BOLLYWOOD ON THE RIDEAU
Ottawa focus of Indian movie shoot
If Biju George gets his way, Ottawa could soon be known as “Bollywood West.”
The CEO of Ottawa-based Can-East films is off to a good start. His co-production, Two Countries, is filming locally with Indian movie stars like Mamta Mohandas, Dileep and Suraj (both actors go by one name). In India, these performers are A-listers of George Clooney and Jennifer Lawrence calibre — and past winners of homegrown best actor and actress awards.
This is the first major production in Canada filmed in Malayalam, the language of the Indian state of Kerala, which after Mumbai’s Bollywood, has a thriving film industry that is also referred to as Mollywood.
And the Mollywood film’s Ottawa setting is already creating a buzz among Indian movie fans, George says. “There is a fascination with Canada,” he says. “They don’t have much of an idea about Canada.”
About 80 per cent of Two Countries will be shot in Ottawa at locations like Planet Coffee in the By Ward Market, the Rideau Canal, Swan on the Rideau on River Road, and Heart and Crown Barrhaven. Filming is also slated for Almonte, Manotick, Brockville and Niagara Falls.
Canada is already known as Hollywood North. Does George think Ottawa could become Bollywood North? “Bollywood West,” he corrects with a chuckle. “The only problem is the Ottawa winter.”
The production is to wrap on Aug. 6, with the film opening in India on Oct. 17, followed by a red-carpet Ottawa premiere tentatively scheduled for Oct. 24.
Two Countries was originally set in London, but courting by the likes of Can-East, the Ottawa Film Office and the Canadian Consulate in Bangalore, helped convince India’s Rejaputhra Visual Media to shoot across the pond instead. It helped that CanEast had already co-ordinated an Ottawa shoot for the Indian arthouse film Birds with Large Wings, in December 2014. That film, based on the true story of an environmental disaster in a small village, will première at North American film festivals this fall.
Mohandas says Indian filmmakers often shoot in the U.S. because they have people they trust on the ground — especially for reliable location scouting. That kind of relationship is being developed in Ottawa. Meanwhile, Indian audiences may be soon craving more of the capital.
“They want to see the best parts of Canada onscreen,” Mohandas says. The film’s musical numbers — including two montage sequences, which the actress refers to as “storytelling through song ” — will emphasize Ottawa’s outdoor beauty, from city parks and the canal to its unique architecture. “We try to capture the country’s beauty in our songs.”
Ottawa will proudly play itself in the movie — and play home to an unlikely love triangle. The plot centres on an Indo-Canadian woman who seeks out an Indian husband. Romantic comedy ensues back in Canada as the couple wrestles with his cultural shocks, her substance abuse problem and the sudden appearance of his old flame.
The film, directed by awardwinning Indian filmmaker Shafi, has a 40-person crew is half local along with a cast of roughly 15 extras per day. If the movie delivers on its blockbuster hype back home, George expects other Indian filmmakers will come calling. And that will mean more jobs for the local Ottawa industry.
George says the backing of local politicians has been instrumental. Nepean-Carleton MPP Lisa MacLeod has been vital to planning the production from the very beginning, and Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson and Leeds- Grenville MPP Steve Clark have also lent their support.
South India and Ottawa may seem like an unlikely cinematic love affair — but no more unlikely than the love that blooms between the ill-suited couple in Two Countries. “They help each other, they learn from each other and then they separate — but they aren’t able to go back to their former lives,” Mohandas explains. Like most Hollywood rom-coms, love wins out in the end — only, in this case, with a lot more singing and dancing.
Mohandas also plays an unlikely heroine, prone to fits of yelling and drunken staggering.
At one point, her character even breaks a bottle over her husband’s head. While it may be all about tough love onscreen, she has nothing but praise for her co-star Dileep.
“He’s physically beautiful when it comes to comedy — his features, his eyes, even his body, he uses it very well,” she explains. “He is known for it.” Maybe it’s fitting that India’s seeming equivalent to Canadian funnyman Jim Carrey is filming here.
Producer M. Ranji of Rejaputhra Visual Media said the tax benefits, helpful people and diverse locations made Ottawa attractive. He believes the beautiful architecture and landscape of the National Capital Region will delight audiences back home.
Indian movie fans have never seen “Canada’s beauty captured” in such a big-budget, blockbuster production, said Satheesh Gopalan, president of CanEast films: “Millions of people will be watching this film.”