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CREATIVE IRELAND
ITMAY NOT BE THE FIRST TIMETHAT INDIAN FILM- MAKERS HAVE COME TO DUBLIN, BUT IT IS CER- TAINLY THE FIRST TIME THAT WE HAVE PLAYED HOST TO SUCH A BOLLYWOOD BLOCKBUSTER AS THIS,FEATURINGTWOOFTHEINDUSTRY’SBIGGEST PAID STARS.EKTHATIGERIS ESTIMATED TO HAVE BROUGHT SOME €1.5M INTO THE ECONOMY AND TO HAVECREATEDSOME1,000SHORT-TERMJOBS. Dublin’s iconic Trinity College and its surrounds provide the
backdrop for some key scenes in Ek thaTiger, completewith the usual big singing and dancing numbers. The key dance routine was filmed in Trinity’s Parliament Square, a dream sequence featuring the film’s star Salman Khan who plays Tiger, and his love object, a dance student played byKatrinaKaif – bothmajor stars in Bollywood. According to the film’s award-winning director Kabir Khan,
Ek tha Tiger will be one of the major Bollywood movie releases when it comes out in June, and should inspire other Bollywood movie producers to look to Ireland as a possible film location. It is a sentiment echoed by Brendan Mc-
Carthy ofOscar-winning Irish company Fan- tastic Films, which co-produced the movie, providing much of the local crew and pre- production services. “It is really an incredible showcase for Ire-
land. I mean I don’t think you can really put a price on it,” he says. “You’re getting to show the country looking at its best, and maybe from a different point of view than say the Cliffs ofMoher and all those scenic locations. We get to show how fabulous Dublin is and can be. “Not alone will it put Ireland in the spot-
light for Bollywood, but there will be many other positive spin-offs from this. So many people will see this film, so in terms of tourism, of people thinking about coming to study in Dublin, it will really put Ireland on the map. Plus it will place Dublin into the consciousness of an entire sub-continent. That’s terrific, and it is very exciting to be part of it.” And indeed, the film is about as high-pro-
file as it gets. “It is significant because of the calibre of the project,” says McCarthy. “This is really the Rolls Royce of Bollywood films. Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif are Bolly- wood superstars. Salman Khan is probably the hottest actor at themoment.Hismost re- cent movie was released in August and it made its budget back in four days. “The filmwill be seen by about 100 million
60 INNOVATION IRELAND REVIEW Issue 3 Autumn/Winter 2011
people. Yash Raj, the company that is producing this film is a major player,with its own studios, andwith distribution, all over India but also all over the Middle East, the UK and Canada.”
BIG AS THE BEATLES Such films appeal to the Indian diaspora worldwide, and Mc- Carthy says the evidence of thiswas clear inDublin,with an avid following from that group in Ireland during the shoot. “While they’ve been shooting in Dublin, there’s been a constant follow- ing of fans, swooning and screaming every time they see Salman in particular. They absolutely go crazy. It is like The Beatles. These guys are superstars among the Indian diaspora.” It is also a vindication of Ireland’s creative industries, and of
‘It is really an incredible showcase for Ireland. Plus it will placeDublin into the consciousness of an entire sub-
continent.That’s terrific, and it is very exciting to be part of it’
the skilled crews available here in the film industry, says Mc- Carthy. “Over the sixweeks or so of the shoot, therewill be 1,000 peopleworking on the film,which is
terrific.And these are Irish jobs. The company brings its own small core team of about 50 people, but all the other jobs are taken up here. So you are talking crew and extras, and then it trickles down to local lawyers, accountants and other professionals.” One of the factors that would have influ-
enced Yash Raj is the very professional film scene here in Ireland, according to Mc- Carthy. “For instance, they could have easily brought their own art department with them, but they haven’t, they are using an Irish one, which is great.”
FANTASTIC FILMS McCarthy has been a part of the film indus- try in Ireland for many years. Today he jointly runs Fantastic Films with John Mc- Donnell, having been head of production and development at the Irish Film Board in a past life. His script WakeWood was pro- duced by Fantastic Films in 2008, in part- nershipwith the legendary horror company Hammer Films. This Bollywood co-produc- tion is somewhat of a departure for the com- pany. “This isn’t exactly our core business but
it is a business thatwe’re interested in being involved in, so we’ve pitched many, many times to international companies who are looking to come here,” he says. “Very often you make an elaborate pitch
and then they change their minds or, as is more likely, the film just never goes ahead. “In this case we were initially introduced
to themthrough the Irish FilmCommission. India’s a long way from here and we would not have been very familiar with the
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