Ilia Volok with Nawazuddin Siddiqui and director Kushagra Sharma

With a filmography spanning over 200 Hollywood projects and collaborations with acclaimed directors such as Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, David Fincher and Roman Polanski, Ilia Volok has worked across a wide spectrum of the Western film industry. Now, the actor is set to make his Bollywood debut with Faraar, directed by Kushagra Sharma and starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui. In a candid conversation, Volok talks about stepping into Hindi cinema, working alongside Nawazuddin, the creative contrasts between Hollywood and Bollywood, and why his first visit to India left a lasting impression.

Ilia didn’t hesitate when Faraar came his way. He says, “I’ve always been fascinated by Hindi cinema and hoped that one day I would get the chance to work in Bollywood. When I was approached for Faraar and read the script, which I loved, there was no doubt in my mind that I had to be part of the project.”

A major factor was Kushagra’s collaborative approach. He shares, “He was open to my suggestions and ideas. That openness is valuable. It allows an artiste to exchange ideas freely and flourish, ultimately benefiting the film.”

Ilia speaks with admiration about his co-actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui. He says, “From the first moment on set, it was clear that Nawazuddin is a master of his craft and a complete professional.”

They quickly discovered a shared acting philosophy. He adds, “I sensed that his approach aligns with the style of method acting I was trained in. It focuses on emotional truth & encourages an actor to explore a character’s inner emotions and motivations.”

Elaborating on his experience with Tom Cruise on Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011), Ilia highlights discipline and generosity. “What struck me most was his focus and attention to detail, as well as his generosity as a scene partner. I knew he was there to help if I had any questions or needed clarification,” he recalls.

For Ilia, these qualities define true professionalism. He adds, “Some actors get distracted by external aspects of stardom. Some focus too much on superficial things, like the size of their trailer or vanity van. I prefer working with those who see acting as a continuous process of growth.”

For all its scale and technical precision, Ilia finds Western studio filmmaking more rigid. He explains, “I would say that within the Hollywood structure there is less room for improvisation. Working on Faraar taught me to be more open to the director’s new ideas and changes on the day of the shoot. That was refreshingly surprising! I think too much structure and control can potentially stifle creativity. In Bollywood, creativity breathes freely.”

Reflecting on his first visit to India last November to shoot a portion of the film, the actor says the experience reshaped his perspective. “Even though my visit was brief, I was blown away by this amazing country and its people. Over the years, I’ve heard and read about India, but nothing can substitute first-hand experience,” he says.

What stayed with him most was the warmth of the people. He shares, “Their kindness, warmth and generosity left a strong impression on me. I look forward to another visit soon.”

The buzz has been building since April when the announcement was first made — Neetu Kapoor and Kapil Sharma would star in Dadi Ki Shaadi, marking Riddhima Kapoor Sahni’s Bollywood debut. Now, director Ashish R Mohan tells mid-day that the family entertainer is set to wrap up soon, and he hopes to release it on Mother’s Day (May 10, 2026) or sometime in April.

After a 40-day schedule in Shimla, Mohan shares that although most of the shoot is complete, some patchwork scenes, including an end-credit song, remain to be filmed in January.

“I wanted to complete the film after I locked my release date. We had shot a song choreographed by Ganesh [Acharya] master in Shimla earlier this year, but a one-day shoot remained as there was talk of a [conflict between] India and Pakistan,” he recollects.

On May 7, India launched strikes on Pakistan in an operation code-named Operation Sindoor. For safety, Mohan returned to Mumbai with the cast and crew.

He shares that the finale number features “700 children from the schools in Shimla and outside and has the entire cast in it. I will invite the entire cast to come down [to] shoot the song and scenes — in Golden Tobacco Factory or Film City. [We also have] one-day scene to shoot with Riddhima,” adds the filmmaker.

Currently in post-production, Dadi Ki Shaadi is a comedy revolving around a family who gets involved in a family matriarch’s marriage. Earlier, the film — also starring South superstar Sarath Kumar, Nikhat Hegde, Tejaswini Kolhapure, and Sadia Khateeb — was planned for a December release. The makers will now announce the release date on December 20.

Across Whiplash, Only the Brave, and Top Gun: Maverick, Miles Teller has quietly built a loyal following in India. Ahead of the release of his recently released film Eternity, he sat down with us to talk about on-screen chemistry, the emotional core of the story, and what the journey has taught him about love. But before all that, he shares something unexpected — the one place here he’s genuinely curious to experience for himself.

“I've never been to India. But I have a lot of Indian buddies, so I've always been one to check it out. They're cool. I like what they're exporting on the human level, occasionally," he tells us.

He admits he has watched Indian content. “I have watched Indian content. Especially, RRR — the performance at the Oscars was badass. We love it. Keep it coming," he adds.

The conversation moves naturally to Eternity, where chemistry between long-tethered characters plays a crucial role. Teller explains how he found chemistry with his co-star Elizabeth Olsen.

“We knew the part of the country where these characters came from. There is a certain rhythm and energy to that. We knew just by the nature of how long these people had been together that there was a certain ease, a lack of vanity. They've just been coexisting for so long. But I thought that was fun about reigniting that excitement, too — that comes with no longer having to deal with the burdens of life. Being that age, you felt the best, and they get to go back to their "glory days". But you never know chemistry wise until you start working with the person. I thought we kind of hit it off right off the bat," he tells us.

As he talks about connection on screen, he also opens up about his idea of love and connection, off-screen. “I think you get out of it what you put into it. I find that for the different relationships in my life that are substantial… especially as you get older. And I'm thinking more of friendships, but in love and with family, you have to put some effort in to maintain it," he says.

