Bollywood ballyhoo

An early screening of Willard Carroll's movie 'Marigold' was held in Newcomb Theatre last night

The energy, the spirit, the color" -- these are the qualities that director Willard Carroll said attracted him to the world of Bollywood, the Indian film industry. With his new film, "Marigold," he said he is hoping to bring this vivacity to the United States -- starting with the University, where an early screening was held in Newcomb Theatre Sept. 12.

Indian cinema, a fusion of dancing, music, love stories and action is the world's largest movie industry. It is this industry that caught Carroll's attention when he first visited India four years ago. He saw the movie "Chori Chori Chupke Chupke" in Chennai and was very impressed with what he saw.

"I came home and watched 150 Bollywood movies in about six months," Carroll said. "They sort of reminded me of American movies in the '40s and '60s -- a somewhat melodramatic plot, very emotional -- the emotional stuff really rang true to me, and I love the musical and filmmaking talent" in India.

Carroll said he decided to take advantage of Indian talent with "Marigold," which is about a young American woman who goes to India and finds her life transformed by her experiences there.

"It seemed like an interesting story," "Marigold" producer Tom Wilhite of Hypperion Pictures said. "A fish-out-of-the-water story: Somebody who's in an unfamiliar place and part of the entertainment is her adjusting to it."

Carroll said he hoped the movie would serve to introduce the Western audience to the spirit of Bollywood movies and see India in the way he did. In addition, he said he wanted to encourage people to take risks.

"The movie is about someone who travels to India and finds herself and finds her place in the world and falls in love, encouraging Americans who don't travel to take some chances with their life," Carroll said. "And often when you do, you get a good payback. That's the sort of theme of the movie."

The idea for the film originated with Carroll about three years ago.

It was "a time when there was only a generally growing public awareness about India's culture and growing power in the world," Wilhite said. "So it took about a year for us to finance the picture. And now, of course, people are much more familiar with India. It's much more front-and-center in people's consciousness."

In addition, the movie attracted significant attention due to its lead actor.

"I went [to India] and met a few of the actors and actresses there and really hit it off with Salman Khan," Carroll said.

Salman Khan, the lead actor in "Marigold," is one of Bollywood's best-known movie stars.

"He is hugely famous in India," Wilhite said. "In India, [actors and actresses] have a whole public and social significance that's greater than any movie star in the U.S. And Salman Khan is a major, major star."

In addition to Khan, almost the entire cast and crew were hired from India, where "Marigold" was filmed.

"There were so many more crew people," Carroll said. "What you normally have in a Hollywood production -- it was twice that. There were lots more grips and electricians. Sometimes that doesn't necessarily translate into more efficiency, but in this case, it did."

Movie production was set on a tight schedule, with only 40 days set aside for filming, but Carroll said the crew was "amazingly efficient," although they were not used to such a fast-paced schedule. He also said filming in India, despite being a new experience, did not pose many difficulties.

"Filmmaking has its own sort of language," Carroll said. "It doesn't matter where you shoot anything. And everybody speaks English" anyway.

Carroll made 14 trips to India in three years in preparation for the film.

"I knew the business there fairly well because I had spent time on other people's sets and knew what to expect," Carroll said.

If Carroll had not traveled to India, he said, "there would be a certain culture shock, but I was pretty well-prepared. It was a really pleasant shooting experience."

The film was completed last spring and will be released in the first quarter of 2007 in the U.S., South Asia and some of the major European countries. In the meantime, private previews are being held, such as the one at the University, which came about with the help of Leigh Grossman, vice provost for international affairs.

"The producer and screenwriter-director are friends of mine," Grossman said. "When [the movie] was supposed to be previewed in D.C., they had invited me to attend. That preview didn't happen, and they wanted a first-generation audience from South India. They want the feedback on this movie, so I suggested they bring it here."

Wilhite said early screenings may influence how the picture is marketed.

"When you screen movies, you start to see consistencies in how it plays and who likes it most, and it kind of helps you focus how you want to sell the movie," Wilhite said. "At this point, it's mainly showing the movie and hoping people enjoy it."

In the meantime, Carroll is working on his next movie, which will be filmed in Los Angeles. He said he is also definitely looking into doing other films in India, both as a producer and as a director.

"But not within the next year," Carroll said. "It's something that'll require a little more prep time. I really do want to work there again because I had a really great experience."

Marigolds in musical barter
Malvika Nanda June 12, 2006

Bollywood actors gunning for Hollywood isnt unheard of but now even our music makers are going west. The Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy trio is all set to make its Hollywood debut with the much-talked about movie Marigold. The movie will be the first ever Indo-US co-production in the backdrop of Bollywood, starring the resident hottie Salman Khan and other Indians.

A lot of musical exchange is happening between India and the West and thats good, says Loy Mendonsa of the trio. He adds that working with director Williard Carroll was a good experience. He makes his point and backs off. He loved the soundtrack of Dil Chahta Hai and even gifted his friends some of our music.

The songs of Marigold are in English and Hindi with lyrics by Javed Akhtar and Shari Watson and sung by Shaan and Shankar Mahadevan. The core of our music is still Indian, adds Loy.

The trio has wrapped up Don and will begin work for Shaad Alis Jhoom Barabar as also Anil Kapoors forthcoming production. Good going guys!

Suchitra Pillai helps Salman Khan fall in love
16th Mar 2006  17.15 IST

Former VJ-turned-actress Suchitra Pillai, best remembered as Saif Ali Khan's pesky girl friend in 'Dil Chahta Hai', now plays Salman Khan's best friend in 'Marigold' who helps him in finding true love.

'Marigold' is a romantic film, which stars Hollywood actress Ali Larter (of 'Final Destination' and 'Legally Blonde' fame) and Salman who plays a choreographer, reports Bollywood Trade.

' 'Marigold' is a Hollywood film where I play Salman's best friend. I befriend Ali (the actress), help her find a job and it is through me that the two fall in love. Basically, I play this happy-go-lucky character in the film,' said Suchitra.

Besides films, Suchitra's first song 'Yaara' that she recorded for her solo music album is making news.

'I just played this song when we were shooting for 'Marigold'. My director Willard Carroll liked the song and decided to use it in the background. It is a situational song shot in the bar where Nandana Sen and Ali are discussing Salman in the film.'

Suchitra has quite a few films in her kitty - 'Shiva', 'Pyaar Ke Side Effects', 'Postcard' and 'Karkash'.

'I am eagerly awaiting the release of all my films. I play Mohit Ahlawat's sister-in-law in 'Shiva' who is kind of irritating and has grey shades to her character.'

WILLARD CARROLL'S ADVENTURE IN INDIA
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.