Raveena in NRI film
Habshi
Los Angeles-based director casts Raveena Tandon
Subhash K. Jha, Mumbai
Jan 13, 2001 10:35 Hrs (IST)
AVEENA Tandon, who is getting rave reviews from preview audiences for
her role of an abused wife in Kalpana Lajmi's Daman, is all set to
play a pivotal part in a dynamic young Los Angeles-based Indian
director's debut feature film.
The film titled Dream Catcher is being directed by Tabrez Noorani, who
moved from Mumbai to Los Angeles at age 17. "Ever since then I've been
pursuing my dream of making films," said the gifted young filmmaker
who has directed a number of advertisement films and music videos.
Noorani is the nephew of the famous commercial, documentary and
feature filmmaker Zafar Hai, who made The Perfect Murder with
Naseeruddin Shah. He says he chose Raveena because she suited the
central character of a simple middle class Delhi girl caught up in the
cosmopolitanism of high-speed living in Los Angeles.
"To be honest, I never even thought of Aishwarya Rai or Sushmita Sen
or any of the names that automatically come into consideration for an
internally produced film about Indian characters. Raveena was my main
character Tina ever since I downloaded her picture from my computer,"
Noorani said in Mumbai before returning to Los Angeles to complete
pre-production work on Dream Catcher.
The film is being produced by two Mumbai-based entrepreneurs, Devang
Dholakia and Amar Butalia.
Raveena, who is currently shooting for Abhay with Kamal Haasan in
Delhi, said she was drawn to the film, its director and her character
from the outset. "I fell in love with my character the minute Tabrez
Noorani narrated the script to me. This could be my biggest challenge
as an actress since Shool and Daman," she said.
Besides Raveena, the film stars Kashmira Shah (of Jungle fame) and
model Tara Sharma as two struggling fashion models in Los Angeles who
get sucked into the dark world of pornography. Gulshan Grover is
featured in a key role as a porno director.
Noorani, who has assisted Hollywood directors Terence Young (Dr No)
and James (Titanic) Cameron, says Dream Catcher doesn't fit into the
"Hinglish" slots of films being made in Mumbai by Kaizad Gustad,
Sunhil Sippy and others. Nor does it adhere to any of the
stereotypical rules of Indian cinema abroad where characters are
portrayed as either exotic or pathetic.
"In my film we get to see a bunch of very real people talking in a
real tongue and living in a real, sometimes grim sometimes glorious
world," said the director, who did stints of modeling in Mumbai during
his childhood. His first student film Disturbance won the award for
the best experimental student's film at the Venice Film Festival in
1993.
Noorani's Dream Catcher has so far been cloaked in secrecy. "I don't
know where it fits into the Indian movie-going audiences' tastes. Yes,
Dream Catcher is for an international audience, though it wouldn't
hurt if it's appreciated by Indian viewers as well," he said, while
admitting that he cannot make full-fledged Hindi films.
"I've seen films like Karan Johar's Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. I can't hope
to equal the verve and reach of the typical Hindi film, isn't that
sad?" said Tabrez Noorani, who has Karan Johar as a neighbor in south
Mumbai whenever he visits home.
India Abroad News Service