Status: Complete

 

Sets Appeal
By Harneet Singh, 10 May 2005

GIVE me passion,’’ yells choreographer Vaibhavi Merchant. In the centre of the green-and-white nightclub set at Film City in north Mumbai, the couple on the dance floor immediately pucker up. He’s in an all black suit, she’s in a burgundy high slit number. And as the instructions waft out of the microphone, their tango acquires its most important asset—heat. ‘‘Mind-blowing chemistry!’’ shouts an approving Merchant.

After more than a decade and a string of astronomical hits, 39-year-old superstar Salman Khan is making a debut. As the practised star goes through the moves of a dream sequence on the sets of Marigold, his first Hollywood venture, Khan is explaining the job to his co-star Ali Larter. ‘‘One-Two-Three-Four. Remember four, you have to turn then,’’ he smiles.

For Khan, there’s no room for mistakes with this film. His audience will not be the same all-adoring one he’s nurtured since he was 24. This is Hollywood, baby. And with all due respect to Aishwarya Rai, he is the first Bollywood actor to star in a mainstream American film.

Marigold is the story of a failed American actress who gets stranded in India, and is forced to work in a B-grade Bollywood film to get back home. Khan plays an Indian prince, Prem, who moonlights as a choreographer.

He told me kissing’s the one thing he wouldn’t do. In turn, I told him he won’t remove his shirt in the film...

A ‘‘breezy romantic comedy with music’’ is how director Willard Carroll describes it. The 48-year-old film-maker, best known for his Sean Connery-Angelina Jolie starrer Playing By Heart, confesses he’s a closet fan of Bollywood melodrama. But he’s trying to make Marigold real for the American palate. He got hooked after chancing upon Abbas Mustan’s Salman starrer Chori Chori Chupke Chupke four years ago. “I have this desire to introduce Bollywood to the American audience. I wanted to make a spectacle, with song and dance, energy and razzmatazz.”

Carroll’s done his homework. He’s made certain that Khan sheds a couple of tears in the film: ‘‘They tell me that a Salman film doesn’t work if he doesn’t shed tears. I am not taking any chances,’’ he says.

The one thing Salman won’t do, even for Hollywood? Kiss. He will act in a sync sound set-up—for the first time in his life—and mouth dialogues in American English. But he’s refused to lock lips with Larter. Apparently, Khan outlined his no-kiss policy well before signing the film. ‘‘He told me that’s the one thing he wouldn’t do. In turn, I told him he won’t remove his shirt in the film. Though he pleaded for the sake of his Malaysian audience, I was firm,’’ laughs Carroll.

The $8-million film is being co-produced by Hyperion and Entertainment One. Carroll feels that out of all Indian actors, Khan will work best for the American audience. In fact, he’s convinced he can do a Hugh Grant. ‘‘He is good with women in films and is a perfect blend of charm and humour,’’ he says. But Khan is happy being Khan. ‘‘I don’t compete with anyone but myself,’’ he declares.

American beauty by the Arabian Sea

Ali Larter

Balle Balle can take a bow, it’s time to go Marigold. The long-in-the-making “dream project” by little-known US film-maker Willard Carroll has finally been shot and is expected to hit American theatres by January 2006.

Starring Salman Khan and Hollywood actress Ali Larter, Marigold is a musical comedy about an American actress who goes to India and gets caught up in the eccentric world of Bollywood.

“Marigold was my way of bridging the gap between Indian and American cinema,” Willard said at a special preview of the film at the IIFA weekend in Amsterdam.

“I fell in love with Indian cinema quite some time back and really wanted to make an Indian film. But it did take me a very long time to put the pieces together and finally it is here — the first real Indo-American film co-production. I have not just named the movie after Larter’s character, but it also has a double meaning since it is a popular flower in India.”

It was, in fact, a film festival in Madras where Willard chanced upon the Salman-starrer Chori Chori Chupke Chupke. “I went back home and watched 150 Hindi movies in four months,” recalled Willard.

“I then returned to the US and made people in groups of 20 watch Bollywood films like Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Dil Chahta Hai and Hum Saath Saath Hain.”

