Nicola Pecorini, the Director of Photography of the much talked about Shahrukh Khan's Ra.One in an interview to an Italian site talked about his exprience working in Bollywood and the difference between Bollywood and Hollywood.I have added excerpts from the interview. It makes for an interesting reading.
Do you think there are many differences between the Bollywood and Hollywood productions?
First, I shall list the similarities: in both cases the final product is a film. The organization of production, forms of financing, roles, both in pre-production and in production are very different. On the other hand, the Indian society is deeply different from the West and this is reflected in cinema. In my case, moreover, the situation was unique. Red Chillies is truly a world apart, with its great king, King Khan, and dynamics similar to those who imagine they were in vogue in feudal times, the court, the favorites and palace conspiracies. On second thought even Italy has some of these features ... One thing that immediately catches the eye is the incredible freedom and power the actors have, only the ones screaming, of course. In Hollywood, even Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp cannot afford a tantrum.
How was it working with Anubhav Sinha?
All in all I felt good, although the role of director in a film like is very different from what is usually understood. Eventually the person who decided everything was Shah Rukh. Anubhav had no other alternative bit to agree. As I said you can not contradict the King, it sometimes becomes very difficult to protect him from himself.
As for the look we agreed on certain parameters of video games for the final sequences (Level1, Level 2 and Climax, as we called them in production), the rest has been an ongoing dialogue with Sabu and Markus Ciryl Wookey, the two designers. Sabu is fantastic, full of ideas, resources and irony
How was the experience working with the cast. Shah Rukh Khan ,Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Rampal?
Shah Rukh is sufficiently sharp. I could not understand his determination to be late every day, even 4.5, 6 hours! I became crazy! He certainly a formidable professional (once he arrives on the set) and an even more formidable businessman. The inventiveness and depth of promoting Ra.One was incredible. SRK is not just a man, but is an industry.
Kareena is inscrutable, always seems to be on another planet. When you strike the clapper back into itself and then go away immediately when you call the "cut". Arjun is very nice and in my opinion a good one.
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other than a few visual effects ra one sucked
I think he's very objective & I don't think he's bashing SRK or Kareena on purpose, he just speaking by his very own experience working w/ them. He said that SRK is professional but lack of discipline on time. We saw/read Ra.One promotions, he's literally EVERYWHERE! none can doubt his energy or determination.
We know he's a little possessive on real life / on set, he make the movie for Aryan & even invest alot of money on it, so clearly it's his "precious" (as Smeagol said in LOTR :) ). I think he confused himself for being the actor or the producer. He should've given more control to Anubav (reminds me of KJo once said: Trust the director).
"Kareena is inscrutable, always seems to be on another planet" LOL! I saw that in her (almost) every scenes in Ra.1. She failed in developing the character, even a B grade actress can do that. Maybe she's just too tired of doing many films and confused herself w/ the roles.
Yes..yes maybe I still making excuses for him :p
Sallu and SRK think they own the world and come into work whenever they want. I didn't actually expect this from SRK, especially regarding his "dream" project.
@Tue, 2012-04-10 09:35 — Anonymous
Agreed one should be punctual and that's a great quality but perhaps SRK developed this habit due to painful experiences where he was punctual but nothing started on time. Maybe this is HIS way of time management in the indian environment. Maybe he rather be doing something constructive than wait on sets twiddling his thumbs. Atleast when he arrives on the sets this way, everything is ready to go. Trying to see his reasoning behind this.
I agree that Indian film industry has different sets of rules when it comes to being on time and who gets how much screen space. Probably SRK went through the same thing when he started off. But it is a poor excuse. Time is money and that is why in my opinion punctuality is important. Its a film that he is producing. Its just that if he had a shred of professionalism and had he learnt anything from his starting days then he would not do the same thing and put his crew through the same tiresome and exhausting experience. From what Nicola says, he seems to be an irritating self-absorbed and utterly unprofessional person.
No his not.. How can he...does he do anything by himself?.... IS HE A ONE MAN BAND.
he is a hound nothing more nothing less haha
Tue, 2012-04-10 09:35 — Anonymous
Stop making excuses for him.
Srk is unprofessional like salman khan and arrives when he wants to. You think he can do this to a good hollywood director like james cameron? he will be sacked first day itself.
Everyone says srk is king but king of what? bollywood? king of romance I say.
I feel sorry for people praising a medicore actor like srk and licking his feet.
I stopped watching bolly movies after ra 1. If the "king" starts acting in garbage movies, so will his followers................haha
Funny stuff. :)
ra one flopped in India, it made 100 cr net when the budget was 140 cr.
The key line here is "sometimes it becomes very difficult to protect him from himself". Very true.