Does he believe in the concept of partners for eternity? He quips, 'Yeah, my wife… she’s a very Catholic girl, and she's like, 'Oh, yeah, whoever dies first, the other person will be waiting to walk you over to the other side'.”

Talking about performing emotional scenes on screen, Teller states, "I do all the tricks. If the script is really well written, then it kind of is really going to serve you, and it's a lot harder when you don't have that luxury," he concludes.

Actress Elizabeth Olsen enjoys a loyal fan base in India courtesy of the portrayal of Wanda Maximoff across the Marvel Universe. The actress sits down for a chat with Bombay Times and is quite surprised to hear about the love she enjoys here. “I have never been to India. I'd love to. (But) I’ve definitely seen Indian content,” she says when asked about India.

Elizabeth's next is a rom-com, Eternity, where she is paired with Miles Teller and Callum Turner. Ask her what the art of finding chemistry with an on-screen partner and she explains, “It’s on the page. And there's something that is a lucky gift when you get to play characters that are just the most comfortable version of themselves. That looks like a form of chemistry because of the time spent. A lot of times as actors you might be put in uncomfortable situations - like making out - being chemistry. But for us it was our bickering and frustrations with each other that was a form of intimacy.”

As she plays a romantic character, ask her about her idea of love and she reveals, “I think love is allowed to be so many different things, so I wouldn't be able to make a definition. I think the love you feel with your first crush, at the age of eight, is just as valid as your first real romantic love in more formative years. And so is the love that you spend with—if you end up getting married or choosing a partner. I think all those forms of love are completely valid."

Eternity explores the idea of forever love. But does Olsen herself believe in it? She laughs off, "No. I thought it was just kind of funny."

While the movie, hits theatres tomorrow across PVR INOX Cinemas in the country, may be a rom-com it also lets Olsen explore a few emotional scenes, which let her explore the depths of her character. 

Leading into her process for emotional scenes, she adds, “It just depends on what you're doing. I don't think the focus is the emotion, but the focus is communicating whatever's happening in that moment. I think sometimes it surprises you and catches you off guard, and sometimes it's written in the script. Sometimes it's something the director asks of you, sometimes it's for a moment of comedy. And that's also useful, especially in these types of films. I don't know… everyone has different versions of what they need to do to get there as actors. I think it doesn't really matter how one gets there as long as it's believable enough.”​

​Isla Fisher returns to the world of illusion and high-stakes trickery with Now You See Me: Now You Don't, the third film in the blockbuster franchise that first introduced audiences to the mysterious Horsemen. In an exclusive conversation with Bombay Times, Isla talks about sharing the spotlight with a new generation of performers, revisiting the camaraderie of the earlier films, and why a trip to India has long been on her list.

When asked about her plans to visit India, she quickly replies, “I’ve literally been vaccinated for India twice and both times gotten pregnant after getting the vaccines and therefore, not actually gone. But I’m really desperate to visit and I intend to go. It’s my next dream holiday.”

The upcoming film, which releases across PVR Inox Cinemas in India on November 14, brings together familiar faces like Jesse Eisenberg alongside three new actors who join the ensemble.

Talking about the arrival of fresh talent and if that stirred any competitive nerves, Isla says, “We don’t have those kinds of egos. We’re performers and actors, and obviously, we’re insecure (laughs), but I feel there’s space for everyone. I, as a mother of an 18, 15, and a 10-year-old, want them (my kids) to identify with the characters in this franchise. So, to have these incredible fresh performers with the different energies and different takes — they’re just so relaxed about the magic, and it feels like the older Horsemen were a lot more sort of intense in some ways, which is ironic. So, I think that we just mix together really well. It just helps in being a transgenerational experience for audiences.”

The actress, known for films like Confessions Of A Shopaholic, Wedding Crashers and The Great Gatsby, lights up when speaking about her co-stars and the close bond they share, even after more than a decade. “I’m so proud of these guys, to work with them and to follow their careers and see them move forward. I am so proud of Jesse (Eisenberg). We all were sort of behind him when his movie came out. It’s really nice. It’s like a big family. We all love each other, and we love to share the screen with each other,” she concludes.

I am the son of a diplomat. So, growing up, we were told to never blow our own trumpet and be humble. But now we are living in a time when everyone is marketing themselves: ‘Maine yeh kar liya, maine woh kar liya’. Earlier, if I felt sharing my opinion on something would be slightly controversial, I would just stay quiet, because main jhooth nahin bol sakta. But log khamoshi ko meri kamzori samajhne lagey, unhe lagne laga, ‘yeh to backfoot pe hai’. Hence, I started speaking the language people understood, because the trolls needed to be told off.

When you’re born into a family of a certain faith or social status, it’s not your choice. You inherit it. But when you convert to another religion, you study the philosophy of that belief. So, it’s an informed decision. Making India my home didn’t come on a platter. I could’ve become a German, British, Canadian or US citizen. I chose India because of conviction. And that’s something Pakistan cannot stand. I too grew up amid the same propaganda in Pakistan, until I came here and witnessed things myself. If someone says I moved to India for money, they should know that I left assets worth crores when I moved to India. When I stand at any Indian airport and look at the flag, I tell myself: ‘My kids better remember what their father went through to get that flag, because it’s something that didn’t come on a platter’. I live with those emotions. I have every right to love my India, my country.

People evolve. I realized a few years ago that the good old cliche that ‘the truth will set you free’ is so apt. Hum poori zindagi darr ke rehne mein guzaar dete hain. But when you realize ki zindagi ka sabse bada khauf sirf maut hai, aapko aur kisi baat ka khauf nahin hona chahiye. Your destiny is written by the Almighty, so why have the fear of anyone else? I have seen so much in life that I don’t care about the consequences anymore.

