agree arabica, checked out a few more of his films gallipoli, witness.. they were not very good



hmmm… don’t know abt scorsese, he hasn’t really done anything good in over a decade now imo. I think he is losing it. but ya mann wld be great, or a soderbergh or gaghan even.

outta non hollywood directors, a director like meirelles wld be great(who seems to be the director of choice down at the imdb shantaram boards). am not a fan of city of god, but I thought constant gardener was excellent, definitely one of my fav films of last year



nothing against depp, but I wld rather watch a brit or aussie actor in the part. I think someone like paul bettany, dominic west or kevin mckidd wld be great



ya naseer wld be great as qasim ali. though I cld also see naseer making a great khader bhai



gdr is actually big nana fan and also said he really liked ajay’s performance in company. not to mention he worked in a few bw films himself. so I am sure we can expect at least some bollywood involvement in the project, at least in terms of the casting

it wld be pretty disappointing for the film to be shot in mumbai w/out atleast having one bollywood actor involved

I thought he had redeemed himself with "Aviator" after making a sloppy "Gangs of New York" I think I'll wait for a while before giving up on him


aah the Occeans director! He is more stylish than Mann. I think Gaghan and Meirelles are great choices.



I was thinking, even though Depp doesn't look the part, he may fit the personality well. Agreed with your choices of Aussie actors. esp. dominic west(loved him in 'rock star') and kevin mckidd (he was very impressive in 'kingdom of heaven'). paul bettany definitely looks the part. I gotta see 'wimbeldon' or some other movie of his.

I guess we will have to disagree on scorsese, arabica as for soderbergh, he is personally my favorite filmmaker working today (in any country), I think he wld be able to do an excellent job with the film. but ya, mann, gaghan, meirelles wld all be great choices also

nair is perfect for this, the best thing that cld have happened to this film… Mira Nair will direct Johnny Depp in Shantaram

Do you think she is the best for the later parts of the story (underworld/afgan revolution) ? For the storylines set in INdia she is perfect.

I don’t see there being a problem with this, though like you say, much of the underworld stuff comes in the later stages. particularly when lin returns to bombay, and the subsequent power struggle between the gangs. though it will also be interesting to see which parts get retained in the film, as they will have a substantial amount of material to cover, particularly how much of the afghan portions will remain

though an exiting thing abt the nair choice is that she has already worked with the best actors in the industry - naseer, nana, kulbhushan, irfan, randeep… I wld hope that now some of them can make their way into this film

edit

that's a good point. Since she has already worked with so many Indian actors, She is bound to cast the best of them.

Its just that, the book has enough material to fit a trilogy, and the feelings behind the writing style is dependent on the phase of his life. They way he writes about the friendly gang is different from the way he writes about the brotherly gang, the slum dwellers, prison life etc.


I hope she does it with a 'salaam bombay' vision and not the 'mansoon wedding' one.

om puri, shabana azmi, seema biswas

even she did not work with them.

I hope she stays clear from Bs

interesting nair interview from the mirror. apparently it seems the rumors of amit playing khader are true. and here I thought she was actually going to cast someone good


Who needs a City Of Joy?

Subhash K Jha

You're getting into another big film, Shantaram

Yes, I'm very charged about it. When in June 2006 Peter Weir left the project, the producers Warner Brothers who had approached me for the Harry Potter film, called me. It's a very big project. Not like you make a phone call and you get Shantaram. They sent me the script in confidence and warned me that other directors were being considered. I went off to Kampala where I read the book. When I returned they requested for a private screening of The Namesake. They liked the film. We met in October. By then I was completely immersed in the book and its concept. I knew it thoroughly. It's the same territory as Salaam Bombay…It's set in my beloved city of Mumbai. Shantaram is set in the 1980s' Mumbai at a time when I was in the city. The script for Shantaram was written by Eric Roth even before Peter Weir came on. So I was working from that draft and telling my producers my concept of how Shantaram should be done.


And how should it be done?

