|
|
| ENTERTAINMENT - BOLLYWOOD |
| Dentist Turns Filmmaker with Crossover Film ‘Rockin’ Meera’ | | By LISA TSERING | | | indiawest.com | November 19, 2009 03:02:00 PM |
|
Param Gill, a dentist based in Northern California, makes his filmmaking debut with “Rockin’ Meera,” a crosscultural comic love story about Meera, a young Indian American woman (Nauheed Cyrusi), who falls in love with African American hip-hop artist Rock (Terrance Quaites) despite her parents’ disapproval — it seems Meera’s already been betrothed to Prince, a man in India (Sonu Sood).
When Meera disappears just before her wedding to Rock, he decides to make the trip to Rajasthan to track her down. Once there, though, he comes up against Prince and the sparks start to fly.
 The film, which cost $1.5 million to produce, was shot on location in New York and Rajasthan and is distributed by Net Effect Media.
Gill studied dentistry in Newark, N.J., a city with a largely African American population. “I interacted with lot of African Americans and was really influenced by their culture,” Gill explained to India-West in an e-mail. “When the time came to write a film, I thought, what if we take an African American family to Rajasthan? Throw in a love story and the cultural interaction will be pure fireworks.”
And while Gill is marketing the film here in the Indian American community, Terrance Quaites has unleashed a viral Internet marketing campaign to reach black viewers.
“During a special screening of the film at [Atlanta’s] Independent Black Film Festival, we got a standing ovation. Someone remarked that this film should be in every African American library, because it gives an opportunity to African Americans to understand and admire Indian culture. They just loved the Indian costumes, songs and dances,” said Gill.
The music, as you can imagine, is an upbeat mix of Bollywood and hip-hop. Composed by Satish-Ajay and Will Storkson, the soundtrack features the vocals of Sukhwinder Singh, Sunidhi Chauhan and Shaan as well as Quaites, known as TQ.
And here’s a morsel only a dentist could dream up: the name of Rock’s hip-hop band? “Nerve Block.”
“Rockin’ Meera” opens Nov. 26 in several locations around the country: in California, the film will screen at the Norwalk 8 and the IMC6 in San Jose. For more information, visit www.rockinmeera.com. |
| | |
|
|