Asha ji is like a mother to me. My relationship with her is how a normal mother-son bond is. We love each other and we fight too. There’s no one as brilliant and versatile as her. She’s 91 and is still so magical. Lata Mangeshkar (late singer) once said, ‘Jo gaane main gaa sakti hoon, woh Asha gaa sakti hai. Par jo gaane Asha gaati hai, woh main nahin gaa sakti’.

Pakistani musicians such as Mehdi Hasan, Farida Khanum, Ghulam Ali, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan etc. were working in India for many decades. But when I and some other Pakistani musicians (such as Atif Aslam, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Ali Zafar) came in the scene, there was a difference between them and me. I was living in India and working here, while they would come, work and leave. So, this section that had an issue (with outsiders) comprised artistes who were frustrated and were barely working. They should have realized that India was such a big market for music that people from across the world would want to work here. But the reason for not allowing Pakistani artistes in India now is absolutely valid. There’s nothing like art has no boundaries. No matter who you are, you belong somewhere. Else, artistes wouldn’t have been issued passports!

Yes, very much. She is 8 and plays the piano. I don’t teach her. She has a teacher who comes in, as learning music needs a certain kind of discipline. She’s also passionate about singing and writing poetry.

I always wanted to send her to a school where she could just be herself, and was not seen as a celeb child. I want her to have a normal childhood. That’s why I try to keep her away from all the filmi things, because this is not the time for it. When I enter the house, I am just baba who makes her a sandwich. That’s my way of keeping her guarded. Baaki sab upar waale ke haath mein hai.

Global pop sensation Dua Lipa is set to serve up a slice of musical heaven to her Indian fans. The songstress would be performing in India for the second time (she first performed in 2019) as a part of her Asia tour for her album Radical Optimism. As the three-time Grammy winner gets into a conversation with Bombay Times she talks about her return to India. Excerpts followed…

With India holding a special place in her heart, Dua’s enthusiasm performing in the country is palpable. Dua says, “I always love an excuse to come to India. It is such a beautiful country, and I have tons of fond memories from visiting. With all my shows, I’m always wanting to create a fun and energetic space to reconnect with so many of my fans that I have not been able to see in so long.”

Talking about the show she mentions, “There is going to be lots of dancing and lots of sweating – it’s going to be epic.”

With just a few days away from the tour, Dua admits she “cannot wait”. “We just officially kicked off the Radical Optimism Tour earlier this month in Singapore, and each show has been an absolute blast. We unfortunately didn’t get to bring the Future Nostalgia Tour to Asia the last time around, so we are making up for a lot of lost time, and it’s been so much fun.”

Dua was last in India for a personal trip last year. She called it “magical” back then in a post. “It was so magical! I met so many incredibly kind and wonderful people on my trip and just left feeling so inspired. Between the delicious food and the beautiful places, it was a trip that has always stayed with me, and as soon as we started planning this tour, I knew India had to be included.”

In 2023, a netizen had created a mashup of Dua’s hit number Levitating and a popular Bollywood track Woh Ladki Jo (from the film Badshah), which featured Shah Rukh Khan and Twinkle Khanna. The mashup caught on really quick and started trending online. The New Rules singer, who had also heard the track back then, says, “I was blown away when I first heard the mashup of Woh Ladki Jo and Levitating. It was amazing!”

Revealing who her favourite Bollywood actor is, she says, “I love Shah Rukh Khan!”

2024 is also special as 10 years ago in 2014, Dua was signed by the label she is represented by. “It’s insane to think about,” she says, adding, “I’m so grateful for everything the last decade has brought, and each year is even better than the last. This year I got to fulfill a huge dream of mine to headline the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury, and next year we’ve got two sold out shows at Wembley Stadium! It’s mad!”

As she reflects on her decade long journey she adds, “I think it’s so important to look back and recognize how far you’ve come. Having that perspective really helps keep everything grounded and centered for me.”

Dua was also recognized as one of the most influential people in the world in 2024. However, she doesn’t look at it as a “responsibility”. “I take it as a huge honor but it’s always a beautiful thing to hear from fans that my work has influenced their life in a positive way,” she signs off.

Despite never having visited India, Pakistani actor Sanam Saeed has found a loyal fan base in the country. Saeed is feeling all the love from across the border after her show Barzakh, recently premiered on an Indian television channel.

“The feedback has been quite overwhelming and exactly what we hoped for,” the actor says, talking about the reactions the show has received. “People are really intrigued and have slowly understood that this is not a show that they can just binge watch. It’s something that they have to really focus on,” she adds.

Ask about her love for India and the 39-year-old replies, “[Indians are] like my long lost siblings. Essentially, we are of the same land and blood in many ways, we just grew up differently over the years.”

Saeed also feels that the show and others like it have been “eye-opening” for audiences here: “We (Pakistanis) are accustomed to Indian cultures and we are used to seeing what Indians are like through Bollywood, but Indians had not seen us. It was this really beautiful exchange that happened where they got insights into [what Pakistan is like].”

While the Uri terror attacks in 2016 strained ties between both countries and halted the exchange of talent between the Indian and Pakistani entertainment industries, Saeed remains optimistic that things will turn around. “I never came to India to work, so I cannot say that I miss it because I haven’t experienced it,” she admits.

“The fact that we are on Indian OTT platforms is a huge feat in itself. Baaki, when actors from the other side of the border feel confident and safe enough to act with us and once things change, then that exchange will definitely happen. We have had festivals where Indian actors came to Pakistan and we’ve had our superstars go to India and act. So, it’s just a matter of time when art and culture can merge again,” she ends.

