’s South Indian dance forms or Madhuri’s jhatka sequences that embellished folk styles no longer seem to be the trend in Bollywood. They all are gravitating toward the Western dance styles you see currently in the pop music industry there.

Does Bollywood seem to be moving away It’s interesting actually. While Bollywood is moving away from the traditional musical, from the traditional musical? Hollywood seems to be hungry for the “traditional” Bollywood song and dance.

What is the dancer/ A choreographer’s life in India is quite hectic. Established choreographers often lack sleep. choreographer’s life like in India? There is so much work to be had these days that they are often booked double shifts between two, three or several projects. Especially now with Bollywood going global, it is no longer about simply choreographing for a film. There is an international demand for Bollywood dance 48 in commercials, stage shows, endorsements, corporate events, weddings and tours. Many top RUJUTA VAIDYA C HOREOGRAPHER choreographers in Bollywood are slowly spending less and less time in their hometown of 49 Mumbai and seem to be travelling quite a bit.

When did you start dancing? I began dancing at the age of five. My parents enrolled me in Bharatnatyam. In high school, I moved onto Kathak for a few years. I also did a bit of jazz, tap and ballet growing up. Alongside all of this, I had an extreme affinity towards Bollywood films. At the time I grew up here in the United States, it was hard to get your hands on the latest Hindi film video cassettes. Somehow my dad would manage to get some bootlegged copies and I would embrace them. I would watch the song sequences over and over and over until I had mastered the dance that was in it. While other kids were outside playing after school, I would pop in a video and be dancing in front of the TV. I had every new Hindi movie song cassette that came out back in the day. I soon became obsessed with Madhuri, which in turn led me to my Guruji [teacher] Saroj Khan. She was the choreographer who made Madhuri the dance icon of Bollywood films.

Interview by Reena Singh Studio liaison Tell us about your start as a journalist? When I was in school in the 40’s, the Times of India used to publish a family and kid-friendly Sunday supplement The Illustrated Weekly. The kid section consisted of puzzles and contests. One of the contests was to write film reviews. I entered several of these and each time I was awarded a prize and that gave me confidence in my writing skills and so I went on to writing essays with equal success. In 1948, I came to the States to attend the University of California in Berkley and there in addition to my regular studies I took courses in writing. It was in 1956 that I moved to Los Angeles and started to write for Cine Blitz, not film reviews but interviews with film personalities. I gradually branched out and started writing for magazines in Germany and Hungary and occasionally for the UK. When Cine Blitz was bought out I wrote for Mid-Day and the Times of India. Now with the economic crunch I no longer write for Mid-Day but my association with the Times continues.

How does one become a member of To join the Hollywood Foreign Press, a journalist has to submit six clippings of his or her work the Hollywood Foreign Press? to the Motion Picture Producers Association to get onto the studio screenings lists. Once this is done you are considered a qualified journalist. Now comes the hard part, you have to find two active Hollywood Foreign Press members who will sponsor you into the association and then go through the process of general membership approval. I was one of the lucky ones. Without trying to find the required sponsors I was invited to join the association by two members from the UK.

noel What do you do for the Hollywood Through the years I have worked in various positions within the organization from being on the Foreign Press? Foreign Film Committee to moderating press conferences. Also for over fifteen years or more, I have actively worked on the production end of the Golden Globe Awards where I have de souza interacted with the studios and the Dick Clark production offices. India will only make its You started out in business school, Acting was always my first love and after graduating in Business Administration from the mark in the cinema world but acting was your first love. University of California in Berkley, I enrolled in the Pasadena Playhouse and got a degree if it joins hands with in theater. Some of my schoolmates were Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman. Hollywood talent on all levels or begins to think Was it difficult breaking out at that time Difficult? I didn’t even give it a thought. I was young and thought that nothing was impossible. globally and take risks. given your background? In fact, I thought that I was so unique that I would be welcomed into the industry with open arms. Little did I know what was in store for me. Leave alone South Asian actors, it was Films are a universal difficult for anyone of color—be it black, brown or yellow. Fortunately for me my name did not language and need sound very Indian because at that time being from India was in the eyes of casting directors universal cooperation. and studio executives, was the equivalent of being from Mars and the parts for Indians were very, very scarce, so I played Latinos, Native Americans and characters that were Mediterranean. I did a couple of “Jungle” pilots for television that were not picked up and outside of that I survived mainly in television guest starring on various shows. 50 Korn Ferry International

