Is the R1 American dvd slightly cropped on the left side? In any case, the Indian Shemaroo dvd has much better colours.

If the Shemaroo colors differ from the BD they are not accurate. The approved colors are on the BD.

I spoke to Spark Worldwide who hold the UK/Europe and USA rights of the film. They aren't aware of the forthcoming blu-ray project. Is the blu-ray release only for India?

but do they?

From the shots posted here it looks like the Shemaroo transfer has the stylization drained from the colors.

shemaroo dvd processing do some thing to colors, that generally look attractive on loud dvd /film colors of bollywood but are artificially enhanced though!