Bharatbala is in animated discussion with ace lensman Sharad Haksar when I barge in. I want to know all about your IMAX venture, I tell Bharat. His good-natured bearded visage breaks into a smile as he replies, “I can’t tell you all, for there’s a lot I would like to keep for when I release the film.” Taj Mahal: The Eternal Love Story is Bharat’s(of Vandemataram with Rahman fame) attempt to immortalise India’s wonder monument to love, on celluloid. And how. In a scope wider than ever before, on a scale unprecedented, rich and opulent. The film is intended for an international audience, to expose India’s rich cultural heritage to the wide world, Bharat tells us.
“The last that the world saw of India that was truly international on cinema,” says he, “Was Gandhi. There has not been a single film from India that portays the opulence of our heritage. We are a culturally rich country but we have not seen such images internationally.” Backed with capital from Silicon Valley(a group of successful entrepreuners in the US), the film, when completed would have been covered by a $10 million dollar budget. Bharat is unfazed by the enormity of it all – the scope, the grandeur, the expectations and the budget.
But why IMAX? “IMAX is the largest film format in the world,” explains Bharat, “This is a bigger scale than 70mm.” He gives examples of IMAX documentaries made on the Grand Canyon and the Everest on IMAX, “But this film is not a documentary. It is a film that re-creates, that takes you back into that era.” With the gorgeous Aishwarya at the heart of the narrative, it certainly can’t be. “This is a classic opportunity for us to make a world class film. Agra was the Paris of that time,” he says, adding, “An IMAX movie will run for the next ten years. ” Bharat goes on to tell us that India will see about ten IMAX theatres in the next five years in the major metros.
Aishwarya Rai plays Mumtaz, while Shah Jahan yet remains a mystery. “I can’t tell you who plays Shah Jahan,” says Bharat. Is Amitabh Bachchan in the project too? “He may be, you have to wait and see,” is the reply again. But is not Bharat worried about Ash overwhelming the character of Mumtaz? “Let ask you,” he counter-retorts, “Can you imagine anyone else from Indian cinema in that role?”
Taj Mahal, we learn, is a film about the monument, and the story that went behind its creation. “A lot of research has gone into the making of the film,” we are told. Bharat is happy about the support he has received from the government in filming at the site itself. “We got all that we wanted from the government. For the first time we got full access to the Taj Mahal – we got two full days to ourselves,” says he, “We even had the fountains working for the filming. The place was cleaned, made pristine – you could almost see what the original must have been.”
The film is slated for a mid-2003 release and Bharat refuses to comment upon a film of a similar name that’s also currently being made by Bollywood’s Feroze Khan. “Hopefully one day, either a theatre in Delhi or a small digital theatre in Agra will help us to retain this film at least for the next twenty years,” says Bharat, “A visitor to Agra can also see a movie on the Taj to complete their journey. It should become a `destination’ film.”
Bharat bills himself as `the quintessential traveller’ journeying to where his work takes him. “Basically, I don’t have a base,” he qualifies, “I literally travel now between Madras, Bombay and Los Angeles, and of course, on location – all over Rajasthan, Gujarat, in and around Agra and some places in Kashmir, where this film is being shot.” Simultaneously, a script for a 35mm film on the Taj is also in the pipeline, you learn.
The wait for the Eternal Love Story to hit the wide screen is on. We in Chennai may not get to savour the IMAX version as yet(Mumbai has an IMAX theatre) but one hopes that this does film live up to the expectations it has generated. IMAX should not disappoint.
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