modern.fakir
Chief Minister (5k+ posts)
Hollywood crew heckled in Gujarat for 'showing India in bad light'
TNN 04.18AM IST
(It was high drama at Ahmedabad…)
AHMEDABAD: It was high drama at Ahmedabad airport as rickshaw drivers stopped the shooting of Hollywood film 'American Gandhi' outside the domestic arrival terminal. Eyewitnesses at the airport said that if the film crew at Ahmedabad airport had not left the campus then the gathered crowd would have in all possibility damaged their expensive equipment.
"At around 12.15 pm, the crew members started setting up their equipment outside the terminal. As the director started briefing the actors about the scene, curious crowd had already started gathering around. But as soon as the cameras started rolling a few people from the crowd started shouting saying 'yeh galat kar rahe ho, band karo' and the reel life action turned real," said a private airline official.
The protest was led by Bharat Singh, who took rickshaw drivers in confidence, and asked the director to stop the shooting. Singh in his application to Sardarnagar police station has said that such film tarnishes the image of India. Sardarnagar police station officials said that they have accepted Singh's application and at the same time asked him to move court if he has any objections against the film's content.
However, film crew members said that the film has nothing to do with Gujarat and the story is about a village in India where poor people become victims of a mining scam.
Directed by Joseph Mungra, the film has James Patrick Stuart, a popular soap opera star in the US, playing Mark Martin, a skilled but unemployed mining analyst who turns protagonist.
"Mark Martin comes to India and becomes witness to the plight of villagers who are victims under the hands of corruption and mining mafia. The story is set in the backdrop of a nomadic tribe of Gujarat and tells of the hardships faced by villagers in India," said a member of the film crew.
The crew members have already shot many scenes in Wakaner and Mandvi and will be shooting at various locations in Ahmedabad for two more days. For shooting at the airport, Mungra had paid Rs 28,000 per hour to Airports Authority of India at Delhi.
"I tried to convince the rickshaw drivers that I am not showing anything that could be offensive to them. But none of them was willing to listen and the protestors only swelled in numbers. I want more people to come to Gujarat for shooting as this place has great potential but incidents like this are upsetting," said Mungra.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiat..._rickshaw-drivers-ahmedabad-airport-film-crew
TNN 04.18AM IST
[*=center]
(It was high drama at Ahmedabad…)
AHMEDABAD: It was high drama at Ahmedabad airport as rickshaw drivers stopped the shooting of Hollywood film 'American Gandhi' outside the domestic arrival terminal. Eyewitnesses at the airport said that if the film crew at Ahmedabad airport had not left the campus then the gathered crowd would have in all possibility damaged their expensive equipment.
"At around 12.15 pm, the crew members started setting up their equipment outside the terminal. As the director started briefing the actors about the scene, curious crowd had already started gathering around. But as soon as the cameras started rolling a few people from the crowd started shouting saying 'yeh galat kar rahe ho, band karo' and the reel life action turned real," said a private airline official.
The protest was led by Bharat Singh, who took rickshaw drivers in confidence, and asked the director to stop the shooting. Singh in his application to Sardarnagar police station has said that such film tarnishes the image of India. Sardarnagar police station officials said that they have accepted Singh's application and at the same time asked him to move court if he has any objections against the film's content.
However, film crew members said that the film has nothing to do with Gujarat and the story is about a village in India where poor people become victims of a mining scam.
Directed by Joseph Mungra, the film has James Patrick Stuart, a popular soap opera star in the US, playing Mark Martin, a skilled but unemployed mining analyst who turns protagonist.
"Mark Martin comes to India and becomes witness to the plight of villagers who are victims under the hands of corruption and mining mafia. The story is set in the backdrop of a nomadic tribe of Gujarat and tells of the hardships faced by villagers in India," said a member of the film crew.
The crew members have already shot many scenes in Wakaner and Mandvi and will be shooting at various locations in Ahmedabad for two more days. For shooting at the airport, Mungra had paid Rs 28,000 per hour to Airports Authority of India at Delhi.
"I tried to convince the rickshaw drivers that I am not showing anything that could be offensive to them. But none of them was willing to listen and the protestors only swelled in numbers. I want more people to come to Gujarat for shooting as this place has great potential but incidents like this are upsetting," said Mungra.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiat..._rickshaw-drivers-ahmedabad-airport-film-crew