The last time we saw Fawad Khan on Indian screens was eight years ago, in the love story, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016). It may be difficult to align that memory of him with his recent turn in Barzakh. In director Asim Abbasi’s series that explores the supernatural and magic realism, we see so little of the star and so much of the actor in Khan, as he plays a single father. When we sit across from him on a Zoom call, that’s our first question: What made him choose Barzakh, which is an unusual subject for a star?

"It's easier for me. I stay away from the hullabaloo of social media. I have some sort of blinders on. I am not immune to the noise around me. When I started off my career, I was drawn to the glitz and glamour. I am not from a trained background as an actor. The first thing that attracts you is the bling. Very early in my career, even before I came to India, I started falling in love with the craft. I started working towards my process, studying to improve my richness of craft. I was looking for characters and stories that had something to tell. As an artist, I don't think I wish to give a moral lesson or teach ideas of morality. But at the same time, I want to give them characters that come from amidst them, do things that do or do not relate to, their conflicts and resolutions. It became easier for me eventually to move towards being an artist over a star. Stardom is collateral; but I don't think of myself as a big star at all."

One of Pakistan's most popular actors globally, Fawad tells us that saying yes to Abbasi was far from a difficult decision. He instantly was in love with 'the wildness of the written word'.

"It was love at first sight. He is a very gifted writer-director. The script is the holy grail. When I take a project to anyone, I expect them to read the story. I shouldn't have to pitch it; the story should speak to them and pitch itself. Asim is amazing. You'll assume someone who writes heavy stuff isn't fun to hang with. He is crazy but equally sorted. It's his sensitivity that's beautiful. We fostered a friendship that's carried on. We took out time to do table readings. We would do physical rehearsals. The good part about these readings was that we know what we are doing before we get to the set. They were extensive and often we could go off-subject and talk about other things in our hearts. Asim allowed us to get into an intimate headspace of the character and how they fed off one another. I was able to dissect the mental anatomy of Sheryaar and where he was coming from and where he could go."

Khan admits all courage for experimenting comes with that inevitable hint of fear. "Initially, I was scared too. I was worried - did we jump into something too radically experimental? But when I saw the trailer, I was reassured. And it reaffirmed my faith in Asim. This man is capable of creating something so stunning, spectacular and amazing without a hint of pressure. I had the best time working on this. We shot it during COVID and in those days, I was seeking comfort in cooking. I have a lot of cookbooks and I am always trying different recipes. After a point, when you are in Hunza Valley (where the show was shot) - where the network is limited, and you are not connected with the world, all you have are the human connections. Cooking from scratch is the most therapeutic experience, in my opinion."

A show like Barzakh gives the actor in him space to look inward. It's a meditative experience, Khan says. "Every character you play, everything you watch, is an experience of soaking in and looking within. The last few years, I haven't been able to watch anything emotionally heavy. Some of the best, most brilliant work is emotional and I am just done with that. I found myself drawn to animation. I watched a lot of cartoons but even animation today is emotionally intense. Now I am back to what I watched when I was a teenager - Simpsons, Family Guy. As an actor, it's necessary that my mind is relaxed. A few years ago, I was told by someone - aapke zehen mein har waqt earthquake chal raha hota hai. Every character you take up leaves scars on you. It may sound dramatic but when you take up another character and their pain, there's duress and damage. It's there on every artist. I tell everyone that I need emotionally healthy roles to do. I need comedy, adventure, action and everything that's easy on the mind."

This show takes Khan back to his Zindagi Gulzar Hai co-star Sanam Saeed. The duo are South Asian TV's most loved on-screen pair. "It's been 12 years. Back then, we didn't know each other as people. On Barzakh and a few other things that we've done together now, we have got to know each other beyond the screen. There is a friendship now. As an actor, she has come very far as an actor. She is diverse with roles, consistent and it's hard to top where she is at."

We told him that when we asked about his comeback to his producer, Shailja Kejriwal, she'd said that Fawad takes his stardom lightly. Is there a reason why he keeps himself so mysterious?

"Mujhe ghabrahat hoti hai. I sometimes feel I wasn't made for this. And I worry that if I take my stardom seriously, or notice the frills of fame, I will be addicted to it. I consciously stay away from it because aaj hai toh kal nahi. I don't want to reach a pinnacle and then fall from there because the pain will be unbearable. I'd prefer it to be a light thud. Mujhe craft se ishq karne do. If I take my stardom so seriously, I will stop taking my job seriously. Best to remain unaware of it."

But one can't deny that the love from Fawad comes as much from leaning into his charm as a romantic hero, which makes women across age groups and demographics, unanimously love him. "I have tremendous Godsent luck. I am often told 'haan thik dikhta hai, itna kya hai?' People assume it's modesty. It's not. I am very realistic. Looks fade and I am grateful to all my fans, female fans. I am thankful that they have supported me so much and got me to where I am today. But I am just as scared of the men in their lives... so best to fear female adulation a tad."

We end the interview by telling him how his hordes of fans in India have missed him. He does have a show with Sony LIV, we hear and a movie with Vaani Kapoor, both of which are far from being at ‘talking stage’. It's a simple question we pose, how was he in the eight years we didn’t see him and what’s he feeling so many years down the line about what is being labelled his 'comeback'.

"I am picking up exactly from where I left off. I didn't feel the gap then, but I feel the age now. I have grown children now. I have been selfish in the sense ki main bhool gaya aur maine thode arsey ke liye check out kar liya. How this stint pans out is something time will tell but I hope the expectations people had of me at work, is something I live up to. I hope I am just as good at my craft, as I was when I was last here. I am seeking a lot from life. I had closed myself off for a while and I am stepping out into a different world than it was when I was not around. The challenges are different - I am not hunting for good scripts, I am looking for life experiences."