NOEL DE SOUZA STUDIO LIAISON Top 25 Most Influential South Asians What affect do you think Slumdog I don’t think that the success of Slumdog Millionaire will have much influence on either 51 Millionaire will have on Bollywood cinema? Hollywood or Bollywood on how films are made in the future. If Hollywood could make a On Hollywood cinema? sequel then it will. As for Bollywood, they have their own formula and are not very dependent on foreign markets except for the Asian communities abroad. They are afraid to step out of the Indian-born Noel de Souza came to the U.S. for business school, but eventually followed box, though I must say that they are trying to break away from the tried and true, but these his true love: Acting. When he started out, there weren’t many parts for South Asians in are few and far between. If they wish to venture into new territories then there are several Hollywood, so he diversified by taking on Latino roles. Eventually de Souza’s job expanded books published by native authors that they can draw upon that would make good, interesting into journalism first as a writer forCine Blitz magazine. Today de Souza is an active member films. They also have very competent screenplay writers, who if left alone and encouraged to of the Hollywood Foreign Press. And, yes, he voted for Slumdog Millionaire! be different, could produce good work.

Regarding the Golden Globes, as a member Yes, I did vote for Slumdog Millionaire, not because of its Indian theme, but because it was a of the Hollywood Foreign Press, did you feel good and hopeful movie that was well done. It isn’t the greatest movie made, but it has a vote for Slumdog Millionaire? spirit that is reflected from the soul of the filmmaker.

Continues on next page What do you make about all the buzz with Buzz. That’s just it—buzz. Hollywood wants to capitalize upon the revenues of the Indian markets, the big deals between Hollywood and they have made attempts at making the typical Indian film and have failed. I think that the Bollywood? fault lies with the lack of studio involvement and thinking. There are tremendous talents both in India and the U.S. They should join hands and minds and come up with worthwhile projects, which does not mean that Indian needs to change its formula. It simply needs to polish them. As for Indian money flowing into Hollywood, there should be a cautionary note. Italy and other countries have tried it and failed. If one is to invest in a company then one must at least acquire its library or a part of it. India will only make its mark in the cinema world if it joins hands with Hollywood talent on all levels or begins to think globally and take risks. Films are a universal language and need universal cooperation, but even here careful thought has to be put in place. If money is being thrown at starts and no overviews exists then it is doomed for failure and all the star power cannot save it. There are so many factors and considerations to be taken into account before stepping into foreign territories.

Do you have advice for second generation It is difficult to give advice. Each generation has its set of challenges. Today the roles for South Indian actors in Hollywood? Asians have opened up and it is easier than when I first started. I see new and exciting talent emerging from the community and for that I am happy. My only advice would be is to keep working hard at your craft and keep fine tuning it. Don’t sit back comfortably once success comes your way. Attend classes and do plays. And if possible don’t tag yourself as South Asian. Try to cross over to play mainstream roles. Those actors who have been born and raised in the States and have no foreign accents should push their agents to help them crossover. I have seen it happen in rare cases. Just keep working at your craft and be passionate and true to what it is you do. Don’t get carried away by the trimming that come your way and always think that you can do better work. I remember when I first started in this business and I worked with Ricardo Montablan and he told me that every time he did a scene, he always felt that he could have done better. This is every actor’s worry, so one must prepare and do the best that one can and then let go. Preparation is the key and then all else will fall into place.

52 NOEL DE SOUZA STUDIO LIAISON 53

Interview by Reena Singh © 2009 Fox Soccer Channel LLC. ® Twentieth Century Fox. All Rig hts Reserved.

FSC9148_FSI_2009_CongratsAd_3.indd 1 4/8/09 5:40:05 PM

CLIENT NAME: FSC PROJECT NAME: FSI 2009 Congrats Ad TRIM: 7.5"W x 10"H ART: FSC9148_FSI_2009_CngrtsAd_4CMG_1.eps LIVE: 7”W X 9.5”H thought leader Hollywood and Bollywood seems to Both Hollywood and Bollywood are continually looking for new sources of global financing be crisscrossing continents. Indian and revenue. Both communities understand the value of co-financing/co-producing and producers are financing Hollywood movies sharing risks and rewards. So a more collaborative approach is a natural outcome that offers (E.g. UTV financing M Night Shyamalan’s The mutual benefit. Happening and Reliance deal with Spielberg and others), while Hollywood majors are dipping their toes in local Indian Indian Film Companies will continue to focus on the domestic Indian film market, which content (e.g. Disney Roadside Romeo, WB sells about 3.7 billion movie tickets each year, nearly three times the U.S. market. But I think Chandnichowk to China). What’s driving this you’ll continue to see them make forays into Hollywood as they continue to pursue a broader anomaly and why is it happening now? audience. Regarding the much talked about Reliance - Hollywood is just one component of Reliance’s global ambitions. Their stated strategy is to be a leader in every one of their business verticals, including film. The deal with DreamWorks for 36 films over the next six years shows how seriously they take this goal. Reliance also is leading one of the most exciting Hollywood-Bollywood trends: entering deals to fund script development and jointly present proposals to studios with leading Hollywood production companies, including those run by George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks, Brett Ratner and others.

