Check out the new Variety magazine and read the article about how Barry Osborne, Hollywood producer of the Matrix and Lord of the Rings movies, is teaming up with a Bollywood producer to make India's version of Croutching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - it's a $20 million movie called WATER and will be a Bollywood style flick mixed with science fiction and an Indian cast with an international film crew. All I heard that it's set 20-30 years in the future and water is scarce...

They didn't talk about martial arts in the movie, but since they compared it to Croutching Tiger, I really hope there is going to be Western or Asian choreographed martial arts/fight scenes (hopefully not cheesy Indian fight choreographers)....But even if it isn't a Matrixy or Equilibrium-type movie, Im happy enough that they are making an international Bollywood-style that is science fiction...It's great that Koi Mil Gaya was made, but that movie was just cheesy family E.T.-knock-off fluff...India needs a Gattaca or Solaris from their own country!

The perfect movie would have a Western-created storyline (which is usually more creative and original than any Bollywood movie storyline), Asian(Chinese/Japanese/Korean, etc..)-choreographed action/fight scenes, Indian-choreographed musical scenes, MALE actors that are not Indian (most are flamboyant, overdramatic, amateurish actors, and act like dorks/tools - yes, even Sharu Khan), and FEMALE actresses that are not Hollywood (most Hollywood actresses are ugly and unfeminine, except for Jennifer Connelly, Angelina Jolie, and Charlize Theron) - that would be the perfect movie!

I think they are hoping to have the same impact with Water that Crouching Tiger had on America. That means WATER is not a guaranteed martial art movie.



Another LAST SAMURAI OR LAST MAHARAJA or something? Tom Cruise can play the maharaja who kicks ass and teach the Indians about the true meaning of being an Indian.

Is this the Paani movie Shekhar Kapur was planning?

CTHD was not only ACTION/SFX, it excelled on ACTING and was SENSITIVE film imho!
Music was EXCELLENT too!!

Yes it is the same. It is apparently set in the future in Mumbai where there is a scarcity of water. I would love to see how Mumbai is potrayed in the future. Hoping for something akin to Minority Report with a indian touch (as far as potraying future)

How abt Kevin Costner's water world!?

Thats exactly the opposite - too much water. Anyway hope Paani is also opposite of Waterworld as far as box office is concerned

Here we go!

Shekhar Kapur shooting slums for 'Paani'

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By Hindol Sengupta, IANS



Director Shekhar Kapur's new passion is shooting the slums of Mumbai with a still camera.

Researching for his new epic "Paani", Kapur is shooting the skyscrapers and the slums of India's business capital, which is home also to Asia's largest shantytown, Dharavi.

Kapur is taking 180-degree shots, sweeping his camera from the swank neighbourhoods to the slums to see the yawning difference between the areas.

"'Paani' is going to be about the stark differences," Kapur told IANS. He is in Delhi at the moment, taking care of his ill father.

Kapur has joined hands with "The Lord of the Rings" producer Barrie Osbourne to make the $20 million epic set in a Mumbai 20 years hence, when the water wars are beginning.

"Barrie was telling me that we should work on a project together and I wanted to get over with 'Paani' first," said Kapur. "He asked me about 'Paani' and I told him the concept. He said why not work on this. So here we are."

In the film, Mumbai is divided into the upper city and the lower city. The upper city is where 15 percent of the elite, super-rich population lives, and the rest live in the lower city, divided by a maze of flyovers.

The people of the upper city suck up all the water and have no links with the lower city. The lower city people work almost as slaves to the upper city.

Kapur believes it will be Hindi cinema's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

Osbourne, producer of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy that created box office history by winning 11 Oscars, also has to his credit the "Matrix" trilogy and "Face Off". His films have made more than $2 billion across the world.

"Paani" has been co-written by Andrew Niccol, who won an Oscar for "The Truman Show". Production design is by John Mhyre, an Oscar award-winner for "Chicago", and the film will be edited by Jill Bilcock, who has edited films such as "Romeo and Juliet", "Elizabeth", "Moulin Rouge" and was recently nominated for an Oscar for the film "Road to Perdition". The music is by A.R. Rahman.

I'm sure Kapur's version of the future India will beat the pants off of Shankar's in the upcoming Anniyan. I hope this project gets off the ground for sure.

Shekhar Kapur flatly denies plagiarising

IANS[ WEDNESDAY, JUNE 02, 2004 04:19:48 PM ]


MUMBAI: Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur on Wednesday flatly denied charges of plagiarism levelled by director Dev Benegal, calling them "100 per cent not true".

There have even been reports that the producers of Benegal's Split Wide Open were planning to sue Kapur for $60 million over the latter's film Paani .


Benegal said, "Terms like 'water mafia' have surfaced in his work and visuals that seem to be from my film were made into posters (for Paani) and shown at Cannes ."


But, reacting to the accusation through his publicist from New Delhi , Kapur said, "This is 100 per cent not true".

He explained that the posters for Paani were designed following a shoot conducted by him and his art director Nitin Desai in the slums of Dharavi in Mumbai.

"The three designs that were displayed selectively as posters at the Cannes festival in May 2003 were adapted from approximately 100 photographs I had personally shot in Dharavi in March," Kapur said in a statement.


The photos were shot on Desai's digital camera. "The photographs still exist with me and Desai. If Benegal would only bother to corroborate his accusation with facts, these photos are available for anyone to see."

" Paani is a futuristic tale about the impending water famine in Mumbai. Benegal's film Split Wide Open is also on the same theme.

Benegal said, "I think the time has come for a certain kind of accountability. To lift images from websites and use them as your posters...it really hurts when the colleague doing it is a friend.


"People cannot get away with such things. Shekhar should prepare himself for a tough time ahead. What more can I say? Shekhar should now move on, make original films. Has Shekhar run out of ideas? Surely not!"


However, Suresh Thomas, one of the producers of Benegal's film who along with Manmohan Shetty was reported to be planning to sue Kapur for $60 million, denied he had any such intention.

"The news came as a big surprise to me. I was not aware that I'm suing Shekhar Kapur for anything!" Thomas, the producer and managing director of Crescendo Music, said.

"I believe Benegal must have had an argument over this with Kapur but we have nothing to do with it. It could be an issue related to Dev's idea taken from his website for Kapur's new movie Paani .

"Benegal never called me and spoke to me about this issue; I don't know how this figure of $60 million was derived. I would love to make with that kind of money, but I'm surely not suing Shekhar Kapur," he confides.

Absurd....why would anyone expect martial arts in a film like this??? Why even compare this to CTHD?


To even mention Shankar in the same breath as Shekhar is blasphemous! Shankar's films are possibly the worst i have ever seen in my life. He makes me embarrassed to be Indian.

Hrithik in Shekhar Kapur's film?

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By Viral Bhayani, IANS



Looks like Shekhar Kapur's international project "Paani" could have Hrithik Roshan in the lead.

Hrithik, post "Lakshya", has not signed any films and is considering various offers. Director Kapur had a four-hour meeting with him this week in Mumbai. The two kept chatting and the script seems to have been discussed at length.

With the launching of the project, Hollywood and Bollywood are set to shake hands as "The Lord Of The Rings" producer Barrie Osborne and "Elizabeth" director Kapur announced they would make two films in India together.

Osborne and Kapur reportedly plan to start their first collaboration by the end of the year.
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OMG I HOPE HE ACCEPTS IT IF THIS IS TRUE!

Excellent news. The mention of Crouching Tiger ... may give an incorrect impression that this is an action film. Looks like its not. I think they are hoping that it will be a breakout film like Crouching Tiger ...