Hopes Rest With Sci-Fi Love Story
Harry Baweja is sparing nothing to ensure Harman Baweja's debut film Lovestory 2050 succeeds by spending large budgets on a daily basis In further attempts to raise the profile the film featuring his son Harman Baweja and Priyanka Chopra will premiere in London at Cineworld Feltham on Wednesday 2nd July 2008 7 pm. The Hindi film a futuristic sci-fi, love story loooks like it will set the standards of special effects for the rest of Bollywood courtesy of its reported budget of Rs.500 million. Transformation of Mumbai into a super-futuristic metropolis, modelled on Shanghai, robot, teddy bears and an energy-blasting fight scene are some of the visual treats awaiting viewers when the film by director Harry Bajewa goes on general release July 4. Debuting Harman Baweja opposite Priyanka Chopra, Love Story 2050 has some spectacular special effects and may just be the push needed for filmmakers in India to invest in the country's own sprouting industry. India has emerged as the destination of choice for Hollywood studios to outsource their animation and special effects, but domestic film studios have been far more cautious, reluctant to commit large sums into the digital productions. Hindi filmmakers have backed away from investing huge sums on special effects and instead preferred to park most of the film's budget for remunerations of stars. As a result, though the country has the wherewithal that meets international standards, films churned in Bollywood suffer from low tech effects and amaturish graphics. Compare that with the Oscar-winning special effects for The Golden Compass, the Hollywood blockbuster took $370 million at the box office last Christmas, and it was post-produced and cut in India.
Increasingly, post-production movie work - everything from complex digital effects such as the talking armoured polar bears in The Golden Compass which sported a fur coat with seven million individually rendered hairs, to basic colour grading, ensuring shades stay consistent throughout a film - is steadily migrating from traditional centres such as Los Angles to low-cost locations on the sub-continent.
Yet, Indian filmmakers form a very small portion of their clientele. The budget of Love Story 2050 may sound high enough, but it is not. It is hoped that Indian filmmakers will recognise the potential from film merchandise and sale of rights to mobile and gaming companies to recover costs. Love Story 2050 features a fully animatronic robot teddy bear which was created by Oscar winner John Cox, who also worked on Babe and The Host. It also features a female robot. Similarly, airborne fight sequences will lead to spin-offs in video and mobile gaming.
If India is to become more than just out low cost out sourcing destination innovative breakthroughs are needed hence why Love Story is being closely monitored.
All eyes are now set on Love Story 2050. Come Friday and both the film as well as the digital worlds will be hoping for audiences to embrace its hero and its lovable teddy bear - Boo.