In another case of a director-musician teaming, Baz Luhrmann has revealed that he is in discussions to collaborate with composer A.R. Rahman of “Slumdog Millionaire” fame as well as noting his own ambitions to make a film in India at some stage.
“I spent the morning with AR Rahman, now my friend,” Luhrman tells India Times [via Herald Sun]. “We had a discussion and he’s fantastic. We are planning to create some work together, but it’s too early to talk about it. I’d just say that we want to create the right piece, for the right story so that it can be told well.”
“It’s always been about storytelling for me. I have created music too, still do. I’ve worked with the best musicians… Bono… Elton John. In fact, just a while ago, I created a work with Elton John. So, whatever be the medium – music, art, cinema or paintings – expressing oneself through a story is most important for me. I am in the business and life of a storyteller.”
It sounds like Luhrmann’s teaming with Rahman is a music project rather than something cinematic but it would definitely leave the door open. When asked about other potential future projects with Indian talent, Luhrman replied “I wonder at times about this myself. It’s my dream to make a movie in India.”
The director takes great inspiration from Bollywood, evident in his inclusion of a Bollywood-influenced sequence in “Moulin Rouge” to popular Indian song “Chamma Chamma.” Luhrmann also adds that he is “deeply influenced by how much Bollywood offers in a single package, and wanted to include that in [his] storytelling.. It’s really about drama, comedy, tragedy and music. It is a form that leads to the exaltation of the human spirit. It raises audiences to new hopes.”
Luhrmann’s ravishing style would definitely suit Bollywood but how commercial viable would it be? His last effort, “Australia,” severely underperformed at the U.S. box office and was only saved financially by Australian tax rebates (though underperformed is relative, it cost $130 million not including P&A, but made $211 million worldwide, with DVD on top that it should be out of the red). Bollywood, though, has always been welcoming of Hollywood talent and could very well came with money in hand for a non-Hollywood production.
