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Indian Express
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Gave Amitabh Bachchan a Hollywood film's CD instead of a script when I went to sign him, recalls producer: ‘He asked what do I do with it?'
In the early 2000s, Amitabh Bachchan was successfully mounting a comeback in Bollywood after enduring a tough period in the 1990s. During this time, filmmakers in India had no qualms about remaking Hollywood films, even without buying any rights as the laws regarding these matters weren't strictly in place at the time. Keeping up with the trend, Big B was also offered the remake of a Hollywood film, but interestingly, without a script. The actor, who is often regarded as the greatest actor in the Indian film industry, was directly handed the CD of a Hollywood film and was told that they will Indianise it if he came on board, which, obviously, left the actor shell shocked. While appearing on Friday Talkies' YouTube channel, producer Bunty Walia spoke about the making of Ek Ajnabee, which was directed by Apoorva Lakhia, and also starred Arjun Rampal, and said that Lakhia decided to make this film after watching Denzel Washington-starrer Man on Fire. The duo thought that if they wanted to remake it, Amitabh would be the best man for the job. Right before this, Lakhia had made his Bollywood debut with Abhishek Bachchan-starrer Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost. Bunty recalled, 'I talked to Amitabh sir's secretary, Sheetal ji, and we fixed up a meeting with him. When I met with him, he asked me for the script, and I told him that we didn't have any script, and I handed him the CD of Man on Fire. I told him we were going to 'Indianise' it and then make a film.' Walia added that Amitabh was confused with what they were trying to do and asked him, 'What do I do with it?' His secretary was definitely not impressed by their level of readiness. 'I remember Sheetal ji looking at me like I was a fool. We didn't have a script or schedule for the film, and we were trying to sign him for the film. He gave us dates for many months later and told us straight that now it was our job to convince Amitabh sir to do the film.' ALSO READ: Bollywood's biggest hairstylist died penniless, family was left with 'nothing to eat' despite counting Bachchans, Kapoors as friends After borrowing money from his father and talking to the actor, Walia was able to sign him for the film, but even though the veteran actor had said yes to the project, he still had his reservations about playing an action hero. Walia talked about shooting in Bangkok and shared how Amitabh was curious to know why they signed him. 'We had some time on our hands, and Amitabh sir asked me, 'Why did you guys sign me? I am an old man.' I smirked and said, 'If you think you are old, then so many people from the industry should just retire'.' Amitabh's time shooting Ek Ajnabee was certainly eventful, as previously shared by Apoorva Lakhia during his appearance on Friday Talkies. The director shared that while roaming around Bangkok after shooting one day, Big B ended up going to a strip club called Exotic p****. 'I told him, 'Sir, this is Patpong; there are live shows here. If I take you, there will be riots. He said, 'No, we will go.' So, I said, Let's go.' Big B would make new plans every day after filming was over, and according to Lakhia, he would reach the set right on time, even if he had been clubbing the night before. Apart from Amitabh, the cast of the film also included Arjun Rampal, Rucha Vaidya, Perizad Zorabian, and Akhilendra Mishra. The movie it took inspiration from, Man on Fire, was directed by Tony Scott.
Scroll.in
5 days ago
- Business
- Scroll.in
Starlink: India's new satellite internet rules are a fresh hurdle – what five experts think
This article was originally published in Rest of World, which covers technology's impact outside the West. India has just made it harder for Starlink to enter the market. Around two months after Starlink announced retail partnerships with the country's leading telecom operators, India – home to the world's second-largest internet user base – introduced a new set of rules that satellite internet providers must comply with for permission to operate. The 29-point directive issued on May 5 mandates that companies provide real-time location tracking, data localisation, metadata sharing, and website blocking as well as set up surveillance zones near borders. The new rules come in the wake of a surge in tensions between India and neighboring Pakistan. The rules will affect existing license holders, like Indian telecom giants Airtel and Jio, as well as those awaiting regulatory approvals, like Amazon's Project Kuiper and Elon Musk's Starlink. Rest of World spoke to telecom experts to understand the implications of the new rules. The comments have been edited for length and clarity. Delay in rollout Varun Gupta, senior analyst, Counterpoint Technology Market Research 'The new rules represent a welcome step toward regulatory clarity, which was previously lacking. Certain aspects of these rules will be enabled for the first time in any market where satellite internet has been used. Their implementation could delay the rollout of satellite broadband services, as potential operators may need time to test these requirements in the Indian context. This might involve conducting live proof-of-concept trials, which could further extend the timelines for commercial readiness.' Starlink's prospects Pulkit Pandey, director analyst, Gartner 'Indian telecom companies are aware of regulatory norms, making it relatively easier for them to adapt to these guidelines. However, for organisations such as Starlink and Kuiper, this could be an additional step to receive their licence.' Varun Yadav, lawyer at Indian legal firm S&R Associates 'The issuance of formal guidelines is a positive step for any pending applicant, including Starlink, as it replaces uncertainty. However, certain provisions – such as traffic routing through Indian gateways and user terminal-level controls – may necessitate operational adjustments. Whether this facilitates or delays licensing will depend on the applicant's alignment with the framework and responsiveness to national security considerations.' Irina Tsukerman, a New York–based human rights and national security lawyer 'Starlink's entire model is built on global interoperability, low latency, and centralised deployment. India wants the opposite – fragmented control, localised nodes, and bilateral oversight. If Starlink is willing to adapt – to Indianise its operating model, to accept bureaucratic encumbrances, and to play by India's hard rules – then yes, the market is enormous and the rewards tempting. But if it insists on moving fast and breaking things, it will find itself permanently grounded.' Not unprecedented Raman Jit Singh Chima, senior international counsel and Asia Pacific policy director, Access Now 'India is responding to pressures from security establishments, which want to carefully and tightly control the deployment of satellite internet. They're quite hostile to the expansion of satellite internet. But this is not unprecedented. Other countries also have their requirements. For example, South Africa has requirements regarding being able to work with South African businesses or being owned by South Africans, particularly those from less economically empowered communities in the past. Musk has categorically been railing against that publicly as a concern, as an impediment holding South Africa back. You have similar requirements, on the books, in Nigeria, which haven't necessarily been implemented with Starlink.' Varun Gupta, senior analyst, Counterpoint Technology Market Research 'There are precedents from countries like China and Russia. However, the requirement for 20% indigenisation is unique to India. This move is expected to boost the local ecosystem. Companies like Starlink could benefit from it, particularly through its partnerships with Jio and Airtel. These domestic players have an established ecosystem for telecom equipment production and can collaborate with Starlink to co-develop products, potentially accelerating time to market for their satellite broadband services.'
