Confluent Dubai

DIARY/ DUBAI

At the IIFA jamboree in Dubai, Bollywood is on its best behaviour... so far.

The lure of gold souks and tabouleh apart, Dubai is Mumbai enough. The sea is, of course, greener, and the city much cleaner in an antiseptic sort of way.

But Amitabh Bachchan who inaugurated the IIFA weekend in Dubai on Wednesday, was reminded of other things"" and places. "In our country, we have the sangam," he baritoned, "Dubai is a sangam too."

Sure. It may be a world away from bustling Allahabad, but apart from being a melting pot for the west and the east, this weekend the city has become a confluence for actors, directors, producers, industrywallahs, fans, insiders and outsiders from the world of the Indian film industry.

The big news on day one is the Aishwarya Rai-starrer Provoked. Director Jagmohan Mundhra can't stop beaming, but he admits to being a little anxious too.

After Cannes, there are great expectations from his film inspired by a real life tale of domestic violence. The film, made on a budget of about £3.5 million, will be previewed today amidst much peer and media scrutiny.

"Since we don't publicise films in the usual ways, being present at events like these where there is so much media attention helps"... Mundhra is candid. Cannes has obviously done him a world of good.

But Provoked apart, Mundhra can't help but gush about Sonia, his next venture, based on the life of Sonia Gandhi. Strong women have always attracted his artistic instincts, and the filmmaker has been busy SMSing actor Zayed Khan to play Sanjay Gandhi.

(Actor Sanjay Suri and an actor from the London theatre scene are being considered for Rajiv's role, as both have something inherently "decent" in their looks "" "when they smile, you don't think it is false".) And, no, Mundhra doesn't plan to meet his subject: at least not just yet.

Soundbytes such as these are fine, but the big question is, acclaim or not, how commercially viable is Mundhra's brand of filmmaking? In the past, IFFA's world premier films have not just been critically hailed but have gone on to be blockbusters too "" Lagaan, the first of the lot, being a case in point.

Provoked will release in India only in August, and the Indian market is expected to account for just 15 per cent of its takings. For the rest, it's the international market "" highly plausible, given the attention Indian cinema is getting these days.

Media from South Africa is busy hogging bytes in Dubai, even as complaints pipe up about the westernisation of Indian cinema. Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta (of Kaante fame) has no qualms about calling his cinema "good looking".

So what's wrong if we make stylish films? He asks. On Wednesday, Gupta's production house (in partnership with actor Sanjay Dutt) White Feather Films sprung a surprise by announcing five films to be made with different directors over the next couple of months.

Among these: Dus Kahanian, or 10 short stories, each directed by a different director (including Meghna Gulzar of Filhal fame), a format Gupta is confident of.

But White Feather's first big budget film is Shootout at Lokhandwala, based on Mumbai's first open air gangster bullet-fest in 1991. The film, to star Viveik Oberoi, Tushar Kapoor, Arbaaz Khan and the two Bachchans, also incorporates real footage of the incident.

This year, TV stars are a big force at the IIFA weekend. Jassi's Arman and Purab (Rohit Roy and Sameer Soni) are coming together in a film directed by Sanjay Gupta himself, as he seeks to move away from films with edgy violence and heavy-fuel soundtracks.

Finally, the weekend also sees several debuts of star children: Sikander, Kirron and Anupam Kher's hunky son, and Immamuddin, Naseeruddin Shah's son, are both making their debuts: the former in Woodstock Villa, the latter in Yun Hota To Kya Hota.

So what have the other bigwigs been up to? They took a boat ride to see what Dubai Studio City has to offer. Dubai wants to become a major broadcast and music production hub in the region. More on that later...