It's about time we got Mumbai and India right. Who needs a City Of Joy here? Authenticity is very important to Shantaram. I guess it my love for Mumbai city, my knowledge of the script and their fondness for my work that clinched the matter. And of course Johnny Depp felt Shantaram was in secure hands.


How's Johnny Depp?

Oh, for all stratospheric box-office status he's a humble soul. He's generally inquisitive about the world. He considers Shantaram his bible. You know Russel Crowe and Brad Pitt were also very keen. Amitabh Bachchan and Johnny Depp will be very good together.


You had a casting problem with The Namesake. You originally wanted Rani Mukherjee.

We met in New York. Her dates were looking completely fluid. It wasn't looking possible for her to define when it'd be possible for her to shoot for me. Rani and I will definitely work together. But for The Namesake I wonder if she'd have been comfortable aging far older than she is. The heroine has to go from 21 to 50.


Was that a bit of an upset?

Fortunately, it was early days for the project. I had seen Rani in Yuva and thought she was my Asima. Because she was Bengali I didn't go to Tabu first. Finally Tabu fitted in perfectly. She makes me believe in destiny. Tabu and I worked together to create Asima, the musicality in her voice, her delicacy and strength.


And Kal Penn?

He was a comic star before The Namesake. It's a ground-breaking role for Kal . I've to give my 15-year-old son credit for my signing Kal. He loved Kal for Harold and Kumar…. My son would make me promise every night that I'd get Kal for my film. Then Kal wrote to me and urged me to see his work.


Your last three films are based on works of literature.

That's just a coincidence. I've equally enjoyed doing original screenplays like Salaam Bombay and Monsoon Wedding.


Where do you place The Namesake in your oeuvre?

I'm totally happy with it. This film is in a deep way inspired by personal grief. I lost my mother-in-law who was like a mother to me. She died unexpectedly of medical malpractice in NY. We were suddenly burying a woman we loved. The Namesake comes out of the needs and the commitments of a family life. I made it entirely for myself. I myself have lived in Kolkata and Manhattan. In one city I was an actor in political theatre, in the other I became a filmmaker. I think I was qualified to make The Namesake. It gave me an opportunity to unite the two cities.


Have you discovered your core as an artiste?

I'm assured now. I must always take risks and have the adrenaline of never repeating myself. It would've been easy for me to do another film on street kids after Salaam Bombay. I refuse to be boxed.


Are you okay being an NRI filmmaker?

I've three fully functional homes in Delhi, Kampala and Manhattan. I've my whole biradari (community) in Delhi. I give the airlines some serious business. This year I'm in India a lot. Shantaram goes to three continents. But it'll be shot mostly in Mumbai.


People think you're making a film on the life of the filmmaker V Shantaram.

Yes, my whole biradari thinks so. A photographer-friend sent me an image of V Shantaram's studio. I sent it to Johnny Depp telling him , here's the Shantaram in our life.

ya the book has enough material to fit an hbo series

speaking of hbo, they were showing flashbacks of the niobe character on rome and it reminded me just how good indira varma was on that series. wouldn’t she make a great addition to shantaram, and she has already worked w/ nair in kama sutra

wow whata conincidence, shantaram and molaram!!

Mira Nair has done 2 great films, Salaam Bombay and Monsoon Wedding. These were her only 2 Indian films. She is great when making alternative Indian cinema, but she really pandered to a western audience with the dreadfull Kama sutra. I hope she doesn't do that with this. I think all her American films have been quite mediocre.
So she can go either way on this. Looking forward to the namesake, though.

I hear you Mola ram. It is such an interesting, complex character and only someone brilliant like Naseerudiin Shah or Pankaj Kapoor could have done complete justice to it. I so hope she doesn't simplify the character just to fit Amitabh Bachchan. He looks the part and will offer his screen presence and a decent one or two note performance. That's not good enough.



also, If Rajpal yadav gets Prabhaker's role, it might bring nice flashbacks of Raghubir Yadav from 'salaam bombay'

Bs? didn't quite get it