A "Bitter-Sweet" Love Story from Thailand Eyes India news
‘˜Slumdog Millionaire' has inspired many East-West productions, and the latest is from Thailand !
‘˜Bitter Sweet' , a Thai-American co-production, with a big cast from both countries, will have its North American premiere at the 42nd Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film & Video Festival.
American director Jeff Hare won awards for two of his earlier films at this festival, and hopes it will be a hat-trick with this movie, which was shot entirely in Thailand.
First-time producer, Bangkok-based Swiss businessman Urs Brunner ,is targeting both the festival and commercial circuit, inspired by ‘˜Slumdog Millionaire.'
The film does not have the high drama or style as ‘˜Slumdog ' and is basically a straightforward love-story set in one of Thailand's most picturesque and best-known beach towns.
What's unique about the film, is that the Thai-American production plays on the genre of ‘˜multi-national' cinema in Thailand, with a big cast from two countries.
The romantic leads are played by well-known Thai actress ‘˜Mamee' Nakprasite and dashing American actor Kip Pardue (‘˜Return of the Titans, Laura Smiles').
The other American stars in the film, are James Brolin ( father of famous actor Josh Brolin, and husband of Barbara Streisand), Spencer Garret ( ‘˜Air Force One, Charlie Wilson's War'), Laura Sorenson (‘˜Bewitched, Forgiven').
There are a bevy of other well-known Thai stars, including Akara Amarttayakul (winner of the Best Actor Awards in Thailand, last year, whose boxing- film ‘˜Muay Thai Chaiya' was popularly received at IIFI,Goa, last year), singer-stars Pakkaramai Potranan, Kalorin Nemayothin, and pop-diva Tata Young, in a special guest appearance.
The interesting setting of the film, is the rarely-seen coffee-plantations of Thailand, where no movie has been filmed in this much-filmed country. This has a lot to do with producer Brunner being in the coffee business for more than decades, as the corporate head of Boncafe Thailand, a well-known coffee roasting/production company .
" Like the film ‘˜Sideways' promoted wine, I want to promote coffee!" laughed the Swiss businessman. And so, the film has some lip-smacking scenes of frothy coffees ,especially the Thai robusta.
Brunner hopes the film will be premiered at the Bangkok International Film festival, before its release in Thailand. American co-producer Jon Karas of ‘˜Capitol Motions Pics' will be negotiating the American sales, after the Houston festival.
They have also been talking to sales agents in other countries.
Brunner said the East-West romance would probably interest Indian audiences and he hoped to find a buyer in India too. He said he would be applying to IIFI, Goa ,where he thought the lush love story would be enjoyed.
Actor Akara declared he enjoyed every bit of his stay at Goa last year, where he met top film-makers like Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Mrinal Sen, Shyam Benegal, Ketan Mehta and actress Tabu.
" I would love to do a Bollywood film!" he declared.
Producer Brunner said he was open-minded about a script or cast from India, for future productions.
" All our films will be set and shot in Thailand, which has excellent facilities for film-making. But I will have a multi-national cast, as I'm targetting the international market" he declared.
‘˜Bitter Sweet' was shot within a budget of  $ 5 million, in just over 20 days- a record, by Indian standards.
It was also one of the first Thai films to be shot with the new HD-Sony Red Cam.
"Apart from cutting costs, it allowed us to download digitally, and edit as we shot the film" said Brunner.
The entire post-production was done in Bangkok too, at the state-of- the- art facilities in Technicolor Studios.
Director Hare was so pleased with this, that he is already all set to shoot his next film in Thailand.
"I would love to cast Indian stars in my film too" said Hare ,whose last film ‘˜Checking Out' created waves at many international festivals.
" With many Bollywood films being made in Thailand, it'll be great to have a Thai-Indian co-production" stated Brunner.