Whenever he makes the director toe his line the film it turns out boring. Example all KJo movies after KKKHH. It looks like srk sleep walks thru them as KJo lets him walk all over him. Else it is worth a watch, like swades, chak de, even paheli to a certain extent, although he did try to overcome amol palekar the director but I believe he stood his ground. Yash Chopra he doesn't have the audacity to contradict, and so his movies turn out well too, Veer Zaara, RNBDJ, Dil to pagal hai. You get the drift...
The only thing that this points out is SRK's arrogance and unprofessionalism! How that man has made it this big in Bollywood without any talent or looks is beyond me. Actors who've pulled that type of behavior in HW have been fired and replaced within a week!
Ra one made a lot of money....his next movies will also be a hit....people are plain jealous of SRK...
SRK sounds like a self absorbed monster. I feel bad for whatever director has to work "under" him
wow! This is how an interview should be. Srk thinks too high of himself which was very much evident in the film and no wonder it bombed. Coming 4-5hrs late! Deciding on everything! Shows the kind of professionalism bollywood has. Get your feet on the ground, Mr. Srk or else you will be digging your own grave.
Agreed one should be punctual and that's a great quality but perhaps SRK developed this habit due to painful experiences where he was punctual but nothing started on time. Maybe this is HIS way of time management in the indian environment. Maybe he rather be doing something constructive than wait on sets twiddling his thumbs. Atleast when he arrives on the sets this way, everything is ready to go. Trying to see his reasoning behind this.
the difference b/w srk (especially as a producer) and most other actors (be it aamir, or john abraham, or salman khan) is that the other actors try to do what's best for the film (and have the guts to not appear in their home production at all), whereas shahrukh thinks HE'S the best thing that could ever happen to a film...so he just puts himself in as many frames as possible. ra.one was all abt srk. and his stupid fantasies. even the title character wasn't given due importance in the film! it was pretty obvious that srk came up with the crude humour as well, cos it STUNK just like his recent award show hosting! there was no need for an srk song in always kabhie kabhie, or 3 srk songs in billu barber (there was no such drama in the original malayalam version!!). he thinks that the srk factor is sufficient to sustain a film, and that kinda mentality is just wrong! SRK is a self-absorbed and self-obsessed actor. its all about HIM. srk is ok working for other producers, but when he produces a film, he goes wrong.
too bad ra obe flopped
Yes. SRk is PR industry. That's why interviews like this get published all over the world.
How was it working with Anubhav Sinha?
All in all I felt good, although the role of director in a film like is very different from what is usually understood. Eventually the person who decided everything was Shah Rukh. Anubhav had no other alternative bit to agree. As I said you can not contradict the King, it sometimes becomes very difficult to protect him from himself.
Haha, no wonder it was such a badly made film!
SHAHRUKH KHAN IS ONE MAN INDUSTRY
its this guy
IU loved the honesty. Coming 6 hours late is so unprofessional. i would fire that person right away...seriously the director was scared of srk and kareena...both are huge stars and he could not say anything back...because in Bollywood once the get angry they won't work with each other.
Arjun is to good and honest for the industry called Khan. SRK never derserved a friend like him.
I like that she was honest. LOL at Kareena being called inscrutable!!
Nicola is a dude, is it not?
Anyway I love the HONEST commentary on Bollywood, no indian dares to be frank like this.
Looks like SRK dug his own grave by over-riding the directors opinions on Ra1, the movie could have been so much better, but it totally defied logic and was real poor story-telling.
Mon, 2012-04-09 17:52 — Anonymous
"SRK is not just a man, but is a super man...who can chew plastic lips ;)"
Ahahaha.. The best commit ever. I must say that it takes him hrs to chew them hard plastic lips, but she also pleasures his teeny weeny, itzy bitzy thing with her little finger ( as we all saw in a photo).. So both superman and jungli bill were enjoying some how.
Candidly candid
This article is what I call perfect example of back handed complement. The guy is clearly bashing SRK for his over involvement and temper tantrums and unpunctuality. I don't disagree. The director should be able to call the shots in his film but clearly that wasn't the case. Also being late is considered the display of power in this industry which is a known fact but in every other industry (be it film or anything else) in the world it is considered to be a reproachable quality. No wonder that Ra.one was such a colossal disappointment. The part where he called Kareena inscrutable is the funniest bit in this entire interview. As for Arjun Rampal, he seems to be the only one who made a good impression on his mind and I agree he is a very decent and nice person.
Whats with the Ra One being a flop? It earned over 100 crores. Thats not called flop. Thats called blockbuster
This chick blatantly bashed both SRK and Kareena. She has guts lol.