There is a word Barzakh director Asim Abbasi has for his show’s leading lady, Sanam Saeed. He calls her his ‘entheogen,’ a spiritual psychedelic drug. The secret behind the name lies in the duo’s new series, which tells the story of a reclusive 76-year-old man who invites his children and grandchildren to celebrate his wedding with the spirit of his true love. The first thing we ask her is whether it helps knowing the director’s process when the theme is so complex.

“It helps to work with the director who is also the writer. There is more room to question, be curious and explore. He knows all my weak points. That helped the performance. There is a great level of trust between us, so the drive to push boundaries together is far more. This is a nuanced character; I had to bring control into the performance. Sherzaad is neither from this realm nor from the other. She is the glue to this family drama,” says Saeed, who reunites with Abbasi after their much-loved film Cake (2018).

A story like this, part magic realism and part family drama, has no reference point. But Saeed isn’t looking for one. “Why seek a reference at all? Sherzaad can be a reference point someday. She is soft yet stern, and brings a feeling of loss. You can’t read her emotions.”

The July 19 release reunites the actor with Fawad Khan 12 years after their popular show, Zindagi Gulzar Hai. Naturally, there must be pressure to match up to their last show’s success. “Twelve years ago, they had never seen Fawad and me like they did in Zindagi Gulzar Hai. This time again, we will intrigue them. Fawad has always been held up by everyone as this good-looking guy, the romantic hero who elicits that reaction, ‘Ah! Fawad!’ But this time, he returns to show his range. His iconic characters have stuck with him, and this one is raw and authentic. He has been breaking that mould, I had to do it too. I am more than Kashaf. It is always an honour to work with Fawad; he matches my gusto and professionalism.”

Saeed doesn’t concern herself with the pressure of audience’s expectations. Today, she has reached the place where she operates only from the love for her art and the desire to tell different stories.

“I don’t allow people to crack me with pressure. I have been through that pressure of Kashaf. I had to shake that stress off of who I am and what kind of role I would pick next. I had fears [arising from thoughts of], ‘Will they hate me? Will they not look up to Kashaf? Will the bubble burst?’ Since 2014, I spent three years getting that pressure out of my system. Today, I am only nervous whether the character and the show will work. There are some actors who think as actors, and some as stars. I am an actor who follows the role. I don’t think how it will affect my career and my future casting options. Asim’s work always strikes a chord with me. I want to throw myself into roles that are so different from the work I do in movies and TV. I am grateful for the gifts I am getting and not worried about the risks I am taking.”

After Barzakh, the actor moves to Pakistan’s Netflix series, Jo Bachay Hain Sang Samait Lo that stars Fawad, Mahira Khan and Ahad Raza Mir. “I love the power of TV, but it restricts you and you can get tired of it. OTT gave me an opportunity to show what more I am capable of; it allows us to explore the raw side of acting. Films are for fantasy, TV is for family dramas, but OTT is for gritty stories. It has been equalizing, where actors shed their star power and simply perform. With the Netflix series, we are showing what Pakistan does best. Momina Duraid, who has produced Humsafar, Zindagi Gulzar Hai and Dastaan, is the force behind it. The story has five different tracks, 10 stars and intergenerational stories, going back and forth.”  

Does she feel there will be an osmosis and cross-cultural exchange thanks to OTT? “This show is produced by [Indians and Pakistanis]. In terms of acting, I don’t know when that will happen. All pools need new blood to create bigger and beautiful things. In a utopian world, that would have happened, but I don’t know when it will happen in the real world.”

New Delhi: India will get a bigger slice of Netflix’s $17 billion content budget given the growing engagement with its offerings and rising revenue from viewers in the country, co-CEO Ted Sarandos said at the Economic Times Global Business Summit on Friday.

“In India, we’ve had the best year of our existence,” he said. “Our content watching grew by 30% last year in India and our revenue grew by 25%.”

Engagement is the key measure of success, Sarandos said, and growth indicators have to start with this.

“Do people care enough to spend their viewing time with you? Are they spending their screen time with Netflix? That's why that engagement metric is so important,” he said during the session, Cracking The Content Code.

“It wouldn't have happened if it wasn't tied to that engagement lift. Subscriber numbers make nice headlines, but they're not a real business metric. What is behind that subscriber number? Is there engagement? Is there revenue? Is there profit with Netflix? Yes, there is,” Sarandos said.

The company plans to plough more resources into India. “You are basically trying to constantly get just ahead of or just behind the growth in the market and figure out what's working and keep investing,” he said. “So I would say that we are going to be investing more and more in India as we continue to grow engagement and revenue.”

Netflix has a strong slate of content coming up for India, he said. “This idea of really getting into the grid, into the rhythm and the groove of local tastes and local desire…I think we're better at that than we ever were. The reason that we got there is that our team that runs India, runs it from India,” Sarandos said.

The key to success in the country was having teams on the ground with a feel for what people want, he said. “A lot of companies that try to run India out of California get frustrated early on because they just don't learn anything. Here, our team really does understand the local culture and the local storytellers. And they themselves are part of the local audience — that gives us a large advantage. That's why we've invested so heavily on not just production in India, but we have 250 people in an office in Mumbai. We have an office in Delhi. These are people who really care about making great content in India.”

Netflix has produced 100 original projects in India so far with 28 of them last year. Sarandos said the India team is getting better every day. “What I figured out early on when we started launching in various countries is that you didn't learn much in one country that was helpful in the next country,” he said.

“You have to be there, you have to be on the ground, and you have to understand consumer tastes and you have to understand the culture. You have to understand the history of the industry.”