Willard admitted that his family and friends thought he had gone “insane” to make an Indian film. “But I wasn’t making another Bollywood film in English. Marigold was always a proper Hollywood film, which uses Bollywood as a backdrop and shows how it completely changes this American woman.”

The English film has seven songs, composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and written by Javed Akhtar, that give Marigold a desi flavour. “Oh, I loved the songs!,” exclaimed Larter, who has also sung a couple of English songs for fantasy sequences in the film. “As for the dancing, I was scared at first but it was fun. There are some really amazing dance sequences. The moves did not need to be perfect. I just had to get the spirit right.”

For Salman, the English dialogues posed a bit of a problem.

“We do speak English in real life, but to do that consistently in front of the camera was challenging. Then, it was all sync-sound,” said Salman.

Salman Khan with Ali Larter in Marigold

The Larter-Salman pair is something to look forward to, as was evident in their chemistry at the media meet. “I must admit I haven’t yet seen a Salman Khan movie, but he was just great as a co-star,” said Larter. “He was not only very comfortable to work with, but he made this entire transition phase of mine so much smoother.”

Salman, too, felt the positive vibes. “I always like working with a family. So after a couple of films, I become totally friendly with my co-actresses. But with her (Larter), it took me just a few days to get along. It’s another thing that she hated me at first.”

Willard wants the chemistry to spill on to the screen, too. “No American knows what Bollywood is. I want the film to kindle all those emotions in American audiences that Bollywood films had done to me. Films like Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham were such big hits in the US, but mainly among NRIs. Marigold has been made for the mainstream Hollywood market. I hope it finds favour with a wider audience.”

As for Salman, Marigold is the sole step westwards. “I have done this film only for Willard. I am not doing any other Hollywood film. You can call this my only way to go global.”

Source: telegraphindia

WILLARD CARROLL'S ADVENTURE IN INDI
A by Sneha Hazarika 6/8/2005 at 20:11

USC film school grad Willard Carroll is something of an Oz aficionado.

Besides producing a series of animated children’s videos in the mid-1990s based on Frank L. Baum’s magical kingdom, Carroll is also known as the owner of the largest private collection of Oz-related material in the world, a fact celebrated in John Fricke’s book 100 Years of Oz.

Now, Carroll - whose best known feature film directorial effort is the 1998 ensemble piece Playing by Heart (co-starring Sean Connery, Angelina Jolie, Jon Stewart and many others) - has moved from romantic drama to romantic comedy with the just-wrapped Marigold: An Adventure in India. His leads are Indian superstar Salman Khan (a man Carroll deems undoubtedly one of the best looking men in Indian cinema today) and Hollywood actress Ali Larter (Final Destination, Varsity Blues, House on Haunted Hill). Other major characters are being portrayed by noteworthy Indian actors such as Nandana Sen (Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen’s daughter), Vikas Bhalla, Suchitra Pillai, Vijayendra Ghatge, Kiran Juneja and Gulshan Grover.

Marigold tells the story of Marigold Lexton , a struggling American actress who comes to Bombay and lands a small role in a Bollywood musical . She is no natural dancer and enlists the aid of the film’s choreographer Prem, played by Salman Khan. In the process, Marigold gradually falls for Prem unaware of the fact that he is already engaged to Nandana Sen’s character Janvi. Further masala-style complications ensue when Marigold’s boyfriend Barry (Ian Fraser ) suddenly arrives in India. The buzz is that there is a lot of room for the character artistes to perform; insiders are suggesting that Ghatge and Juneja as Salman’s parents, and Suchitra Pillai as a producer’s daughter, are clear standouts.

Carroll says he fell in love with Indian films when he happened to see Chori Chori Chupke Chupke; that was followed by 150 more Hindi films on DVD. After completing a nearly 50-day production schedule around Jodhpur, Goa , and Mumbai, the unit moved to Vancouver and shot for a week.

Now, we all have to wait until the planned January 2006 theatrical release to see how this commingling of east and west has turned out. Intriguingly, this film was produced by Hyperion Pictures, producers of reems of TV and home video programming, as well as the aforementioned Miramax release Playing by Heart. They were also responsible for the 2004 thriller 3-Way, starring Gina Gershon, Joy Bryant and Dominic Purcell, directed by Scott Ziehl.

