Foreign Exchange

OutlookIndia

#OutlookMagazine | Virtual production technology eliminates the need for Bollywood filmmakers to travel abroad. But what do foreign locations really mean, socially and politically?  Tanul Thakur writes.   Listen to the excerpts from the latest issue of Outlook - only by Pragya Vats.   #VirtualProduction #Filmmaking #Cinema #Bollywood #IReadOutlook #ReturnToReading   Read more: https://www.outlookindia.com/art-entertainment/from-foreign-travels-to-virtual-production-redefining-bollywood-locations-magazine-337462

Transcript

00:00 I am Pragya and I bring to you excerpts from the current issue of Outlook.

00:05 Outlook looks at two cover stories.

00:07 One, titled "Almost Real, But Not Quite".

00:11 Virtual production can make the filmmaking much cheaper and convenient.

00:16 But will the AI-powered tech also forever alter the essence of cinema itself?

00:22 Second, it's titled "Paradise Lost".

00:25 Can we row the Shikara Isles and have the heritage walks?

00:29 The cover carries the image and words from the visual artist Veer Munshi.

00:34 He says, "My installation depicts the fast-changing characteristics of Indian cities.

00:40 So I was wondering about the fate of our paradise on earth called Kashmir."

00:45 "Foreign Exchange" by Tanul Thakur from Outlook.

00:49 Virtual production technology eliminates the need for Bollywood filmmakers to travel abroad.

00:55 But what do foreign locations really mean, socially and politically?

01:00 Before shooting "Silsila" in 1981, Yash Chopra ran into a problem.

01:05 No, not the controversial cast comprising Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan and Rekha.

01:11 This trouble had a poetic lilt.

01:14 The second part of the song, "Dekha ek khab to silsile hue,

01:18 Door tak nigaahon mein hai gul khile hue,

01:21 As far as I can see, I can only see flowers," tripped him.

01:26 Where in the world would he find such a place?

01:29 He asked Amitabh.

01:30 The actor showed him a clip on his mini projector.

01:33 A garden awash in tulips.

01:36 As far as Chopra could see, he could indeed just see flowers.

01:41 He flew to Copenhagen Gardens in Amsterdam,

01:44 setting a trend synonymous with Hindi cinema.

01:47 Romantic songs shot in foreign locations.

01:51 Even though Chopra first travelled to Netherlands,

01:54 a country down south became his adoptive home, Switzerland.

01:58 That's where he shot his next, "Faasle", in 1985.

02:02 Then "Chandni" in 1989.

02:05 Then "Dar" in 1993.

02:08 He set his 1991 drama, "Lamhe", in London.

02:12 In the first two decades of his career, in fact,

02:15 Chopra hadn't left India.

02:17 "Initially, I used to shoot my films in Kashmir or Shimla,"

02:21 he recalled in an interview.

02:23 "But with the terrorism threat in Kashmir

02:25 and the lack of adequate infrastructure in Shimla,

02:28 I had to find an alternative," his wife Pam elaborated.

02:33 "You hardly needed permissions in Switzerland,

02:35 but in India, if you had to shoot in a train,

02:38 you had to start the paperwork six months in advance."

02:42 So, for an aesthetic-driven motive,

02:45 a foreign location meant geographical beauty,

02:48 something literally unseen,

02:51 a place to parachute in and out from.

02:54 That's why "Sirsila", otherwise set in Delhi,

02:57 used Amsterdam as a backdrop,

03:00 much like the LED walls in virtual production.

03:03 And even though "Chandni" and "Dar"

03:05 weave locations as a part of their narratives,

03:08 it's where the lead couples celebrate their honeymoons,

03:11 the foreign countries and their people

03:14 didn't affect the stories in any memorable way.

03:17 That would change two years later

03:19 with the release of another Yash Raj production,

03:22 "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" in 1995,

03:26 where the setting would itself become a character.

03:30 For this and more, read the current issue of Outlook.

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