Starring: Om Puri, Pat Cusick, Navin Nischol, Perizad Zorabian, Vikram Inamdar, Monique Curnen, Chet Dixon Written by: Nagesh Kukunoor Cinematography: Keshav Prakash Editing: Renu Saluja Audiography: Manas Ranjan Choudhury Music: Ashirvad Produced by: B. Satyanarayana Co-Produced by: Elahe Hiptoola, Nagesh Kukunoor Directed by:Nagesh Kukunoor

Synopsis

Bollywood - India's Hindi Film Industry. Into this crazy, crazy world enters Pat Stormore, an out of luck star of American B-movies. This is thanks to the brainchild of Subramaniam, Subra for short, who concocts the first ever pairing of an American hero with the legendary Manu Kapoor, an ageing Bollywood star in a film titled 'Maut' where Manu and Pat play brothers 'separated by destiny and united by fate.' Subra also plans to move this large scale production from Mumbai to Hyderabad, his hometown, to prove to all his detractors that he has truly arrived. The Film follows Pat through the filming of 'Maut' - from uncertain actor to Bollywood hero, his relationships with Manu Subra and Kajal, a young aspiring starlet playing the lead opposite Manu and looks at his experiences of the colour, confusion, melodrama and passion of Bollywood, all from an outsider-turned-insider's point of view.

With Hyderabad Blues and Rockford behind him, Bollywood Calling is Nagesh Kukunoor's third and most ambitious project to date. Bollywood Calling is an honest, no-holds-barred, fun-filled look at the world of Bollywood filmmaking. It is not intended to give any message., Nagesh says. Humour is the driving force behind the film. The cinegoer should enjoy the film and come out laughing remembering the scenes again and again. He chose a commercial pot-boiler because it gave him scope as a filmmaker which wouldn't have been possible with other type of films.

A Chemical Engineer by profession, Nagesh gave up his lucrative career as an environmental consultant in Atlanta and using his personal savings wrote, acted in, produced and directed the immensely successful Hyderabad Blues. The film went on to to become the largest grossing low budget Indian Film in English, running for 31 weeks in Mumbai, 28 weeks in Hyderabad and 28 weeks in Bangalore. The Film has also been screened at several International film festivals winning audience awards at the Peachtree International Film Festival in Atlanta and the Rhode Island Film Festival. But most importantly, its astounding commercial success has led to more and more 'different' indie films being made in India which are also finding a theatrical release - Bhopal Express, Rockford, The Journey, Split Wide Open (though Dev Benegal already had relative success with his earlier venture, An English August which came much before Hyderabad Blues) and coming up Danger, Snip! and Rahul Bose's Everybody Says I'm Fine.

Bollywood Calling has been shot on location at New Jersey, USA and at Hyderabad, South India. To be honest, it is the first film of his that he is truly happy with, says Nagesh. Today, though he is an experienced filmmaker, he is still evolving and has miles and miles to go, Nagesh says adding that he can understand the dynamics of a scene much better now. To him scripting is the most difficult but crucial part of filmmaking. It is the life of the film. Nagesh attributes this great emphasis on scripting due to his engineering mentality. To quote him...

"The great deal of planning at the scripting stage has its rewards. At times, spontaneity does go amiss. But good homework is a must."

Bollywood Calling also sees Nagesh work with professional actors like Om Puri and Navin Nischol. Hyderabad Blues was shot with newcomers and almost the entire cast of Rockford particularly the boys in the schools were newcomers. Om Puri brands Bollywood Calling a fun film. According to him it is a constructive criticism about the working of the Bollywood Film Industry but treated differently from other films on the subject. For Pat Cusick, a small time actor from America it is his first meaty role. He was basically a stage actor for the last five years in America and the few Hollywood films he has acted in have not yet reached here, says Nagesh. While Parizad Zorabian makes her debut as the starlet, Kajal, Bollywood Calling also sees former Bollywood hero Navin Nischol play the role of the ageing Bollywood star who refuses to give up playing the hero and ...Nagesh himself plays his dream role of a rowdy in the film!

With Bollywood Calling, Nagesh hopes he has finally made the film he has wanted to all along i.e. a truly 'crossover' film with which he hopes to take films from India worldwide. Along with his producing partner, Elahe Hiptoola, he has also started a distribution company nue Cinema Inc., which will distribute his films as well as other small indie films in the USA and the rest of the film. Currently Nagesh is already busy working on his next feature script.

Bollywood Calling is expected to release later this year.