As for Hollywood dipping its toes into local Indian content, they are recognizing the importance of local content in the global marketplace. Local-language films are particularly important in India. Of those 3.7 billion annual tickets sold there, only about 5% currently go to foreign films. Particularly in the cable industry, those who have significantly invested in India over deborah the last decade have seen strong results when they have learned to ‘localize.’ For instance, News Corp in India has only one channel playing international content; the rest show local bothun programs in local Indian languages. We are still in early We are still in early days. Hollywood and Bollywood are getting to know one another and gaining a better understanding of what has driven the great success in both of these days. Hollywood and filmmaking communities. We are still learning about one another and building relationships, Bollywood are getting which is why this festival has become so important to both communities. to know one another and gaining a better Of course, the global success of Slumdog Millionaire –$250 million –doesn’t hurt. It’s very understanding of what strong validation that something wonderful can come from the intersection of Hollywood and has driven the great Bollywood – both for the business of film and for audiences around the world. success in both of these Why India? Creatively Hollywood has a kindred spirit in Bollywood. There is great love of the medium filmmaking communities. of film—and great success in the business of film. These are two extraordinarily significant markets for movies, and much can be gained for both countries based on the deepening collaboration.

Based on admissions, the U.S. and India have by far the largest box office markets in the 54 world. So India needs to be on the map of every global organization. For the business

DEBORAH BOTHUN THOUGHT LEADER community generally, India is considered the #2 international market after China. But given Few people have the insight, knowledge and professional experience of the global the government and regulatory restrictions in China, India is #1 for film. India has one of the 55 media and entertainment industry as Deborah Bothun of PricewaterhouseCoopers. largest populations under age 25 - a key movie-going demographic. Put another way: India’s We caught up with her to make sense of all the hullabaloo around the Hollywood and under-25 population is almost twice as large as the entire U.S. population, and India’s Filmed Entertainment market – movies and home video – is expected to grow at 15% annually for the Bollywood collaboration. next several years (PwC Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2008-2012).

What role, if any, are structural changes The film industry was only recognized as an industry within the past decade. According to one or government policy playing in this, either of the leaders in our Indian practice, who spoke at last year’s festival, Smita Jha, this was a positively or negatively? substantial milestone because it enabled the industry to secure funding. The result has been corporations entering and banks financing the film business.

Continues on next page Also, as opposed to some other countries, 100% foreign investment is allowed across all categories of the film business, including production and distribution. This has provided a great boost for international collaborations in the Indian film market because there are fewer outside limits as to how these arrangements can work.

There is still room for progress. A constructive next step would be for the Indian government to play a better role in the area of co-production treaties, which is an area of serious focus right now for the government, as well as piracy. The Motion Picture Association opened an office in Mumbai earlier this year to assist with these efforts to help shore up the legitimate marketplace and a healthy global film industry. We salute the What risk do they face (assuming both The greatest risk is that both Hollywood and Bollywood studios do not meet their projected players will have their own set of returns. Increasing this risk is the fact that many key questions remain unanswered: Association�of�Media�& challenges which may overlap)? 1. Will Indian moviegoers flock to American-produced films, given historical trends and vice-versa? Entertainment�Counsel 2. Will creative control issues between American and Indian producers arise? 3. To date, the box office seems relatively impervious to the current global economic crisis. and its support of It’s uncertain if this trend will continue and what might be the long-lasting effects of the current turndown. 4. What will be the continued impacts of technology on the global film industry? The�Indian�Film�Festival 5. How will the differences in broadband penetration, DVD penetration, etc. between the of�Los�Angeles two territories affect the film markets in each country? 6. What will be the continued impacts of piracy on the global film industry?

What can we say from Hollywood has a history of diverse financiers, with varying results depending on the portfolio past experiences if either one will be of expectations, passion and experience. Depending on the blend of these factors and the successful in achieving their goals? response of the all-important consumer, India will be successful in Hollywood.

