Now Hollywood’s Paul Schrader to make film on Mumbai slums

Yet another foreign director has set his sights on Mumbai’s slums. After Danny Boyle’s dark and passionate look at the city in “Slumdog Millionaire”, it is American director Paul Schrader’s turn to make a film here.

Schrader is set to direct “Extreme City”, a Mumbai-based underworld drama. Produced by Anubhav Sinha, the film will be shot in and around the slums of Dharavi and will star both Hollywood and Bollywood stars.

“I can’t deny there’s tremendous interest in another Mumbai slum saga after ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. But our project was firmed in much before Danny’s film released,” Sinha, who had a hush-hush meeting with the director-producer, told.

Mumbai, already under much global scrutiny after “Slumdog Millionaire”, is expected to get a further touristic boost with Schrader’s film.

“To have Schrader agree to make a film for me is a dream come true. Paul came down to India first in July. When I suggested he make a film for me, he was surprised. Paul Schrader making a film for an Indian producer does sound strange, doesn’t it?

“He didn’t give an immediate answer. But at the Toronto Film Festival in October 2008 he finally agreed. He’s writing and directing a drama-thriller tentatively titled ‘Extreme City’ for me. We’ve otherwise been interacting for two years,” said Sinha, who has directed films like “Cash” (2007) “Dus” (2005) “Tum Bin” (2001).

Schrader’s scriptural collaborations with Martin Scorsese for movies like “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull” and his hugely influential directorial projects like “American Gigolo”, “Cat People”, “Mishima” and “Hardcore” have made an impact on several filmmakers.

Schrader’s last directorial venture “Adam Resurrected” featuring Jeff Goldblum and Willem Dafoe was a critical and commercial success.

“Extreme City” will be shot largely in Mumbai and Schrader will soon finalise his script for the film.

“Paul has started work on the script. It’ll be an English-language film. But the Indian characters will speak their natural language. The Mumbai underworld is familiar to Hindi film-goers but not to a global audience,” said Sinha.

Talking about foreign filmmakers new-found interest in Mumbai, Sinha said: “It started when Mira Nair announced ‘Shantaram’. Now ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ has patented Mumbai across the Mumbai. ‘Extreme City’ will talk about the mafia in detail. We’ve seen the Sicillian and Brazilian mafia in Hollywood. But not the Mumbai underworld.”

Schrader, in fact, visited Dharavi with Sinha’s assistant during his last visit.

“The film will have a swarm of characters. It will star one leading Hollywood and one Bollywood male star,” said Sinha.

“I started my collaboration with Paul Schrader as a fan. In fact, the paper on which he wrote the plot outline, I asked him to sign so I could keep as memento. We’re now collaborators,” Sinha gushed.

There is no question of getting Oscar early or late: Gulzar

Renowned poet-lyricist Gulzar who picked up an Oscar for the song “Jai Ho” from the multi-award winning film “Slumdog Millionaire” said Thursday there was no question of getting “an Oscar early or late”.
“There is no question of getting an Oscar early or late. It’s not something related to lifetime achievement. It is based on yearly assessment and for a particular category. So we got it,” he told reporters when asked that didn’t he think that he got an Oscar too late.

He was here to inaugurate a two-day workshop at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, a research institution in the field of humanities and social sciences.

Asked how an Oscar award for song “Jai Ho” for the film “Slumdog Millionaire” has changed things for him, the poet replied: “What change can it bring? I would like to know that has it changed something for the people?”

Gulzar blamed his contemporaries for the ills in society. “Our generation must own responsibility for moral and cultural degeneration in society.

“We did not stand up against corruption when it started and now we are finding faults with the new generation. If the established values in society suffer a decline, these would be reflected in the creative works, especially films.”