Bhuvan Lall: The Canadian connection

HOLLYWOOD REEL

Raj Kapoor was the first Indian film maker to showcase Canada in Indian films when he shot at Niagara Falls his film "Around the World in Eight Dollars". Since then, Canada has emerged as one of the favourite overseas destinations for shooting locations for Indian film makers.

A number of Indian film makers have shot their films against Canadian backdrops in Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto. Subhash Ghai, chairman, Mukta Arts Ltd, says: "We shot "Pardes" and "Taal" in Canada because the script demanded it. Shooting in Canada offers stunning locations and excellent value for money."

Over the years Indians have also made inroads into the Canadian film and television industry and among the most prominent is film maker Deepa Mehta. Daughter of a successful film distributor in New Delhi, Mehta grew up watching popular Bombay musicals. In 1973, she migrated to Canada and established Sunrise Films.

Mehta won a Canadian Film Award in 1974 for "At 99: A Portrait of Lousie Tandy Murch". Her films include "Sam & Me", (which won an Honourable Mention at Cannes in 1991), "Camilla", "Fire", "Earth" and "Bollywood / Hollywood".

Mehta's "Bollywood/Hollywood" was chosen to open the prestigious Perspective Canada section of the Toronto International Film Festival. She recently completed the shooting of her next feature "River Moon" in Sri Lanka.

Canada is also home to Srinivas Krishna who wrote, directed, co produced and acted in his debut film "Masala" which was voted the "Best South Asian Film Ever Made" in a world wide poll by the British Film Institute.

Some of his projects since then include a science fiction TV show and a short featurette starring Nandana Sen called "Forever". He is preparing to shoot a feature film in India, a thriller, based on the novel, "Waiting For The Mahatma" by the late R.K. Narayan.

Srinivas says: "I am also developing a major two-part mini-series for television that dramatises the story of the Air India flight 182 crash in 1985 and its aftermath, the single biggest act of mass murder and terrorism in Canadian history."

Toronto-based avant-garde film maker Ali Kazimi came to Canada when he was 22. Since then, Kazimi has produced and directed many award winning films, including "Narmada: A Valley Rises", "A Song For Tibet" and a documentary on Red Indians "Shooting Indians."

Another prominent film producer in Canada is Ajay Virmani, an Indo-Canadian shipping tycoon who funded "Bollywood /Hollywood", "Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi", "International Khiladi" and "Mr & Mrs Khiladi."

Second generation South Asian Canadians have shown interest in Bollywood and have headed for Mumbai. Neelam Verma, the first south Asian to become Miss Canada and former Miss Indo Canada Gita Bali have sought fame in India.

Bollywood actress and model Lisa Ray was born in Toronto and went to school and university there. Another Indo Canadian, Ruby Bhatia, was Canada's 1993 Indian beauty queen and went to become a VJ for Star TV.

The three major film festivals of Canada in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver regularly pay tribute to the cinematic creativity of India. This year "The Little Terrorist" made by Ashwin Kumar won the best short film award at the Montreal World Film Festival.

This year's edition of the Toronto International Film Festival screened 328 films from some 40 countries and unveiled Buddhadeb Dasgupta's "Swapner Din" and Bharat Bala's debut feature film "Hari Om". Bala arrived in Toronto with his lead actor Vijay Raaz and actress Camille Natta.

Back in New Delhi the Indian ministry of information and broadcasting is in discussion with the department of heritage in Canada to sign an international co production treaty.

Once signed, the treaty will certainly open the floodgates of opportunities for Indian as well as Canadian film producers, animation companies and documentary film makers to work together for the world market.

Lall is the president and CEO of LALL Entertainment, a company based in Los Angeles and New Delhi. He can be contacted at

lallentertainment@hotmail.com