56 DEBORAH BOTHUN THOUGHT LEADER 57

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los�angeles����������charlotte����������chicago����������irving����������london����������new�york����������palo�alto����������washington,�dc Interview by Naz Haider london�affiliate:��katten�muchin�rosenman�cornish�llp animator After years of hard work behind Sita Sings My goal is to have the most exposure for the film. I wanted as many people as possible to the Blues, you are giving the animation see the film and it seemed like the best way to accomplish that was to allow the people to movie away for free. Help us understand share the film with each other, because if it goes through a centralized source then it’s less what is the logic behind the strategy? efficient than the decentralized model. Another reason is the copyright issues around the old songs, which were supposed to be in the public domain in the 80’s. I have been thinking a lot about intellectual rights and what it means to me as an artist. And I really began to question how much I was benefitting from copyrighting my own work. And I concluded that I wasn’t benefitting because it was limiting its circulation. Of course I grew up before the Internet came along and times have changed. A friend of mine calls Internet the world’s biggest copying machine. I spent months and months thinking about this. Freeing the film is a way to put that theory into practice.

How long has your film been Actually, it’s not in the public domain. It’s Share ALike License, which is freer than public in the public domain? domain. Something that’s in public domain, someone can make a slight derivation and then copy right that. So, this is more public than public domain. We have been streaming for about 2 weeks and downloadable has been available for about a week.

Is it too early to judge whether Not really. Even in less than 2 weeks the demand to purchase DVD has exploded. your theory is working or not? nina This is an interesting consumer behavior. One theory, which I think it’s quite good, even though it’s online for free, there is a sense that Why do you think people are willing to pay you never know when it will vanish. We don’t individually control the Internet and we don’t for something that they can get for free? know what’s going to happen. So, if you actually have a physical DVD, then what happens to paley the internet you have a version that you have a control over. The other reason is that when people like a piece of work, they want to increase their connection to it and having an actual My goal is to have the object makes people more connected. most exposure for the film . . . and it seemed What you just described is almost counters More people are interested in downloading, but the more people download, the more people like the best way to the DVD industry trend. Physical DVD sales are exposed to the film, which means more people overall watch it and the ones that feel a have been on decline and lately falling stronger connection to it then they want the DVD. accomplish that was to off the cliff, while iTunes downloadable allow the people to share business is showing phenomenal growth. Why do you think in this case people are the film with each other more interested in physical DVD versus free download?

So, in the long run, you think you will be Absolutely! better off with this hybrid-model, than the traditional one?

Is there a free lunch? Consumers getting online freebies were supposed to kick their 58 habits after the Internet bubble burst, but then Google with its “Web 2.0” extended the NINA PALEY ANIMATOR habit by accurately targeting customers for advertisers. Lately, the revised model is also 59 starting to look unsustainable. However, Nina Paley, the creator of the animation filmSita Sings the Blues, being showcased at IFFLA, has a twist to the old model. She is putting her money where her mouth is by giving five years of her labors back to the community for free. If proven right, she may show Hollywood executives how money could be made by expanding the size of a pie versus getting fixated at the slice of their pie.

Interview by Naz Haider music You are probably one of the first South Yes, it has certainly been a challenging journey and my musical journey continues to be an Asians to break out into the Western scene, exciting one. Earlier this year I sang at the Rock 4 Rights Benefit at Lincoln Center, and it was especially in Europe. Tell us about your comforting to hear from the young organizers and musicians that my perseverance on the musical journey? musical path was an inspiration to them, and it was also heartening to see so many talented, young, second generation musicians for whom I think the time is right. We now have several directors and actors in mainstream Films and TV shows, and its time we saw more South Asian musicians in mainstream. A new musical journey is beginning for me where I hope to create a platform for these young talents.

Being a pioneer in any area has hurdles and obstacles. The first thing going against me was my gender. In the 70’s, the major labels preferred signing Boy Bands. According to demographics, they sold the most records, then the solo male artist, followed by an all girl band, and finally at the bottom of the rung was the solo female artist.

On a lighter note this amusing anecdote encapsulates the general attitude and mood at that time. After much stonewalling on the part of CBS to address the release of my albums in the US, I had made an appointment with Ahmet Ertegun, the CEO of Atlantic Records, whom I happened to know socially and therefore expected him to be more open and empathetic to my situation. So I started with my pitch touting the great reviews etc., at the end of which Ahmet said, “but Asha, the problem is that you are Indian” and I immediately retorted “but ASHA Ahmet you are a Turk,” to which he replied, “ Precisely, that’s why I’m sitting behind this desk!”

pUTHLI Since then South Asians have become a viable target market and we are beginning to see South Asian faces in mainstream media, film and TV with relatively less typecasting. There was reluctance to market me in the mainstream There was reluctance to market me in the mainstream since CBS marketing focus-studies since CBS marketing focus- showed that my being an Indian worked against me in the mainstream market. According to CBS studies showed that my being executives, the marketing problem was cognitive dissonance and suggested I change my name, since my name spelled out “temple bells and Indian music.” Their point being, yes, Ravi Shankar an Indian worked against me could be promoted because he had a niche market and was Indian and delivering Indian music. in the mainstream market. Besides he had the imprimatur of the Beatles while Freddie Mercury’s connection to India was never highlighted; besides he was initially part of an all white Boys Band. Freddie himself in his early days disassociated himself from his Indian origin and claimed to be Iranian (Persian), his true identity was revealed only after his death in a BBC special.