MARIGOLD
Here is an excerpt from a Shankar Ehsan Loy interview about Marigold. And I think that pic is from the sets, not sure.

You have also done Willard Caroll’s Marigold…

Yes, they have finished shooting the songs. There are some songs in Hindi, some in English. Ali Larter, the Hollywood actress opposite Salman Khan in the film, has sung the English songs herself. David Newman is scoring the background music, using our songs as the theme.

And what about Shankar Ehsaan Loy’s private album?

We have been planning that for the last two years. We were so busy that we haven’t been able to make time for that. We are also looking forward to our spring world tour next year. Then on a personal level, I am working on an album with music great John McLaughlin.

Fun at 'Marigold' By Our Correspondent ©2005 Bollyvista.com American actress Ali Larter is on the sets of the Salman Khan-starrer 'Marigold' and is said to be enjoying every bit of it. This much-delayed near-Hollywood flick has finally taken off. Ali says she's loving every bit of Salman Khan, Bollywood dancing, and of course, all the pampering that our stars are used to!

In love with India
AAKANKSHA NAVAL-SHETYE
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2005 09:03:35 PM ]

The real beauty lies in the people here, American beauty Ali Larter, who who's here to star opposite Salman Khan, tells us "I feel like a princess here," gushes Hollywood actress Ali Larter as she is treated to a dose of the Bollywood hospitality. "The stars are really pampered to the hilt. It's awesome," adds the American beauty who will soon be seen romancing Salman Khan in Marigold.

Currently in Mumbai, the actress is extremely excited to be shooting in India. "I had heard that India is really exotic, but I've realised that it's just one of the dimensions. The real beauty lies in the people. Everyone is so warm and friendly," says Ali.

But is she equally at ease when it comes to doing the latka-jhatka numbers for the flick? "Initially, it was a nightmare. I love dancing but this is so different. The first time I just developed cold feet.

Then Salman came along like a knight in shining armour. He took me by my arm and showed me how to go about it. I couldn't stop blushing," she laughs.

Comparing Bollywood to Hollywood, she says that while Hollywood is more technically brilliant, people in Bollywood multi-task and are equally talented.

"The entire experience has been different in terms of the fact that I have never laughed so much on a Hollywood set," she adds. "Everything is so colourful and vibrant here. The films here are throbbing with life You feel alive here."

So is she considering giving a full-fledged Bollywood film a shot? "I would love to. I have fallen in love with the films here."

Now all the actress wants to do is check out the other places in India. "I have been to Jodhpur and I loved it. What I really regret though is that I couldn't see the Taj Mahal. The next time I'm here, that'll be the first place I'll visit," she signs off.

MARIGOLD
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
www.deccan.com

A star-studded Miramax film, a senior position at Walt Disney studios and an upcoming project called Dinner Music with Albert Finney, Willard Carroll is as mainstream as it gets in Hollywood. Why the forthcoming film Marigold is a big step for the Indian entertainment industry becomes much clearer. Carroll last directed Sean Connery and Angelina Jolie in Miramax’s Playing By Heart.

The 38 year-old filmmaker’s actor-neighbour Kevin Costner hasn’t been able to contain his curiosity with regards to his latest project, Marigold starring Ali Larter and Salman Khan. “He keeps asking me about Marigold. I even told him that my lead hero Salman is better looking than him,” beams Carroll.

Carroll has been shooting continuously in and around Jodhpur for the last 45 days in the sweltering summer heat. Sand dunes, royal palaces, starry desert nights and an intense romance was the stuff Marigold’s Rajasthan schedule was made of. “It was sweltering there, but we have canned some breathtaking stuff,” he assures. Khan and Larter have been shot against the spectacular backdrop of exotic royal Rajasthani palaces. “North American audiences will love it. Unlike real life vacationing, Americans love travelling to exotic destinations through movies,” says Carroll.