He cited new Netflix release, The Romantics, about the legacy of Yash Chopra, as an example. “You have to understand creators in that country,” he said. “What are the challenges to getting movies made and series made? And in the case of India, I think India has got this beautiful, rich cinema culture and it was not that much around television at that time when we first got here. So, Sacred Games was our kind of early attempt to say, well, what if you took the principles of cinema and infused them into television and the Indian audiences loved that.”

His top priority is reigniting growth at the company, Sarandos said.

Fans loved Tom Cruise’s thrilling actions in Top Gun: Maverick, and Avatar’s lifelike 3D visuals. Richard Gelfond, CEO of IMAX Corporation, told us on a visit to Delhi recently that very few people realize these immersive movie watching experiences are a result of cutting-edge proprietary technology developed by them.

There is a lot of science and technology, he says, that go into turning every movie viewing at IMAX theatres into an event – from custom-made camera lenses for recording particular scenes and for shooting in specific regions, to the ability to shoot in 16K resolution over traditional 4K, 12-channel sound systems that make you hear a whisper over your shoulder, laser projectors that provide better colour and contrast compared to lamp-based models, paint colour of the screens, and theatres with specific, well-researched dimensions.

There are two ways to approach a movie. One is to take a fully shot movie and use IMAX’s proprietary algorithms to enhance the video. Usually, videos are shot using different cameras, shooting modes and frames. IMAX’s video engineers compress noise (random variations of brightness or colours) in images so that there’s consistency in frames. They sharpen the edges – removing blurs or halos. Today, rather than receiving physical copies of films, the tech teams have started working on videos stored on secure clouds. In the case of Indian language movies such as Padmaavat, Brahmastra, KGF and RRR, they completed the entire editing process on cloud within three to four days.

The other way to shoot is to use IMAX cameras that have special lenses developed for shooting in different instances. These cameras have been used to shoot in space, on aircrafts, deep under oceans, and through the narrowest and smallest possible spaces like 3D models. Christopher Nolan, James Cameron and Peter Jackson are some popular moviemakers who use these cameras. These cameras, Gelfond says, will be used for the first time this year in India as well. While IMAX worked on six Indian movies last year, this year they plan to do 10-12 Indian language movies. One is already out – Pathaan. “We are always trying to figure out ways to transcend the ordinary,” Gelfond says.

Every IMAX theatre has a high-definition camera and microphones that monitor the video and sound quality of every movie being played in real-time. The company’s command centres in Canada and China monitor these, and send immediate alerts if the screen and images are not in range, or if the volume is too high or low. A technician is immediately sent to the theatre. Gelfond says simple factors like heat can change contrast ratios and focal points. So, video and sound calibrations are done daily through an automated process, and not once a fortnight or a month, manually, like in traditional theatres.

The reason for being the industry benchmark today, Gelfond says, is their 800-member team, many of who are techies and engineers specializing in sound, optics, electronics and mechanics. Architects, for instance, work with screen and sound engineers to determine the best ratios and dimensions for the best experience.

Gelfond started the year with his visit to India, the country that he believes has the most potential for growth. While China has 800 IMAX theatres and 200 more in the works, India, he says, has only 29 theatres, and 19 in progress.

FROM TOI’S ARCHIVES: Then Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser at the 1960 Filmfare Awards in Bombay. Sitting next to him are Shanti Prasad Jain (left), then chairman of Bennett, Coleman and Company Ltd (BCCL), and his wife Rama Jain (right). (Below) Nutan receiving the best actress award for the film Sujata from Nasser

Over the next few days, India-Egypt bonhomie will be further burnished by a series of bilateral agreements and the diplomatic affability will also reflect in President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s presence as the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations.

But the cultural ties run deeper. Over a swathe of decades in the land of Mo Salah, many Egyptians have built a personal bond with Hindi films. They have thronged to watch Dilip Kumar’s Aan, gorged on Big B’s Mard on grainy VHS tapes and queued up for Shah Rukh Khan’s My Name Is Khan in Cairo.

It isn’t just the people, even presidents have loved Hindi cinema. Not many know that Egypt’s (then) President Gamal Abdel Nasser attended the 7th Filmfare Awards in Bombay in 1960. The attraction is mutual. Bollywood too has been fascinated by Egypt’s landscape and monuments, especially the pyramids. From Bachchan in The Great Gambler (1976) to Akshay Kumar in Singh is Kinng (2008) – Hindi cinema’s biggest and brawniest have bashed up baddies and shimmied to songs there.

Ancient as the two civilizations are, shared anti-colonial objectives have crafted modern associations between Egypt and India. The Union ministry of external affairs said in 2014 that Mahatma Gandhi and Egyptian statesman Saad Zaghloul had common goals on independence of their countries. The ties were elevated by the close friendship between Nasser and Jawaharlal Nehru, leading to a Friendship Treaty between the two nations in 1955. Nasser and Nehru, along with Yugoslavia’s Josif Broz Tito, were regarded as the three pillars of the global Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). But beyond the world of politics and diplomacy, an invisible people-to-people connection was forged beginning in the 1930s through the world of moving pictures in darkened theatres.

In an insightful paper titled, The Ubiquitous Non-presence of India, Oxford professor Walter Armbrust referred to the fan magazine Al Kawakib (The Star) to show how Hindi cinema had come to be discussed in Egypt, though not always positively, in the 1930s.

But the cultural kinship side of the cinematic association wasn’t ignored either as a 1957 article in the same magazine showed. “The secret to the success of Indian films in Egypt is that they portray a common life of both the Indian and the Egyptian, with only trivial differences attributable to environmental factors. The music in these films moves us and lifts our spirits because it springs from the same source: the magic of the East and its spirituality.”