You mentioned Freddie Mercury (or aka We met briefly in 1973 in London. Both the band Queen and I had our respective first Farrokh Bulsara) of the band Queens. He solo albums released that year, prior to that Freddie was with another group called Smile. was also from Mumbai. Did you know him? He had an amazing presence. We had several mutual friends, such as fashion designers Zandra Rhodes, Bill Gibb, and Andrew Logan. I remember the first conversation we had was about John Peel and his show on BBC since we had both been guests on his TV show at different times. As contemporaries of the “Glam Rock” period, both Freddie and I have been photographed by image chronicler Mick Rock. His book “Blood and Glitter,” whose foreword The Indo-American Arts Council summed it succinctly “No other Indian artist in musical was written by David Bowie, captures that time when “everybody held hands with everybody.” history has practiced greater freedom in her musical choices than Asha Puthli. The young girl, who hummed to the tunes of Ella Fitzgerald streaming from her family radio in The music that P. Diddy and Notorious B.I.G sampled on their track “The World is filled with…” 60 Bombay, later went on to share the Downbeat Critics’ Poll award for the “best female jazz Your music was picked-up by P. Diddy and for their triple platinum ground breaking album “Life After Death” is not from any of my Jazz ASHA PUTHLI MUSI C Jay-Z. What are hip-hop artists doing with vocalist” with none other than Ms. Fitzgerald herself. Asha left home in the 70s for the Jazz music? recordings. They sampled a track titled “Space Talk” recorded in 1975 from my album “The 61 love of music and soared to a level of popularity unforeseen in those days for a singer, Devil is Loose.” It is considered a Funk track. let alone for a female Indian singer. Puthli dared to push limits of musical genres and she did so with her very own Asha-esque style, grace and elegance.

Continues on next page Though in the US, I am considered a Jazz singer due to my collaborations with legendary Jazz artists, such as Lionel Hampton and recordings with Ornette Coleman on the album “Science Fiction,” (now in the Sony Legacy Master series.) My own 10 solo albums are in different genres and though in a few songs there may be some subtle jazz nuances, they are mostly either in Pop, Rock, Funk R&B or Disco genres.

These solo albums recorded mainly in the U.K. and then in Europe by CBS (International), Polygram, and EMI were never released in the U.S. in spite of their international chart success. It is only because of the Internet that these young Hip Hop and Rap artists have discovered me, and now it has snowballed through word of mouth, blogs, etc.

Jay Z sampled “Space Talk”, Diplo from UK sampled “Right Down Here” and won the Mobus Award, J Walk sampled “Devil is Loose” and several amongst others have sampled my music.

You had a little bit of run-in with Salman It was really not a run-in. In fact when I heard about the book “Ground beneath her Feet” Rushdie. What was that all about? through several people and journalists, who had read the book, they commented about how closely my life resembled that of a character in Rushdie’s book. Initially I joked about it and quoted myself from an earlier interview in the London Times “well, I’m as fake as real can be and as real as fake can be” and later in the interview with the London Times I specifically said that I was flattered by the general opinion that he had based his character Veena Apsara on incidents from my life. In fact, a writer for the Sunday London Times who upon reading the book decided to cross check facts against existing archival material of my old TV interviews and press and after seeing the similarities decided to interview me for confirmation. When the article titled “Was Asha the unsung heroine of his novel?” with a byline “Rushdie’s fictional rock star has an uncanny resemblance to a real-live diva” was published, Salman took umbrage to it. I had read that there were plans to make the book into a movie but after the article we did not hear anymore about it. Anyone listening out there; let’s make a movie and perhaps Salman will be open to collaborating on it.

Tell us about your new album Recorded last summer in Monte Carlo, my latest album “Lost “ will release in Mid May, initially that’s coming out soon. in Italy and then in other European markets. It has a very cinematic sound, grand, and large scale. Even though we have not yet released it, two of the songs have been licensed to the film “Finding Bliss” starring a wonderful cast with Leelee Sobieski, Denise Richards, Jimmy Kennedy and Matthew Davis. I’m now looking for more opportunities to place more of my music in films. So, I am thrilled to meeting budding film makers at the IFFLA festival.

