Last week BT broke the story of Feroze Nadiadwala’s 300-crore film Jewel of India for which he had signed on Hollywood producer-director Rob Cohen and which was likely to star Amitabh Bachchan opposite either Al Pacino or Robert de Niro. Well, Cohen is in Mumbai, and on Sunday he went for a half-hour meeting with the Big B. Only it lasted over two hours. And Abhishek Bachchan was present, too.
The Hollywood filmmaker told BT in delight, “Bachchan is talent who I have loved from afar. We exchanged stuff about Indian culture, history, literature, and, of course - cinema. It’s amazing that he took so much interest. It says a lot. A disinterested party sends out a certain signal, but Bachchan was very inspired by our story of the Kohinoor diamond.” The meeting took place at the Bachchan bungalow in Juhu where the Big B, proving that he is indeed a fountainhead of information, suggested that Cohen and Nadiadwala do research in Amritsar, Chandigarh, Delhi and Jaipur which were in focus when the Kohinoor scandal broke out.
But, the million dollar question remains: do they have Bachchan in Jewel of India? “On principle we now have Abhishek on this project,” said Cohen. Would he make the film keeping the Oscars in mind seeing how Bollywood, after Slumdog Millionaire, is the new toast of the world? “I don’t care about the Oscars,” said the man who made films like the xXx, Mummy and The Fast and the Furious. “Barring the likes of Slumdog and a few others, Oscar films are least connected with the audience. They are made for the critics. I make films for the public.” Bollywood, he believes, is an untapped market. “It’s rich in talent and stories and also has the capacity to flourish as a business,” said Cohen, adding, “When Feroze and I discussed the project, I brought up issues like the budget of the film, star fees, especially actors like Pacino and de Niro, and Feroze just shook my hand and we got started.”
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