'Slumdog Millionaire'

'Slumdog Millionaire'

Here is Loveleen for you

'Slumdog Millionaire' attracted the minimum attention while the production was going on in Mumbai and once out into the public domain for their scrutiny was able to enchant off every other film lover and critic in the united states by its great story and gripping screenplay and the colossal flawless talent of the director Danny Boyle on display. A flick which can called as a universal art work because of a story that everyone around the world can relate to and in the recent times no other international film must have been made with a complete Indian star cast and Indians can always be proud that in spite of the numerous English dialogues and a foreign director and writer, the movie was filled up with the zest of the Indian city life. Loveleen Tandan who was the casting director and co-director of 'Slumdog Millionaire' speaks about her once in a life time experience associating with such a project and what makes this film so unique for her. Because of her illustrious body of work, it was only natural for the production team of 'Slumdog Millionaire' to approach Loveleen to be part of the team. She has previously worked as the casting director of such acclaimed movies like 'Monsoon Wedding', 'Vanity Fair', 'The Terminal' and 'Brick Lane'. Tabrez Noorani who was the line producer of 'Slumdog Millionaire' first approached Loveleen and he arranged for a meeting between her and the Christian Colson who is the producer of the film. After going through the script, Loveleen immediately decided that she has to be involved with the film. She tells that the story reminded her of the fantastic characters made by the hit writing team of Salim-Javed in the 70's and the information that Danny Boyle is going to direct it was enough to get Loveleen sucked inside 'Slumdog Millionaire'. The casting process was also a new experience and a great challenge to the lovely Loveleen but in the end she got exactly what she wanted and her keen sense of selection is very much evident from the way the different characters have now become memorable. Get to know in detail about the casting procedure she adopted from Loveleen's own words. "It was the most unusual casting ever. I had the best time looking for the three main characters of Jamal, Salim and Latika in three age groups. So 9 people play 3 parts and all have almost equal screen time. So you see three 6 year old Bombay slum kids grow into 12 year olds and then 18 year olds. We found Dev Patel, the eldest Jamal, in London. Freida Pinto and Madhur Mittal are the eldest versions of Latika and Salim who we found right her in Mumbai and I am really proud of their work in the film. And of the 9, two are real slum kids and most of the others are first timers in film. Apart from these nine heroes of the script, I was thrilled to bring on board some of the most amazing talent from our industry- Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Mahesh Manjrekar, Saurabh Shukla and Ankur Vikal. All greats….. and they have made me look so good." Talking about the passion of being a casting director, Loveleen says that the reason why she never takes up each and every other project that comes to her is because she has never looked upon casting as a career but has always viewed it as a movement towards directing her own films and casting has permitted her to associate with film makers whose work she admires profoundly and also to know about working with actors which is the most important element of film making. Other than working as the casting director, Danny Boyle gave a great opportunity to Loveleen to work with him as his co-director. May be her sense and clear views must have made Danny to decide upon entrusting the responsibility of the co-director. As the casting process was going on, Loveleen suggested to the Danny Boyle and the writer Simon Beaufoy that it was important to do some of the film in Hindi to make it livelier. Danny without wasting much time asked Loveleen to write the Hindi dialogues and as the day to start the shooting came closer, he asked her to come on board as the co-director. This is what the lady now basking in the glory of being a team member of 'Slumdog Millionaire' has to say on the Indian taste of the film and the master film maker who made all this possible for her. "For me, it is fully and totally Indian. It is set here, it is about our world and it feels "apna". I think a lot of it comes from the fact that Danny embraced the script in a complete way. He wanted to tell the story as an insider and I think he has succeeded in a way that is inspiring to all of us in the film world who fear doing anything outside our familiar comfort zones. Working with Danny Boyle has been truly inspiring. His energy is infectious and brings out the best in everyone around him. I have had an amazing fortune of being able to learn from a master. I sometimes feel like I am the off-screen " Millionaire" to come out of 'Slumdog Millionaire'. I feel so enriched from this experience". via:indiaglitz