photo:timesofindia
Uday Chopra, son of legendary Bollywood director Yash Chopra, has begun producing a string of Hollywood movies with big-name talent involved. Uday has opened a branch of his father’s Yash Raj Films right here in Los Angeles and has wasted no time in lining up heavy-hitter Hollywood actors for his films.
Beginning with Nicole Kidman (with whom Uday appeared beside at this year’s Cannes Film Festival) starring in the Grace Kelly biopic “Grace of Monaco”, continuing with the upcoming Jason Bateman romantic comedy “The Longest Week”, and perhaps culminating in the project “The Seducing of Ingrid Bergman” Uday has an ambitious slate lined up for release. Perhaps the Hollywood ingenue has a thing for classic Hollywood blondes as the Ingrid Bergman script coupled with the Grace Kelly biopic point out an interesting affinity for icy blondes, but he’s set out to make his mark in a town where shattered dreams are almost as plentiful as stars on the Walk of Fame.
Uday pointed out that “People in the West think ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ is a Bollywood film and they have that one image of India — dirty and crazy…” but he notes that he’s here to make Hollywood films on a Bollywood budget while changing America’s perception of India. After overcoming the notion that he was just another rich Indian tycoon who had come along to “throw money at them and they can go ahead and make their movie” or “they think you are this Indian guy coming to Hollywood to throw big parties, make some statements and then never return”, Uday has accomplished something many Hollywood hopefuls never do by actually making movies.
It seems that while his brother Aditya Chopra has followed in his father’s footsteps by directing in Bollywood, Uday has decided to stay out of the director’s chair and focus on feature film development stateside. Uday summed up his aim as this; “I wanted to do something challenging and be a part of filmmaking because that is all I know“.
In a town that seems pretty white-washed both on the big screen and in the board room at times, we hope that Uday finds a niche and continues bringing the worlds of Hollywood and Bollywood closer together.