Mint
03-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Uday Shankar flags need for fresh monetization models, warns against homogenized regulation
Mumbai: At a time when India's media giants are pouring billions into content, Uday Shankar, co-founder of Bodhi Tree Systems and vice chairman of JioStar, warned that the investment surge risks falling short without deeper innovation in monetisation, regulation, and audience strategy. Speaking at the Waves 2025 summit, Shankar laid out a clear-eyed assessment of the sector's challenges: a stagnant revenue model, a creatively stalled Bollywood, an aging leadership out of sync with India's youthful audience, and regulators who treat digital and television as one and the same. His call to action: rethink the business from the ground up—or risk squandering India's chance to build globally competitive media platforms. In a conversation with Media Partners Asia's Vivek Couto, Shankar called the last three decades of Indian visual media 'one of the most spectacular stories in global media,' but cautioned that the sector cannot ride on legacy growth alone. 'The viewers are far ahead of the producers,' he said. 'We keep importing global models and expect them to work here. That's highly limiting.' Shankar revealed that the combined entity of Reliance's Viacom18 and Disney Star has spent over ₹ 30,000 crore on content in 2025, up from ₹ 25,000 crore last year. The figure is expected to exceed ₹ 33,000 crore in 2026. 'That's over $10 billion in three years. This is real, targeted investment aimed entirely at the Indian consumer,' he said. While major investments are flowing into both sports and entertainment, Shankar stressed that content alone won't suffice. 'There has been great innovation in content and distribution. But monetisation? Zero. It's still subscription and advertising. That was the model 70 years ago, and it's still the model today,' he said, underscoring the urgent need for new revenue streams. 'You cannot build a globally valuable media company without reinventing how you make money.' Tracing the arc of India's video revolution, Shankar credited local entrepreneurship and domestic capital—not regulation or foreign investment—with building a deeply-penetrated video ecosystem. 'Satellite TV snuck in when there were no rules. It was built from the ground up, largely by Indian companies,' he said. Even global players like Star, he noted, had to 'Indianise' themselves fully. He also challenged the narrative that pay TV is dead. Since the Disney-Viacom18 merger, he said, 'pay TV has added numbers, not lost them. The problem was we stopped feeding it.' He reaffirmed the group's commitment to both pay TV and streaming, adding that pricing and affordability must be central to any growth plan. 'If your ambition is to reach 300 million or half a billion people, you can't price like you're serving 15–20 million elite users.' Citing JioHotstar's localisation push in sports—now streaming in Bhojpuri and Haryanvi in addition to major languages—Shankar said this has brought in new audiences and unlocked new revenue streams. On the downturn in theatrical revenues, Shankar made a key distinction: 'It's the Hindi film industry that's in trouble, not the South.' Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada films, he noted, are in the midst of a creative resurgence that's also driving commercial success. 'Bollywood is still frozen in time. It has shut the gates to new talent and stayed disconnected from the new India.' He flagged a generational disconnect in the industry: 'This is a country where 65% of the population is under 35. Yet 90% of the creative decision-makers are over 60.' Shankar also highlighted the stark difference in theatrical pricing between the north and the south, observing that in many cities, moviegoing 'leaves a hole in your pocket.' Shankar didn't hold back on regulation either. 'If media companies haven't innovated enough, regulators are even further behind,' he said. Treating all screens the same, he warned, is a flawed approach. 'Television is a household subscription. Digital is a personal screen. They're at very different stages of evolution. Homogenising them means destroying value in both.' He argued that India's digital entertainment economy shouldn't be crammed into a one-size-fits-all regulatory model. 'Support where needed. But don't squeeze everything into the same framework.' Shankar also pushed back on the perception that India's subscription market is limited. 'We've already blown past the idea that this is a 15–20 million subscriber market. It's not. It can be 300 million and beyond.' As streaming becomes ubiquitous and scale is no longer the barrier, Shankar said the real gap is in imagination. 'You can't just think of yourself as a media company anymore. That definition is outdated. If we innovate on product, content, and monetisation, there's no reason an Indian media company can't be valued globally like Netflix or Tencent.' First Published: 3 May 2025, 03:59 PM IST
