The king of Crossover

HOLLYWOOD REEL

Farrukh Dhondy's scripts are in great demand

Farrukh Dhondy took the corner seat as we settled down at a cafeteria in Montreal. Behind us, the waiters pointed in our direction and whispered: "That is the writer, Farrukh Dhondy."

That recognition isn't unusual. The Montreal Film Festival's most talked about film, the post-9/11 political thriller Red Mercury was scripted by Dhondy. Red Mercury is the story of three Muslim boys who try to acquire a chemical required to make a nuclear bomb.

"My script takes a closer look at modern day terrorism and seeks an explanation. The script also addresses racism against Muslims in the UK and their displacement," says Dhondy.

The Cambridge-educated writer slowly sipped red wine and spoke with characteristic humour about two subjects close to his heart: multiculturism and crossover cinema. "We live under the same human law and, ultimately, we live in a multicultural world where the things that ultimately matter are the same," he says.

Dhondy is a maverick who has made a name for himself in a variety of different professions. Born in Pune in 1944, he studied in Bishop's School and Wadia College, taking a degree in science.

He went to Cambridge University to study physics. After two years, he gave it up for English literature. The life he witnessed as a south London school teacher became the source of his first novel East End at Your Feet.

In 1984, Dhondy was appointed commissioning editor for multi-cultural programmes at Channel Four in London. Planning to stay for a year or two, he ended up there for 14 years.

Channel Four was a national channel created by the British parliament in 1982 and Dhondy's post carried responsibility for hundreds of hours of television in all genres: entertainment, situation comedy, TV drama, film, education and documentary.

It was here that Dhondy spotted the potential of an international film from India. Way before the word 'crossover' entered the lexicon of the Indian filmdom, Dhondy was at Cannes promoting the kind of cinema he believed in.

As commissioning editor at Channel Four, he invested in Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay and Mississippi Masala, Jamil Dehlavi's Immaculate Conception, Pradip Kishen's Electric Moon and Shekhar Kapur's Bandit Queen.

Feeling he wasn't writing enough, he quit Channel Four to write film scripts, books and television series. Today, Dhondy is a much sought after scriptwriter. This year, six films scripted by him were screened in the market section at Cannes including Aamir Khan's The Rising.

Currently he is polishing the final draft of his next magnum opus, The Rani of Jhansi. "The Indian cinema industry is currently in an extremely confused state and nobody knows where it will go from here," he says.

Any advice for young Indian filmmakers seeking international markets? Dhondy smiles and replies: "Only dead fish move with the tide." q

The writer is the President and CEO of Lall Entertainment and can be contacted at lallentertainment@hotmail.com