Shekhar Kapur's W A T E R

[shariqq]

"Thirty-five years in the future in a city of 20 Million, when the Water Wars have begun between those that have it and those that don’t, a young, impetuous renegade falls in love with the one girl he seemingly can’t have."

Shekhar Kapur, Barrie Osborne, Andrew Niccol, AR Rahman & Deepak Chopra - all associated with one movie!
WATER will be shot in India at a budget of $20 Million.


Official Site

[kaytee]

I know he was working on this project for a long time but for some reason it kept delaying. Here are quotes from Shekhar Kapur's blog posted in August 2005:

Paani is a film about a city of 20 million inhabitants which runs dry of water. The water wars have begun between those that still have water and those that do not. Water has now become a weapon of political, social and economic exploitation.

The picture posted here is part of a series that I took last year which are going to be show-cased at the Talwar gallery in NY. It represents the great divide in water availability between the rich and the poor in Mumbai. The girl you see has walked 3 miles to bring water to her home.

Today another dream was rekindled. Paani. A film that has lived in my consciousness for almost 5 years, when I watched 50 women and children standing in the hot sun in Mumbai. Each carrying a bucket waiting for a tap to start dripping with water.

Paani means Water in Hindi.

I had just come down from a friends place in Pali Hill, one of the more expensive residential areas in Mumbai. My friend had me waiting for half an hour while he showered. He lived on the 30th floor, and the slum where there was no water was just below his apartment building.

This inequity in the most basic resource neccessary for human survival set me thinking and a story developed.

More later...

[X.]

I remember how he coerced Andrew Niccol into writing his movie.

I quote from memory. He basically met him at Cannes or something and mentioned "Water." Niccol joked he'd be interested in writing it. Kapur being the astute businessman  started telling everybody! Interest grew and Niccol was so overwhelmed he just said YES!

Besides Shekhar Kapur is a director with real talent and vision. Unlike some other Indian hacks...(ak waves to Capt Howdy).

[shariqq]

Besides Shekhar Kapur is a director with real talent and vision.

I was watching bits & pieces of Mr India yesterday - just to refresh my memory. The movie is still surprisingly good. I say surprisingly because after watching so many more Hollywood flicks and out-dated 80s stuff, I expected it to look dated. But not at all. SriDevi is still irritating though.

MOGAMBO KHUSH HUA!

[fizz]

I was watching bits & pieces of Mr India yesterday - just to refresh my memory. The movie is still surprisingly good. I say surprisingly because after watching so many more Hollywood flicks and out-dated 80s stuff, I expected it to look dated. But not at all. SriDevi is still irritating though.

From my memory of it, I remember not just hating that film, but really detesting it. I thought it was dated even back then....

[kaytee]

From my memory of it, I remember not just hating that film, but really detesting it. I thought it was dated even back then....

No way Fizz, what Shekhar Kapur achieved back then was a miracle. If you see the effects in the movie they are spot on. And he managed to create an inimitable bad guy (Mogambo) which will be remembered for years to come.

[fizz]

Did I tell you I have bad memory?

[sacred_promises]

He sure is one of the rarest breeds of directors.. i absolutely Loved his Mr. India movie.My most adorable character was Calender back then and some May have noticed Aftab shivdasani playing one of the kids in it. i Never liked sri devi in it. thought she was a waste in it:P i find her voice superficial, although she is a good dancer , Not all good dancers have a good voice, take hema malini for eg.

[shariqq]

Not all good dancers have a good voice, take hema malini for eg.

Agreed - the good ones being Waheeda Rehman & Meenakshi Sheshadri.

[sandeep]

From my memory of it, I remember not just hating that film, but really detesting it. I thought it was dated even back then....

No way Fizz, what Shekhar Kapur achieved back then was a miracle. If you see the effects in the movie they are spot on. And he managed to create an inimitable bad guy (Mogambo) which will be remembered for years to come.

I agree KT... not only was it path breaking, but it had all the quotients to make it a success, which it was