Bollywood star Genelia d'Souza on the set in Melbourne yesterday. Photo: Pat Scala
MESSAGES, Samuel Goldwyn famously said, should be sent by Western Union, not filmmakers. But the producers of Indian movie Orange, which is shooting in Melbourne, would beg to differ.
The movie is technically a piece of Tollywood rather than Bollywood cinema (it is being shot in the Telugu language spoken in southern India, not the Hindi that is dominant in Bollywood films), but it follows the well-worn formula of pretty young leads, romance, a few laughs and dazzling dance numbers.
It's light entertainment for a potential audience of about 300 million people but, its Australian-based line producer insists, it is also a film with a serious message.
''The producer from India wanted to come here and prove a point - that what is being told in India is totally against what is happening here,'' said Anupam Sharma on the Southbank set of the film yesterday.
He was referring to the perception in India that Australia is not safe for Indians, particularly young students. Having lived here for 21 years, Mr Sharma said that view bore little relation to his experience. ''The facts are on one side and the media hype in India is on the other side,'' he said.
That was a view state Education Minister Bronwyn Pike, who visited the set yesterday, was happy to hear. ''There's been an impression created in some quarters that Melbourne isn't a safe and welcoming city, and I'm just delighted to be hearing a different message from the producers, the director and the stars. They see that they have a responsibility to turn that message around,'' she said.
Orange is a romance about two Australian students of Indian background, filmed in Sydney and Melbourne and set, said Mr Sharma, ''against a backdrop of arts and painting and a young crowd and funk''. It stars Genelia d'Souza, a 22-year-old rising star of Indian cinema, and 24-year-old Ram Charan Teja, the son of legendary actor Chiranjeevi.
With a 14-week shoot and a budget of about $A10 million - more than half of it to be spent in Australia - it is the biggest Indian production to shoot here. Despite a call to boycott Bollywood shoots in Australia in the wake of perceived racism, Mr Sharma insisted there were no signs of a slowdown.
''We have had maximum number of Indian films and maximum amount ofmoney spent since that call was made last September,'' he said. ''The fact remains that a prolific country like India and a professional country like Australia in terms of films, when they come together it's a win-win situation.''
Chiranjeevi’s first daughter Sushmitha is following foot steps of Manjula and Lakshmi Prasanna who successfully produced movies with their younger brothers.