He brushes off the cynicism that revolves around an Indian artist’s foray into a Hollywood venture. “True perspective evades all about this new development. Models of co-production and their creative possibilities haven’t fully emerged,” he asserts.

As for why he chose Sallu over other actors, Carrol explains, “His looks and frame will work perfectly for American audiences. He fits the role to the T.”

Suchitra Pillai’s got her hands full
Namrata Sharma Zakaria
Mumbai, May 17

IF it were anyone else, she’d be pumping up her PR. But Suchitra Pillai prefers do things her own laid-back way.

For starters, her next release (she’s best known for a role in Dil Chahta Hai) is former actor Kamal Sadanah’s directorial debut, Karkash (Brute). The film is showing at Delhi’s Oceania film festival next month and will release this July. 34-year-old Pillai plays a docile village belle, married to a brute (Anup Soni). A misunderstanding causes the power equation to change.

Also coming is a much larger project, the Salman Khan starrer Marigold. And knowing Hollywood’s penchant for dusky exotica, this may just be Pillai’s big break. ‘‘It isn’t an itsy-bitsy role,’’ she says. ‘‘And I’ve waited for this film for two-and-a-half years to happen. It’s nice to say that we’ve finally completed shooting.’’

Director Willard Carroll saw Pillai in DCH and, after he had signed on Khan, he called her immediately. ‘‘Everyone says Salman’s a great guy. After working with him, I know why,’’ she says, as she breaks into a mimic of the superstar. ‘‘He’s too cool.’’ The US $10 million film releases in January 2006.

Hollywood film, Bollywood actor
He’s not going to take off his shirt in this movie,’’ promises director Willard Carroll as a banian-sporting Salman Khan saunters into sight. We’re on the sets of Marigold, touted as the first mainstream Hollywood film with an Indian lead actor. It is, avers Carroll a tad sentimentally, his “valentine to India’’.

The plot of Marigold, a movie within a movie, tracks the travails of a Hollywood actress (Alison Larter) who comes to India, gets a role in a Bollywood musical, and falls in love with the choreographer (Khan). But Carroll—who’s made Playing By Heart starring Angelina Jolie and Sean Connery—denies that this is Bollywood masala dressed up in English. What, then, of the song-and-dance routines and the love triangle formula which could give Ram Gopal Varma a nightmare? “I like playing with cliches,’’ smiles Carroll.

Unlike crossover films that wink at Bollywood, this one aims to celebrate the Great Bollywood Dream. “There is no parody. It is realistic and respectful of Bollywood elements,’’ says Carroll, whose affair with Bollywood began after he saw the Salman Khan starrer Chori Chori Chupke Chupke. “Subsequently I saw about 150 Hindi film DVDs in six months,’’ he says.

Bedecked princes and princesses strolling down the sprawling hallways of Rajasthani palaces may sound like a stereotyped Indian fairytale, but Carroll brushes aside the scepticism. “There is no stereotype,’’ he says. “It is my interpretation and experience of India.’’ Shot in exotic locales of Rajasthan, Mumbai and Goa, Carroll hopes the film will act as a “travelogue’’ for the American audiences, who he contends, “love to travel in movies than in person’’. Agrees producer Charles Salmon, “International interest in Bollywood is growing. Marigold is a positive film and will help boost Indian tourism.’’

But does the film also signal the widening of international avenues for Indian actors? “Horizons are opening for those actors who want it. There are many who don’t want to unless they get a lead role,’’ says Carroll. Praveen Nischol, CEO of Entertainment One which is co-producing the film, feels the foreign exposure will help not only Indian actors but technicians as well. “While there are many Russian actors, for instance, in American films, we were lagging behind,’’ he says. “This will prove to be a boost.’’

So, will the future see more Indian faces adorn the middle-American marqees? “If there are more people like me, certainly,’’ quips Carroll.
Indiatimes

Carroll: 'Marigold' Will Help Bollywood
May 10, 2005, 7:52 AM EDT

BOMBAY, India -- American director Willard Carroll expects his movie "Marigold: An Adventure in India" to help showcase India's Bollywood film industry in the United States.

Carroll is shooting "Marigold" in Bombay after a filming stint in the western Indian desert state of Rajasthan. He described the movie as a breezy, romantic comedy with music.