62 ASHA PUTHLI MUSI C 63

Interview by Naz Haider AGENCY

David Suchir Taghioff Batra They [Hollywood] shouldn’t be looking to India solely for capital, but rather for creative partnerships that benefit both industries. I have to believe that one of the reasons we feel this way is because of our South Asian heritage. Our desire to do work there [in India] is distinctive because we have an eye toward helping the local industry as opposed to simply exploiting the financial resources of the country. Originally sent to London by the William Morris Agency in order to expand the David, how did you get your start? David Taghioff: My career path became very calculated when I realized I was never going to company’s consulting and digital businesses, Taghioff and Batra quickly recognized follow my father’s footsteps and become a doctor. I am a very emotional person and couldn’t detach every day and so I gave up the idea of medical school and pursued law school. As for the potential in India. They have cultivated relationships on both the business and the entertainment part, well my family in India was based in Bombay where it was impossible creative sides and continue to be the conduit between their Hollywood and Bollywood to avoid Hindi cinema. And my grandmother owned a flower shop—Flamour Florists—on clients. Their vision and leadership is fueled by their South Asian heritage and their Napean Sea Road. It was “the” flower shop in the area and all of the Bollywood stars would 64 passion for film, which—as with many Indian kids—began with watching Bollywood all come in and order flowers. I remember celebrities like Zeenat Aman among many others

DAVID TAGHIOFF AND SU C HIR BATRA AGEN C Y movies at very young ages. Taghioff and Batra spoke to us about their pioneering work, walking into the store and there were these photos all over the place of my grandparents with their thoughts on the future of Bollywood and David’s rendition of “Laila O Laila” from these stars. As a kid I actually visited the set of Qurbani when Zeenat Aman was filming. So I 65 guess in the end it really was about combining my passion for film and my business skills. the movie Qurbani.

Continues on next page Was it the teeny, white bikini scene? David Taghioff: Unfortunately not. I visited the scene when Vinod Khanna was in the hospital. What advice do you have for talent from India Suchir Batra: Without assuming that working in Hollywood is better than working in India, if Amjad Khan gave me a Chiklet from his pocket. It was awesome. who want to transition into Hollywood? Indian talent wants to work in the U.S.—notwithstanding their achievements—they should be Suchir Batra: You should hear him singing “Laila O Laila” a capella in the office. I didn’t willing to spend time in Los Angeles to meet executives in the industry, audition for roles and realize his voice could go so high. take classes if necessary. The bottom line is that there is an opportunity cost for popular Indian talent coming to the U.S. They must decide independently whether they’re willing to forsake opportunities in Interesting, but no thanks. So Suchir how Suchir Batra: It was partly calculated and partly random. I went to law school on the East India—films, television and endorsements—for the prospect of working in the U.S. And that did you get your start? Coast and then came back to the West, Silicon Valley, to practice. After awhile I realized that decision can only be made by them on an individual basis. I wasn’t happy and that I had to start enjoying my work. I actually learned about the William Morris agent training program on a conference call with David. Of course, my parents wondered why I wanted to work for a tobacco company. What do you identify as being some of the Suchir Batra: Western media companies—traditional and new media—are beginning to David Taghioff: So he owes his career to me. growth areas in India for Western companies? realize that their content doesn’t necessarily translate or resonate in India. As such, Western studios are beginning to produce films in Hindi, amongst other languages, that cater to local Suchir Batra: I hate telling this story because he always says that. audiences. As progressive as India is becoming in every facet of life, international media David Taghioff: You can thank me later. companies nonetheless have to acknowledge and accept that Bollywood, which refers to the Hindi-language film industry, and cricket are still quite popular amongst the masses. David Taghioff: Additionally, new media companies such as MySpace, while cognizant of the Okay, so how did you two end up in London David Taghioff: The company moved us to the UK because of a desire to expand and port two relatively low broadband penetration rate in India, are offering consumers content that fits for William Morris? groups—William Morris Consulting and William Morris Digital. We’re a bridge to London and within their sensibility. Yet it’s undeniable that India is a mobile culture, and as the technology Continental Europe. While our connection to India was not mandated by this move, we continue continues to change and advance, content providers will need to keep pace, understanding to source opportunities on both sides helping the East access the West and vice versa. that the mobile platform isn’t just for voice, sms and ring tones. Most importantly, content providers and creators will need to offer content that is appropriate for the medium.