Egypt boasts a film industry of its own and the 1940s to 1960s period is regarded as “the Golden Age of Egyptian cinema”.

Trade Guide, a Hindi film business magazine, acknowledged in 1963 that Egypt produces technically high-standard films while also importing movies from the US and UK. “The audience is sophisticated and only first-class films with powerful story and colour element will be a commercial success,” said an article headlined, World Market for Indian Films.

The 1980s marked the arrival of video cassettes, which turned cinema-viewing into home entertainment for the first time. Pirated VHS tapes further expanded the global reach of Bollywood films and stars. From the1980s onwards, Bachchan became a megastar in Egypt. “Bachchan skyrocketed into Egypt’s cinema star constellation with films like Geraftaar and Mard (1985) that viewers saw in theatres or watched on video cassette...Back in India, Bachchan’s films from the late 1980s did not attract audiences like they had at the peak of his stardom, when he was known as the ‘Angry Young Man’. But the later films still had enthusiastic fans in Egypt,” wrote Texas-based academic Claire Cooley in film journal Jump Cut.

Armbrust recalled two fascinating anecdotes that illustrate the extent of Big B’s popularity in Egypt. He wrote, “One urban legend circulating in the early 1990s was that a plane carrying Amitabh Bachchan touched down briefly in the Cairo airport for refuelling. Word got out about the Hindi star’s presence, and tens of thousands of people came to the airport hoping to catch a glimpse of him. I saw a more concrete example of Bachchan’s presence in the displays of vendors in a popular market near downtown. Some of these vendors sold tee shirts emblazoned with the face of Bachchan.”

It’s a point that Ahmad Mohd Ahmad Abdel Rahman, head, department of Urdu, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, reaffirmed in 2011. “If any Indian is spotted on the streets, the first welcoming words people utter are ‘Hello, Amitabh Bachchan,” he had told TOI then.

It’s a matter of academic exploration how an individual becomes synonymous with a nation. Egypt’s love affair with Hindi cinema has continued in recent years. In 2015, journalist Ati Metwaly wrote on Ahram Online how the Egyptians flocked to a Bollywood dance workshop at the Indiaby the Nile festival. “Young Egyptians hum Indian songs even if they don’t understand the lyrics,” Metwaly said.

Shah Rukh Khan is wildly popular in Egypt. King Khan’s immense draw is exemplified by a 2021 incident that Ashwini Deshpande, who teaches at Ashoka University, divulged on social media. She tweeted, “Needed to transfer money to a travel agent in Egypt. Was having problems with the transfer. He said: you are from the country of @iamsrk. I trust you. I will make the booking, you pay me later. For anywhere else, I wouldn’t do this. But anything for @iamsrk…” Later Shah Rukh heartwarmingly sent his autographed photos and a handwritten note to the travel agent.

The occurrence underlines the power of cinema: how it can demolish geographical distances and cultural differences and touch the heart, how it can shape attitudes towards an entire people and a country. Hopefully, there are more stanzas to be sung in this enduring duet.

New Delhi : The information and broadcasting ministry on Monday invoked its emergency powers under the IT Rules 2021 to block the website, two mobile applications, four social media accounts, and one smart TV app of Pakistan-based OTT platform Vidly TV.

It had released a web series titled ‘Sevak: The Confessions’, which has been found to be detrimental to the national security, sovereignty and integrity of India.

Three episodes of the web-series have been released till date and government sources said they suspect that the web series was sponsored by the Pakistani information operations apparatus. The first episode of the series was released on November 26, the anniversary of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and reportedly showed anti-India content.

According to the ministry, the series also showed events like Operation Blue Star and its aftermath, the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, the Malegaon blast, Samjhauta Express blast among others, with distorted facts. It attemped to promote separatism, disaffection and disillusionment among the Sikh community towards India, and portraying Operation Blue Star as a massacre of innocent Sikhs, which amounted to an attack on the defence of India, security, friendly relations with foreign States, and public order, the ministry said.

It’s taken Avatar’s makers 13 years to return with its sequel, Avatar: The Way Of Water. That’s partly because director James Cameron was waiting for the right underwater tech and also because they had to create the setting – a part of Pandora inhabited by the ocean-dwelling Na’avi clan, the Metkayina – from scratch. In the sequel, Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana reprise their roles as Jake Sully and Ney’tiri, now parents to five children, who have to learn to survive in the water world. Like the protagonists, the cast was put through the ringer during filming. Kate Winslet, who plays the matriarch of the water tribe, even ended up breaking Tom Cruise’s record by holding her breath underwater for a whopping 7. 12 minutes!

Ultimately, for the film’s producer Jon Landau it all boiled down to “getting it right”. And though there’s no denying that the world’s changed dramatically since the original Avatar came out, he tells us why he feels the timing of its sequel couldn’t be more perfect. Excerpts:

It’s not that people don’t want to go to the cinemas. I, in fact, think they want to go more than ever. But we as an industry have to give them content that is worth getting out of the house for. We can’t give them the same thing they can get on their phone or their TV at home. We have to give them something new and different. And that was our goal from Day 1 – to create “a must-see on the big screen” experience. Not just in the visual, but also an emotional sense. And I think that when movies work, they work emotionally. And I think one of the things that the Indian audiences respond to is the emotion of a movie – whether it’s the laughter, whether it’s the heart. And that’s what we have tried to put into the film – heart.

We took our time because we wanted to do it right. And this is the amount of time it took. If you look back, it took us the same amount of time between Titanic (1997) and Avatar (2009). Am I happy with how it turned out? 100%! We make the movie for audiences, and that’s one of the reasons why in India we’re going to be in so many different languages. We know the diversity of the country, and Avatar – at its root – is about celebrating diversity.

