Actors needed for new Bollywood film

A BOLLYWOOD movie about an Indian youth rugby team who won a “world cup” against the odds is going to be filmed in South Wales from next month.

Many of the scenes will be shot on Welsh rugby pitches, including Bridgend and Llanelli’s Parc y Scarlets, and the producers are looking for more than 40 teenage actors to play the Indian team’s opponents.

Shooting is about to start in India for the feature film called Jungle Cry.

Bollywood producer Prashant Shah has been in Wales meeting people and looking at locations for the $5m (£3.8m) budget movie.

“If I have to compare it, and I don’t want to compare it in any competitive way, it’s like Bend It Like Beckham meets Slumdog Millionaire,” says Mr Shah, founder of the Bollywood Hollywood film production company.

The film is based on the real story of a 2007 youth charity rugby tournament where players from disadvantaged backgrounds in countries including India, South Africa, Romania and Kenya came to the UK to compete.

The India Jungle Crows team, from the Kalinga Institute school in the eastern state of Odisha, won the competition.

Jungle Crows was set up by a Welshman, Paul Walsh, a former British diplomat in India.

A crew of more than 120 will be arriving in Wales from India from next month, and the Ospreys rugby region has helped set up filming at Bridgend and Swansea, with the Scarlets hosting the “world cup final” at Parc y Scarlets.

Mr Shah says he’s confident the film will bring economic benefits to South Wales.

“Most of the Bollywood films have opened doors for tourism,” he said.

“It becomes a destination because, through cinema, you reach over half a billion people around the world, and audiences want to go and discover this new place, so cinema becomes the postcard for the audience.”

Former international rugby referee Robert Davies brought the film to Wales through his connection with Jungle Crows founder Paul Walsh, who he met while working in India.

“Paul contacted me the first week in August, saying, ‘They’re doing a film, they’re coming to the UK, they’re looking to film in England, what do you think about them coming to Wales?’,” Mr Davies said.

“I said, ‘Look, it’s a nobrainer, come to Wales, this is where we have the rugby culture’, and I then got on the phone to the clubs. I arranged meetings with the Scarlets and the Ospreys and had very, very positive receptions.

“When the film team saw the clubs and saw the grounds, they said, ‘It makes sense to put all the rugby and half of the film in Wales’.”

The UK production manager, Hywel George from Llantwit Major, has appealed for actors and extras to come forward.

“There will be castings in Cardiff and Swansea in the next couple of weeks for actors who are be- tween 16 and 17 years old who will play the opposition to the Indian team,” Mr George said.

“The extras will need to be appropriate to represent the teams of South Africa, Kenya, Namibia and Romania.

“They’ll need to have some rugby-playing experience and knowledge and be prepared to be flexible with their availability during late November and December.”

He’s asked anyone interested to email Chloe@falconcasting.uk for an application form.