Tell us about some of your successes. David Taghioff: One of the things we have been able to achieve for several years is cultivating relationships within the media and entertainment business over there. We had expanded What do you think the impact of the Suchir Batra: The global economic crisis underscores the importance of embracing our network base until it was deemed to be compelling by one of our consulting clients— worldwide financial crisis has been on opportunities in emerging markets such as India. While the crisis is ubiquitous, developed MySpace. They understood the importance of localizing their content for key markets like India companies looking to invest in the Indian markets such as the U.S. are difficult ones in which to create new opportunities. and asked for our help. After formulating a strategy, we traveled to Bombay with them and media and entertainment industry thus far? made introductions to all the media agencies, music execs and key influencers there. David Taghioff: The most important factor is that it’s not about viewing India as merely another Future ramifications? source of capital for Hollywood. Rather, it’s about investing in India’s media and entertainment Suchir Batra: That’s definitely a tangible example, but beyond that are just all the industry and growing organically with it. The continual rise and discovery in India of new talent, relationships we have created on both the business and creative sides. in traditional media, new media and on the business side allow for the fostering of new ideas and innovations. And with India’s burgeoning and young middle class not only accepting but embracing the media and entertainment industry, talented and smart people are looking to What’s next for you in India? David Taghioff: What is next for us is to further educate our colleagues and clients about the this space for challenging and rewarding careers. They’re increasingly infusing the industry with advantages of international work. They shouldn’t be looking to India solely for capital, but progressive views and are willing to experiment in different areas, creatively and business-wise, rather for creative partnerships that benefit both industries. I have to believe that one of the making the sector an attractive one in which international companies are willing to invest. The reasons we feel this way is because of our South Asian heritage. Our desire to do work there major studios—from Warner Brothers to Fox to Disney—have established a presence, invested in is distinctive because we have an eye toward helping the local industry as opposed to simply India and are working there in distinct ways. exploiting the financial resources of the country.

Where do you hope to see the Hollywood- Suchir Batra: As Thomas Friedman says in his book, and as we can see on a daily basis Do you think India could have a studio David Taghioff: First and foremost, we shouldn’t consider one industry to be better than the Bollywood collaboration in ten years? particularly from here in London, the world really is flat. We may not be talking about system like ours in Hollywood? other. Both are extremely robust, vibrant industries that cater to different audiences. Still, Hollywood and Bollywood as distinct industries at all in a decade, at least from a business both industries have aspects that could be of benefit to one another. Hollywood could offer and transaction perspective. The flow of ideas and talent will hopefully be seamless, be it its best practices in an effort to help corporatize India’s industry, which has traditionally with respect to film, television, music, new media, literary, you name it. That said, they should been decentralized and run by family-owned businesses. Yet as technology rapidly evolves, preserve their respective traits that make them unique. Collaboration is already happening as borders continue to blur, as domestic [Indian] media companies become more diverse in and knock on wood, some of our personal efforts will bear fruit. We’d be remiss if we didn’t point their offerings and as multinational companies enter the marketplace, the need to implement out that we shouldn’t just think of Bollywood as representing India’s media and entertainment corporate and legal frameworks to effectively and efficiently conduct business becomes vital. industry. It’s a part, albeit a significant one, of the subcontinent’s media and entertainment India offers a plethora of cost savings, from locations to facilities—we’d be remiss if we didn’t sector. Hopefully the international community will recognize the talent in various parts of mention the studios and technology offered by Yash Raj Films, UTV and Mukta Arts, amongst the country and collaboration will take place in not only Bombay, but in South India as well, others—to technical and creative talent, without compromising on quality. If Hollywood amongst other areas. 66 is willing to travel further east beyond the 405, they’ll become aware of the international DAVID TAGHIOFF AND SU C HIR BATRA AGEN C Y opportunities that exist, especially in India. The drawbacks could come in the form of culture clashes and Hollywood not being sensitive to the nuances of how business is conducted 67 You’ve been overseas for William Morris for David Taghioff and Suchir Batra: Taco Bell and sunshine. And more sunshine. in India. At the end of the day, the entertainment industry is about people, whether they awhile now. What do you miss from the States? represent the business or creative side. It’s not about imposing ideas but sharing them.