I think we are making a lot of sequels (Avatar 3, 4 and 5 are already in the pipeline), but not for the sake of making a sequel. We are making a continuation of a saga. I look at each one of our movies as standalone movies. Each movie is going to come to its own story conclusion, its own emotional resolution and we always go, ‘is that a movie worth making?’ ‘Does this movie warrant a cinema experience?’

Fawad Khan cherishes the memories he made while working in India, but the Pakistani actor doesn’t have an answer to when he will return to the Hindi film world. When asked if he’d like to work in Bollywood again, Khan told Variety, “I have a great relationship with the people I worked with and I made great friends. I’d love to see them again someday, and maybe work with them again. The political fallout (between India and Pakistan) has not influenced our relationships, but it’s definitely made us wary of answering such questions. I can’t give a definitive answer until things stabilize.”

The Ms. Marvel actor, who made his Bollywood debut with Khoobsurat (2014) alongside actor Sonam K Ahuja and went on to do Kapoor & Sons and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (both 2016), added, “I hate confrontation. I don’t like controversy either. I think it’s more of a question whether someone else [in India] would like to work with me, because fingers will be pointed at them. I will do my work and go away, but the people who will suffer are those who want to collaborate with me. And I care about that because they are going to live there (in India).”

Hollywood actor Jake Gyllenhaal is a fan of the Hindi film industry. Ask why and he says, “The skill that many Indian actors have is just unsurpassed. I am inspired by Indian culture, particularly Bollywood films. To be able to sing, dance and act at the same time is a real requirement, which we don’t really have much in Hollywood. I have so much admiration for the filmmaking and acting coming out of India.”

It’s not just the revelry of Indian cinema that has carved a special place in the heart of the 41-year-old, who grew up in showbiz after stepping into the arc lights at the age of 10, in 1991, with the film, City Slickers. “Indian culture is so beautiful, even Indian literature. There are so many things about India that are incredible,” Gyllenhaal gushes over a video call from Paris (France).

The actor visited India two years ago and has fond memories from the short visit. “I was there (in India) right before the pandemic. I feel blessed to have been there even for a short time. You have found a huge fan of India in me… the colours, fashion are incredible. And I haven’t started [talking] about the food, which is probably number one for me,” adds the actor, who was pleasantly surprised that his latest film, Ambulance, released in India on Holi last month. He calls it a “nice” coincidence.

Shooting for the film in “the real space of an ambulance” wasn’t easy for Gyllenhaal: “It was really difficult to act and move. It made me realise that people save lives in these vehicles. I have seen ambulances pass by many times… It made me have so much admiration for the people who actually do the real work in there.”

She was 21 when Spanish actor Penelope Cruz visited India for the first time. She says that her love for the country has only grown over the years, which has also resulted in her multiple visits here.

“I love India and feel a strong connection to the place,” she admits, adding, “When I visited the country for the first time, I worked with Mother Teresa, and that trip changed my life.”

Cruz says she now wishes to visit India with her family, husband, actor Javier Bardem, and kids — Luna (8) and Leo (11). “I have been to the country three times and hope to go again someday with my family. It’s such an inspiring and special place,” she adds.

A few years ago, Cruz wanted to work on a project in India, called Passion India, which was about a young flamenco dancer, who sparked a scandal in the early 20th century by marrying a maharaja.

Sharing an update on the project, she tells us, “That was quite some time ago. Some people involved in their family didn’t want the film to be made, and we wanted to be respectful of that. Hence, the movie never got made.”

But, as a producer, the 47-year-old continues to develop projects. And now, she wishes to focus more on work that’s behind the scenes.

Cruz, who has backed films such as Ma Ma (2015) and On The Fringe, says, “I am trying to move more towards that direction. But [the idea is] not [to make] four or five movies a year, that takes a lot of effort. I try to do (make films) once in a while. I am also directing a documentary that will take at least two years; it’s a dream [project] of mine.”

But she goes on to clarify that she is not leaving her first love, acting. She wants to continue to have a balance between all kinds of films — from her frequent Pedro Almodóvar (Spanish director) school of movies to big-action projects like The 355. “Both are different experiences. With Pedro, I have had a long relationship — we have done seven movies together. From doing small independent films to then doing something bigger, where you shoot for many months with a huge crew, like The 355 — I feel grateful,” she ends.

From watching the rituals of death to experiencing the hustle bustle of life, Hollywood star Keanu Reeves lived through the circle of life at the banks of Ganges. And that’s something which continues to stay alive in his mind.

“During my first time in India, I remember just being on the streets and seeing the amazing life... I got a chance to go to the edge of the Ganges, and sit and see the wheel of life,” Reeves tells us over a video call from New York, USA.

Refraining from divulging specifics about his visit to the country, the actor continues, “[I saw] people mourning and the ritual of death. And at the same time, all the shamans, the families and the animal life, water, the trees, the air… The [whole] breath of life. I was grateful to sit there, be a part of it and have that experience.”

Reeves, 57, who will soon be back as Neo with The Matrix Resurrections, also reveals that he has been to Mumbai for “a little bit of time”. And it is not just Indian culture which has found a place in his heart. Bollywood has also impressed him, as he says, “I have seen a few films. But I wouldn’t know the titles of the projects.”

Opening up about his Indian connection, he points out how the concept of “being and not being, in permanence and resurrection” links Indian philosophy to the Matrix universe in some way.

The latest instalment of the film franchise also stars actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Reeves says, “Priyanka is fantastic. She is a lovely actress and a person. It was really great to work with her.”