As the five-day festival of Diwali reaches its zenith, a chunk of the more than 45,000-strong Indian community will be queuing outside iSquare this weekend for Ra.One – Bollywood’s first 3D, superhero flick that has been touted as the most expensive Indian film ever made.
“Not just Indians, the Japanese, Malaysian, French and local crowd will be there,” says show organiser Sunil Datwani, who has been bringing Indian films to local screens for the past 10 years. “Tickets have gone off to a flying start. It’s a movie that’s going to break barriers, a really international crowd has bought the tickets already. In sheer numbers, Bollywood is bigger than any film industry in the world.”
Bollywood heartthrob Shahrukh Khan who has been hop-scotching the planet attending premieres in Dubai, Germany and London, said: “I hope people come into the movie with no preconceived notions on a Hindi film or a superhero film. This isn’t like Spider-Man, Batman, which had a budget of US$50 million or more just for special effects alone. We’ve made [Ra.One] on a fraction of [their entire] budget – and I promise you, the audience will not be disappointed by the special effects.
“As a producer and actor, I’ve invested a lot of my own money and time. When I approached established production houses, they rejected the film. They weren’t brave enough to venture and invest into this.”
Hopefully that bravura will pay off. With 10 screenings at the weekend, Datwani hopes that, along with 3 Idiots, Bollywood will open up even more to the local community.
“I’ve paid the maximum for the film and I know the collection of this film will break records. I hope, as I go into the second decade of bringing films to Hong Kong – which I do for the love of Indian cinema – a Hindi film poster will be regularly seen in all cinemas.”
By P.Ramakrishnan
(email: ramakrishnanp@hotmail.com)
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