Interview by Reena Singh 69

Continues on next page For decades Anil Kapoor’s authentic, heart-filled performances—and iconic mustache—have mustache—have iconic performances—and heart-filled authentic, Kapoor’s Anil decades For Payal in Tu seven first role was at age His most recognizable actors. made him one of India’s dozens of films that have onto make Kapoor went released. that was never Main Geet—a movie the international onto he walked Last year, cry audiences laugh, and cheer. made Bollywood in the involvement Kapoor’s Millionaire. Award® winning Slumdog Academy with the stage his beyond Millionaire is something he describes as going success of Slumdog worldwide Annual Indian Film Festival This month he is being honored at the 7th imagination and dreams. include movies Those films. classic his of some of screening special a with (IFFLA) Angeles Los which , My Father world premiere of Gandhi, version and the English language Virasat Lamhe, catch up with Kapoor as he was headingwere able to We marks his debut film as a producer. back to Mumbai post Oscar® celebrations. but then can imagine, something everyone It was like a dream really. Beyond a dream. It was like something done have must I it. describe to words the have don’t I imagination. the beyond goes birth. in a previous really good film this because important was timing think I But performances. The storytelling. The Timing. on going is much So us. uplift to film a needed We hope. needed world the when along came adversity this all through then And terrorism. and war meltdown, economic the with world the in also movie this and well do always movies riches to Rags hope. has that movie this comes here storytelling. in its It had a lot of layers But it wasn’t just a popcorn film. story. love has a great I think people connected because it has everything that a real person goes through—happiness, through—happiness, I think people connected because it has everything that a real person goes having was like I think the movie know, You excitement—the roller coaster of emotions. sadness, giftthe And end. the in gift a get partythe at time you then and great a have You party. birthday a ending. Millionaire was a happy in Slumdog and every filmmaker Angeles] here [in Los met a lot of people while I’ve an opportunity. It’s to have actors our think I course. of them, of all in star can’t I India. in movie a make to wants come to actors Indian for opportunity great a is It opportunity. this grab and vision their broaden and perform the world. for center stage to have We steps and learning from each other. all taking baby We’re all need advice. we Well, up looked have India in actors us of All offer. to lots have sides both and other each from learn a real fusion have If we talent in India. but there is also great to the talent here in Hollywood, and rich country a is India talent. great starring values family with stories great tell can we then A FINAL WORD WITH… WORD A FINAL anil kapoor

. . you a success? year for think Slumdog - the Hollywood to you for the world. amazing been such an ? collaboration ollywood in India? making movies to B do what think Slumdog Millionaire has studios for Hollywood have you , , ctor a you It has been I’ve met a lot of people people of lot a met I’ve Millionaire means an It is a great opportunity opportunity great a is It I can’t star in all of them, in all of them, star I can’t to make a movie in India. in India. to make a movie for Indian actors to come come to actors Indian for As center stage and perform center stage and grab this opportunity. and grab this opportunity. when it comes while here [in Los Angeles] Angeles] while here [in Los and everywants filmmaker ce do advi Why do of course. I think our actors of course. have to broaden their vision vision their broaden to have What MANDAL DEBASIS PHOTOGRAPHY: COURTESY: M MAGAZINE IMAGE

A FINAL WORD WITH…

68 ANIL KAPOOR fertile with stories. It is the world’s oldest civilization, there are more Muslims living in India than in Pakistan, the President of India is a Sikh, the head of the country’s biggest political party is an Italian and it is a country of many dialects and communities. Look, America and India are the world’s biggest democracies. If we can really come together, it will be phenomenal.

So what’s next for you? Will we see you in a I’ve never believed in talking about what I am going to do next. I just do it and when I do the Hollywood film soon? world sees it.

This year the Indian Film Festival Los Angeles (IFFLA) I am very proud of this film. It is close to my heart and has received huge critical acclaim. I want is honoring you by screening several of your films everyone to see it because I want people to see how this man—this great man who is iconic including the English world premiere of Gandhi, My to the world—got his freedom and freedom for his country. He got freedom for his country with Father. What does this film mean to you? peace and then spread his love to the world, but there was a personal price. Someone who could transform the soul of a nation, could not save the soul of his own son.

What drew you to the project? The unique story about one family’s tragedy being the price of a nation’s freedom. The script and most importantly the huge talent of the writer/director Feroz Abbas Khan.

Did the movie give you a better Yes. It gave me a deeper understanding of this great man. It reaffirmed my faith in his ideals. understanding of Mahatma Gandhi?

Last question. Everyone in the world dreams of being there. I was there. I was a part of history and of Indian We have to know what was it like to stand history. I am a part of the history of a movie called Slumdog Millionaire. on that stage at the Academy Awards®?

70 ANIL KAPOOR A FINAL WORD WITH...

Interview by Reena Singh Copyright © 2009 The Association of Media & Entertainment Counsel All rights reserved MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT INSIGHTS SPOTLIGHT ON INDIA