"I have this desire to introduce Bollywood to the American audience," Carroll told The Indian Express newspaper Monday. "I wanted to make a spectacle with song and dance, energy and razzmatazz."

Carroll's best-known Hollywood movie was 1998's "Playing by Heart," a romantic comedy starring Sean Connery and Angelina Jolie.

Salman Khan, known for his action hero and romantic roles, plays an Indian choreographer who meets an unsuccessful American actress stranded in India and forced to work in a Bollywood movie to get back home. His co-stars are Ali Larter ("Varsity Blues," the "Final Destination" films) and Nandana Sen.

India's Bombay-based movie industry, known as Bollywood, churns out more than 900 movies a year, earning some $4.5 billion annually. Bollywood films are hugely popular throughout Asia and are starting to gain global attention with movies such as "Monsoon Wedding" and "Bend It Like Beckham."

Nandana Sen: 'Marigold' special!

One actress who is happy with her lot of films right now is Nandana Sen. After 'Black' brought in the accolades she bagged the international project 'Marigold', co-starring the very saleable Salman Khan. But what caught our attention was that when we recently visited her at her suburban home in Mumbai, we found that the apartment building right next to hers was named 'Marigold', too. When we pointed this out to her, she was equally startled. "I had absolutely no idea!" she laughed. Incidentally, Nandana will soon shift base to another area. Now we wonder if the 'golden' coincidence is a sign to the stunner stay put! Any advice for 'Goldilocks'?

Gulshan Grover: On his patch-up with Salman
GAUTAM BURAGOHAIN
INDIATIMES MOVIES

The Bad Man of Bollywood is playing his second innings in filmbiz. This time he’s extra excited, for the simple reason that he’s re-bonding with Salman Khan in a Hollywood film called ‘Marigold’. Those who have been keeping a close eye on the two actors – we have been - know that they share a past history of mutual hatred.

 

Today, looking back, Gulshan laughs it off. “It was not that big, as the media painted it. It was a small incident that the press just blew out of proportion. And Salman and I have been very friendly with each other. We never had any problems. I have no clue how people got that impression. And over the years we have bumped into each other at parties and have spoken at length.”

It is interesting that the alleged reason for the bone of contention between the stars was Salman’s former girlfriend, Somy Ali. Apparently, Salman thought that Gulshan was trying to steal his girlfriend, which led to a massive showdown between the two men. Gulshan prefers to keep mum on the issue. “Why do you want raise old issues? Bygones are bygones and both of us share a very good, amicable relationship now,” he says.

We chose to believe him. It seems evident from the fact that Salman is willingly working with Grover in ‘Marigold’. In return, Grover is all praise for his foe-turned-recent-friend, saying, “We met on the sets in Jodhpur and hit it off very well. Salman is everyone’s favourite, right from the director to the heroine and rest of the unit members, which are mostly people from Hollywood. And since we were shooting far away from the main town in Rajasthan, and things were not accessible at all, Salman made sure that the unit got all possible help and was taken good care of. Even if anyone wanted a small thing, like a packet of cigarettes, Salman made his man get it for them, even at times paying for it from his own pocket. It was a nice gesture. I have never seen any Indian or even Hollywood stars do that,” praises Gulshan.

Was he the one who recommended Salman’s name to director Willard Carroll? Gulshan denies any involvement, with “No, he knew Salman - Willard had seen his movies. While I have known Willard for years and we keep talking to each other, I’m glad that he offered this role to Salman.”

If there were no problems between the two men, why haven’t they been seen together in movies before now? Gulshan explains, “I agree that our last film was ‘Chandramukhi’, which was ten years ago. After that, I had very few roles left to do. I have done all possible versions of a villain and whatever was offered to me after that, I was not interested in. And, moreover, there’s no scope for a villain in today’s love stories. To make it worse, the heroes are stealing my roles, wearing different get-ups and sporting goatees! In fact, my good friend Suniel Shetty stole my role in ‘Main Hoon Na’ - he didn’t stop at that, he stole my wig, too, for the role!” he laughs.