Shakira to dance to Rahman’s tunes!
In a bid to ensure that their
project on Kaali has all the right elements, the team behind the movie -
“Kaali: The Warrior Goddess” - is now trying to rope in AR Rahman and
Illayaraja for the film. The 3D film, which may have Shakira playing the
role of Kaali, has no Bollywood star at present in a big role, and may
not have one in the future too .
 Producer Karan Arora, CEO of High Ground Entertainment, who’s making
the movie in association with Walter Anderson told TOI. “We are looking
at AR Rahman and Illayaraja being part of the project. Music wise, they
both can bring a lot to the table. During Rahman’s recent tour, we
initiated some kind of an informal talk with one of his team members. We
may be able to do things together. John Altman, who did the music for
“Titanic” is a part of our project.”
While initial discussions with Shakira have generated a positive
response, Arora said that the film will only be able to go on the floors
by April next year. He said, “We’ve been working on the movie for the
last 7-8 months, but a project like this usually takes 3-4 years. This
kind of a film needs too much of VFX; it’s like the work done on movies
like “ Alice In Wonderland” and “ Avatar”. It’s very tedious. Earlier,
we were busy getting our finances in place. Talks with Shakira too have
been advancing. But, all the paperwork and technicalities would take
time and I’m guessing the movie will go on the floors by April next
year. And the earliest release I can anticipate is 2013.”
Even though the project is news at the moment, it wasn’t so when the
team started thinking about it, said Arora and added, “When we started
off, this wasn’t supposed to be as big, forget about going to such big
stars. The movie required a lot of money and our attention was only on
the cost. But, once the investors came in, everything went on track.
Shakira just happened for the project. With such a brand name, investors
see security.”
Even before Shakira expressed interest, Bollywood was never on their
radar. Arora said, “Before we spoke to Shakira, we were only targeting
mediocre British actors - people who were not stars but could act. But
we never considered any Indian name because we felt that with an Indian
name, we wouldn’t be able to present the movie to an international
audience. I’m not saying we’d thought of her name, but let’s say
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan would’ve been part of the project.
When you think of an Indian name from an international perspective,
hers is the first name that comes up. But even that’s not big enough for
an international movie. Realistically, an actor from India wouldn’t have
brought anything on the table, either in terms of brand or investors.
With an international actor, especially like Shakira, you get both.
-Indian Times
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