'Shoot on Sight' in London

by Pervaiz Alam, London

Above, Brian Cox, Stephen Greif and Naseeruddin Shah as Scotland Yard's police officers.

The filming of director Jagmohan Mundhra's new feature film 'Shoot On Sight' in English is creating a buzz in London these days. It's almost an eight-week schedule that started in May 2007.

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Usually, Bollywood directors come to London to capture some of the most famous icons such as Big Ben, South Bank, Tower Bridge and river Thames for their tourist appeal, while Mundhra, for example, shows a part of the Thames surrounded by police officials and divers as a dead body is being fished out from the water. How unromantic! Mundhra's locations show London in a different context.

Locations & London Bombings

"My film is set against the backdrop of the London bombings in 2005. It's the ordinary London that breathes in an extra ordinary situation in my story, and that's the explanation of shooting in London. It took me almost six months to finalise the locations that include, London tube stations, platforms, shopping centres, madrasas, mosques, schools, suburbs, and above all Scotland Yard as some of my main characters are senior police officers," explains Jagmohan Mundhra who considers London his second home after Los Angeles where he started his film career.

London bombings happened around the time when Jagmohan Mundhra was directing 'Provoked', featuring Aishwarya Rai. Most of the film was shot in and around London. Madhu Ambat, recognised for working with Hollywood director Manoj Night Shyamalan, who also shot 'Provoked', has been retained as Director of Photography by Mundhra.

'Shoot on Sight', produced by Aron Govil of Cine Boutique, a new company trying to establish its credentials in the genre of crossover cinema, touches upon the dilemmas faced by a cosmopolitan society when it's gripped by fear- fear of Islamic extremism. Against the backdrop of bombings, racial profiling and Islamophobia also creep in.

Two PhDs on sets

Jagmohan Mundhra is a PhD in Marketing from Michigan University. Interestingly, Aron Govil, the producer of the film, too is a PhD but in Environmental Engineering from the US. I ask Aron "Isn't it odd?"

"Now that you point it out, it sounds odd. I really find it amusing that Jag and I are perhaps the odd couple in this line of filmmaking," says a brooding producer. So, is it a help or hindrance?                Jagmohan Mundhra with Madhu Ambat DOP on camera

"Oh it's fantastic! Trust me. Both of us are quite methodical in our approach. I hate chaos. We know how to prepare and implement projects in today's corporate world. Filmmaking, I'm realising, could be a logistical nightmare, but 'thanks to my background', I'm doing fine," Govil adds with a sense of pride.

Cast

"My film's protagonist is Tariq, Scotland Yard's senior most Muslim police officer, who's asked to hunt-down suspected suicide-bombers. I'm lucky to have one of South Asia's best actors Naseeruddin Shah in that role, while his wife's character is being played by internationally acclaimed Greta Scacchi," informs Mundhra. Pictured right, Naseeruddin Shah and Greta Scacchi, romancing while making chapaties.

'Shoot On Sight' is an actors' film. Veterans of Indian and Hollywood cinema are going to battle it out for accolades.

Naseeruddin Shah is simply brilliant with whatever he does. Two national awards (Sparsh 1980, Paar 1984), three Filmfare awards (Aakrosh 1980, Chakra 1981, Masoom 1983) and an award at Venice Film Festival (Paar 1984) do not tell one the whole story. He's revered in India as an actor. He has also been awarded Padma Bushan, India's third highest civilian award, by the government of India.

Greta Scacchi starred with Harrison Ford as his wife in crime thriller 'Presumed Innocent' and with Tim Robbins in Hollywood satire 'The Player' as a character called June Gudmundsdottir. A veteran of more than 40 films, she started her film career with a Merchant-Ivory production 'Heat and Dust' (1982). In the film, she falls in love with Zakir Husain, the tabla player. She's an icon in Britain where she has acted in some of the best television plays.

India's ace actor Om Puri is doing the character of an Imam, sporting a beard. Shah and Puri are actually in the same league. An OBE and winner of several national awards in India, Puri is better known in the western world than Shah. His memorable roles in 'My Son the Fanatic' (1997) and 'East Is East' (1999) made him an honourary British actor. His portrayal of a police officer in Hindi film 'Ardh Satya' (1982) catapulted him to incredible heights in India. Puri's portfolio of Hindi, British, Hollywood films is huge.

India's perennial villain in Hindi films, Gulshan Grover, for a change, is a Halal Butcher in the film and not a villain. How ironical!

The other international star in 'Shoot On Sight' is Scottish actor Brian Cox who became a cult star for his original portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in Michael Mann's 'Manhunter'. His other films include 'The Rookie', 'The Bourne Identity', 'The Ring', 'X-Men 2'. He also played Agamemnon to Brad Pitt's Achilles in Wolfgang Petersen's 'Troy'. In Mundhra's film Cox plays the role of a senior police officer, who happens to be Shah's boss. Pictured above, Brian Cox.

British actor Stephen Greif, who was nominated for an Olivier Award for his acting in "Death of a Salesman" at The National Theatre, is another police officer.

'Shoot On Sight' features a sexy Laila Rouaas as detective. Laila, as many would recall, acted in Mundhra's film 'Bawandar (Sandstorm 2001), is more famous for playing Amber Gates in the hit show 'Footballers' Wives'. Interestingly, Laila came to lime light when she used to present a BBC World Television programme, Style.

Nafisa Ali, who made her debut in Junoon (1978), plays the role of Naseer's elder sister in the film.

Among the young actors in the film are Mikaal Zulfiqar and Sadie Frost- two very promising actors, pictured right. "They are going to be stars after the release of my film," declares Mundhra. Sadie is English while Mikaal boasts a mixed parentage, half English and half Pakistani.

Producer

Shoot On Sight, says its producer Aron Govil, is Cine Boutique Entertainment's first feature, to be followed with an announcement of five more feature films. Govil says "Jag and I have founded Cine Boutique as a vertically integrated entertainment Media Company, which actually means we are keen to be engaged in the business of production, marketing and distribution of quality films for global crossover audiences."

The US-based Aron Govil, pictured above with Shah, is an industrialist with worldwide holdings in environmental systems, industrial controls and media entertainment. Govil's flagship company Ducon Technologies Inc., reported to be worth $400 million, operates from many countries.

PS: All pictures in this story have been taken on the sets of 'Shoot On Sight'.

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